Alex Kinston, who plays Dr. Elizabeth Corday is leaving this season. Apparently she says they ran out of storyline for the 41 year-old actress. She hasn't been told exactly how they're getting rid of her, but she says hopefully they'll let Corday live. (I like how they conveniently stopped showing the baby after Greene died...)

Anyway, she's my favourite character on the show. Ok, so maybe it's a subconscious thing because I've always wanted to have curly red hair and an accent (and maybe a few more inches than what I have currently at 5'4")...

Ladymarch, can you tell me is Carter still there ... we are somewhat behind, but if Elizabeth goes, and Carter then I won't watch either when they start showing it ... it's not the same anyway as it used to be in the beginning.

Carter's still there. He went to the Congo for a couple episodes with Luka, but came back.

I'm waiting for Sally Field to come back for a couple episodes.

that's old news Beth
Kingston is pretty much gone and that news broke about 2 months ago
Noah Wyle is signed on for the next two seasons
and then he is done...nothing with Sally Field in the forseeable future

Carter and Luka went to the Congo together two seasons ago
Last season Carter was in Congo with Kem

I'm liking Abby much better now

I thought that 'NICU' was the best episode this past season

my opinion is that they need to get tighter with the plots and storylines
originally only six stars on the show
and it went well
now they have eleven...just to dispersed.
they need to cut it down and concentrate on what they have

I also didn't like it when they made Luka a womanizing cad
he is much better now

, I may have heard about Kingston leaving, but forgot.

But that doesn't mean I'm still not miffed.

And yeah, i think Carter's character has pretty much done that all could be done... Well, until this season...

NICU was great. I also had a chance to see the episode with the smallpox and liked it. And who could forget the helicopter episode

Ughh, the helicopter episode was terrible! I really didn't like Romano, but poor guy. I think that episode was a bit tasteless, how he died. First he gets his arm cut off and then an helicopter falls on him!

I like Elizabeth too. I think she will leave the hospital and go back to England, or something like that, but I don't think they'll kill her off. (At least I hope they won't!)

The character I like the least right now is Sam. She's a bit annoying and doesn't treat Luka right.

I agree with LordAndry, Abby is a good character. I liked it when in the season finale, she told that pacient who was a Math teacher that he should ask for Dr. Abby Lockhart

Anyway, I got carried away, hehe I'll stop now.

For Romano - I thought it was pretty ironic about the helicopter taking his arm and then killing him.

Elizabeth - I hope she'd find a job that's in the US - maybe at another hospital in Chicago. You know, they gave her an offer she couldn't refuse... That way Ella can still get visits from Rachel, etc.

Abby - I like her. She's got a lot of problems, but that only means the character has a lot of depth.

Sam - I like her too because of the 'fire' in her personality. I LOVED her first scene in the series. But I hope they resolve that hanging arc in the season premiere... I just think she treats him like that as she's afraid of getting burned again.

Apparently Goran (who plays Luka) is leaving the show at the end of this upcoming season.

'Cuse the hijack Miss Mac,

I so hated Sally Field's character, so I hope she doesn't return.

I have the illness that her character has. Watching her was like looking in a mirror.

Babbling incesantly, starting off on wild unrealistic projects that never get finished, having the attention span of a puppy, everything is a joke, and the sudden outbursts of crying.

Watching her makes me look at my friends and family and say "Dang! Y'all are extremely patient and loving".

And you now may return to your regulary scheduled thread.

Just a thought but I loved Sally Field's character! Her whole family on the show, really. Mostly because they make the issue of her mental dilemma very clear and manage to make it both understandable and sympathetic. A disease such as hers on the show (and her son's too) raises us to notice the difficulty of it. It's a disorder and not a disgrace. I'd like to see more of that storyline.

BUT, back to E.R. in general, I think it is time they unplugged it. Good TV shows have their run after a decade and I think E.R. has had its day. I love the show but would hate to see it get completely bad. I hope it stops "jumping the shark". It surely did with that helicopter business. I'd really enjoy seeing Carter and Abbie spin off into their own series. THAT could get the momentum for the flavor of the original series back.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5956450/

Well, it looks like Noah Wyle (Dr. Carter) is leaving too.

Maybe this is the show's last season?

Edit to add: APparently NBC has locked up a deal to continue the show for one season after this upcoming one.