Today's Evil Beet Gossip

NBC is Hitting Up ABC’s Sloppy Seconds

Isaiah Washington Signs Deal with NBC to Guest Star in Bionic Woman

Isaiah Washington’s getting passed around Hollywood like a high-school cheerleader.

After ABC dumped him for calling co-star T.R. Knight a “faggot” (and then repeating the word in a freakin’ press conference), it looked as though Isaiah was on the fast track to an E! True Hollywood Story, but it appears he may be have been given a second chance. NBC, for whatever reason, has decided they want to work with the infamously difficult actor on their new series The Bionic Woman.

Washington will play a mysterious figure who is brought into the enigmatic scientific organization behind the “bionics” that transform Jamie, and whose own agenda is unclear as he instructs her on how to handle her new abilities.

Here’s the thing, though: they’re not signing him on to be a permanent member of the cast. He’ll have a five-episode arc as a guest star, and my guess is, with his current image crisis, they got him for bottom-of-the-barrel prices. And look! We’re all writing about The Bionic Woman today! So this looks to me like a pretty smart PR blitz on NBC’s part rather than a genuine desire to work with Isaiah. However:

NBC said the network also is developing a separate “action-series” project with Washington based on an idea from the actor.

I can just picture this pitch session.

ISAIAH: So I have this great idea for a series. It’s an action series.
NBC: Okay, shoot.
ISAIAH: It’s kind of like a Heroes theme, but with me.
NBC: Go on …
ISAIAH: Picture this: a time traveler from the future comes back to the current day to warn me that the human race is on the brink of extinction.
NBC: Why is the human race on the brink of extinction?
ISAIAH: Because men don’t have sex with women anymore! They are only having sex with men! So no babies are being born! It’s awful!
NBC: Um … so you’re saying that …
ISAIAH: And it is up to me to stop this!
NBC: Look, Isaiah …
ISAIAH: I must do anything and everything in my power to save the human race from annihilation by stopping man-on-man sex!
NBC: We just don’t think this will …
ISAIAH: And all I have to do it with is a billy club!
NBC: Okay. Look. We’re going to take this back to our writers and change it around a bit. We’ll get back to you.

2 CommentsLeave a comment

  • Is there a rehab for “whining”? I promise I won’t watch anything that Isaiah Washington is a part of. Pinky swear.

  • Wait one second here.. cheerleaders were passed around??? Sigh. I shouldn’t have studied as hard.