First of all, I would like to say that I was screaming at the television when I found out Noah, Alex, Laura, Anthony, Eriq, etc., did not get nominated. Especially Noah- he did a wonderful job this year, I think better than anyone. I wanted him to *win* so badly, forget being nominated!

The one thing I was happy about, is that Julianna got nominated. (Even though what's her name from "The Sopranos" will probably win again. Grrr.) So, my question is, why are you all ragging so much on Julianna this year? If you think about it, Julianna had one of the hardest jobs this season because she had to totally change her character's persona. Julianna did not become a worse actress, it's just that Carol was depressed. Think about it- Carol's "soul mate" had just left her, alone and pregnant. She had to take care of twin girls by herself, which she had vowed never to do. (Be a single mother, that is.) She was exhausted at work, and she had pretty much no support after giving birth, what with Mark busy with his father. Luka tried to help, but we all saw how that turned out. I think "Great Expectations" was one of her best episodes, along with "Such Sweet Sorrow." (Both of which still make me cry uncontrollably.) As for her "med-student and a doc" comment in "AITF," Carol had different perspective than anyone else. She'd seen two children become instant orphans in "BSMH" and had gone home before the whole Lucy/Carter thing unfolded, and had come back after Lucy had died. She never saw what the two of them looked like when Kerry and the others rushed them from Curtain 3 to the trauma rooms. In fact, I don't really think she realized the magnitude of the situation- Mark didn't explain thoroughly, Lucy had died, Carter was recovering, and Paul Sobricki was already locked up. And it was just another day in the ER, with more patients coming in, and Carol ready to work on them. I think, had she been there to work on them and had she seen the wounds, or if she had known later that Carter was addicted to painkillers (maybe in "Match Made In Heaven," because I think John was already addicted by then, and I definitely do *not* blame Carol for that), she would have done anything to help them. She just didn't know.

Come on you guys, it was her last year, and she was always a wonderful character. Cut Julianna and Carol Hathaway some slack. Please?

Just my opinion.

~Jessica~ :-)

-- Jessica (princessleia913@excite.com), July 20, 2000

Answers

Regarding the "med-student and a doc" comment I have never understood why people take that to mean that Carol was being a bitch. i heard it completely different. To me it sounded sort of like a somber reflection (note her tone of voice) as if she was sort of saying "the show must go on (excuse the pun) whether we like it to or not". It difficult to describe what I mean but I don't think she meant it cold heartadly(sp?). I just think the writers worded it badly.

-- Lara Aine (survivingseattle@hotmail.com), July 20, 2000.

I agree a hundred percent. This was her last year, and lots of times when an actor is leaving or a show is going off the air, they are nominated out of respect. And besides, I've witnessed a couple of births myself, (my mom's a gyno) and JM DID A GREAT JOB portraying a woman in labor! And I never did get the whole "doc and a med student" thing. Have we ever seen (on a whole) Carol get wrapped up in what was going on and forget a patient? I think she was probably in shock and felt that the best course of action would be to just put that aside and concentrate on her work. Especially since everyone else was so out of it. So hey GIVE THE POOR GAL A BREAK!!!!!!!!! And be happy that at least someone got nominated! (Although Noah I think really deserved it for the last half of the season!)

-- Lauren (radhamtte@hotmail.com), July 20, 2000.

The only reason why she's always nominated is because there is not much competition in this category. In fact, we always see the same group of people being nominated all the time.

Abigail, Carterologist

-- abigail (abbyqueen@aol.com), July 20, 2000.

Well no slam on JM, but I never warmed up to Carol. Just the other night on TNT I saw her do that same thing she always does - when someone says something to her that she doesn't like or doesn't understand - she jerks her head back and makes this snooty little face.

-- Beth (beekster@aol.com), July 20, 2000.

I don't agree that competition is weak in this category, in fact it is very heated--for once there are some strong roles on TV for women. Julianna deserved to be nominated for Great Expectations alone. She was simply brilliant--this is why she was offered 27 million dollars to stay on the show. She also is well liked in the industry, and I am thrilled the Academy continually honors her with a nomination.

-- Karen (userkto@aol.com), July 20, 2000.

Jessica says "Carol's "soul mate" had just left her, alone and pregnant" - excuse me but wasn't that HER choice? Doug couldn't stay and he asked her to go with him - more than once, apparently.

I always liked Carol, but why do people talk about her as though she is Saint Carol? She was far from perfect - her attitude towards med studentsreally annoyed me - watching the early episodes recently I saw she even had a go at Jeanie about physician's assistants coming in "with two months training" and telling nurses what to do. This was obviously a real issue for Carol (maybe feeling inferior/insecure??) and was one of her less attractive traits, but it made her more realistic.

This year, however, she was just awful and although I think Julianna is a good actress, she just couldn't make me empathise with, or care for, Carol this season until that final episode. I know that is partly a problem with the writing but I think that Laura Innes, for example, deserved a nomination as much, if not more.

-- liz williams (elizabeth.williams@aon.co.uk), July 21, 2000.

Well look at it this way. If Kellie Martin had been nominated also, everyone would be ragging on her as well. I wouldn't though since she's one of my fave actresses. Now that the shock has worn off a little from Noah not being picked I'm glad Julianna got nominated. But seriously, wouldn't you be ragging on Kellie if she got nominated?

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), July 21, 2000.

Karen - Couldn't have said it better myself.

Cammie - To compare Kellie to Julianna is ludicrious.

-- JLS (ewwhatevr@aol.com), July 21, 2000.

Hey again!

In response to Liz's post- yes, Doug *did* ask her to go with him, numerous times I suppose. And I don't think of her as "Saint Carol," she was very flawed, after all she did try to kill herself, and I didn't like the way she treated Jeanie at first, but for some reason, sometimes we just forget about it. I don't know why- I guess it's because Carol was so accessible. I also agree, Laura Innes deserved a nomination this year as well, she did an outstanding job in her acting and in directing "Be Still My Heart." I think Alex Kingston did a wonderful job, too.

I'm still shocked Noah got so snubbed...

~Jessica~

-- Jessica (princessleia913@excite.com), July 21, 2000.

I wrote that wrong. It should have said " instead of" not "also". Sorry about that. I would never compare those two JLS.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), July 21, 2000.

I think Julianna is great and have always liked the character of Carol. However, this year she was not at her best. I think the writers wrote her in a way that we would quit caring for her so much that when she left she wouldn't leave such a void. I don't blame Julianna for her less than stellar performance this season. They didn't give her much to work with. She was great in Great Expectations however. I agree with whoever said above that Laura Innes was consistently better this year and, I think, Alex Kingston was too.

-- amanda (amanda.rehm@home.com), July 21, 2000.