Unless they made it a spinoff. :)

Maybe the writers are not wanting Laynie around because they don't want Amy to think of Colin or something stupid like that.

Fine if they have that line of thinking. Then bring Laynie back anyway, and have Laynie independent of Amy with a different storyline.

I think it's ridiculous that the writers are not bringing Laynie back. She is a VERY popular character and the fans deserve to see her.

If they brought back Laynie, it would give them a chance to dump the whole Madison story line (please!) and still give Amy someone with a past history with Ephram to be jealous and insecure about. Remember the daggers she was shooting with her eyes while Ephram and Laynie were skating together? The fact that Laynie was/is her friend would make it even more fun.

MAKRO.. "My Funny Valentine" is one of my all time favorite episodes. Jealous Amy rocked. I loved how her jaw dropped whenever Ephram and Laynie walked inside the house while Amy and Colin were sitting on the couch, to the huge jealous rant and freaking out in choir with Ephram, as Ephram caught onto her jealousy and made things worse by ticking her off more :lol: to Amy being in absolutely turmoil while listening to Laynie talk about Ephram and watching Laynie and Ephram skating and kissing. Great stuff. :D

WILPEN:
Totally agree. Then if they would have Laynie hit if off big-time with Hannah (threatening Amy's best-friend status) and start dating Bright (double dates with her and Ephram!), it would be perfect! We could have jealous Amy back.

MAKRO.. I love your scenario. That would be perfect. :D That is a fantastic idea about Laynie and Hannah hitting it off and causing jealousy with Amy. They have said that Hannah is the "female Ephram," and it would be outstanding to see jealous Amy in this situation. I also love Laynie and Bright and interacting with E/A. Laynie is the biggest flirt and I think she would have Amy on alert at all times. :lol:

Does anyone know if it's been explained why Laynie is still in boarding school? I know that she went initially as a result of her parents' inability to deal with Colin's accident, and their subsequent inability to be parents to Laynie. And from her "why I hate Everwood rant" it seemed that she didn't mind going. When she went back again, it was :
a) because she suspected Colin's health was failing and she couldn't bear to watch, and;
b) Because of what happened between her and Ephram.
I missed a couple of her appearances in Season 2. Was she just back during a school break, or was she back at the local school? I do remember her parents were trashed when Colin died; her father became a drunk and her mother was on pills. Has there been anything about them since? The only thing I remember this season was Amy telling Hannah Laynie was still in boarding school.

Her parents are a complete mess and her supposed best friend refuses to speak to her despite the fact she told her the truth about her druggie boyfriend that was more or less proven within a week. And even when her only "friend" DID speak to her, Amy seemed way too self-absorbed to offer any solace or comfort to Laynie.

Part of the reasons she liked Ephraim was that she was an outsider who wasnt all that popular at high school to begin with.

Unfortunately given the rather dismal acquaintances that she has in Everwood and that she has high ambitions for herself that involve getting away from Everwood it makes sense she'd want to go back to boarding school. For her Everwood really did bite.

But I can only conclude the powers that be just simply didnt like Nora. The character was supposed to be a major character and got scaled back soon after she was introduced. She was brought back season 2 more as a plot device than an actual character. Probably not enough teenyboppers posted about her on the WB board or something.

Wish they had paired up with Bright so that both could've gotten more screen time. And she would've been wild enough not bore him but together enough to try to whip him into shape.

Thanks, Raja:
I wasn't aware of a lot of that. Now, having her gone makes a lot more sense.

Wasn't she a model before starring in Tv-shows.

I remember feeling so sorry for Laynie whenever she left for boarding school in season 1 when she was the only one in her family that recognized that Colin was getting worse, and she couldn't be around to see it. :( Seriously, Laynie, Ephram, Bright and Andy were the only ones that knew what was up with Colin. Amy and the Hart's were in total denial.

I agree that maybe the WB didn't like Nora. WHY I don't know. Man, I hate the politics surrounding stuff like this. I just can't understand why Nora would be ousted. Laynie was soooooo popular! It just doesn't make sense to me.

I think some of it is they probably didnt have that good of an idea of what they wanted to do with the character. Originally Kat Denning was cast as Laynie which probably would've made it a very different part. (Vapid with large breasts versus laid back and waifish).

I think I used this example before but a few years ago 90210 thought of ditching Tiffani Amber-Thiessen because they thougth she didn't appeal to male viewers. They held a focus group and that is what the morons they consulted said. Of course that was patently ridiculous as any male who saw TAT trying to seduce Brandon Walsh in lingerie can attest. There was actually a letter campaign to save her spot.

It's not uncommon for networks to hold focus groups of their core demographics to see what they think about stories and characters. So in the case of the WB it would be a room of Hilary Duff wannabes. ;) But to be honest she's in a difficult situation. Any character introduced after a show premieres and that gets in the way of an already established (potential) coupling has a high potential to be unpopular. One example being Emilie de Ravin who was tossed from Roswell.

And sadly the networks actually DO care about teeny boppers on their message boards. And probably fewer people were posting messages supporting Ephram (or Bright) and Laynie than other pairings. If you think those people are shallow, you should the see network executives who indulge them. :)

Raja

Wow, I never knew about TAT on 90210. I can't believe they would come up with the lame idea that she didn't appeal to male viewers. Huh? That is ridiculous.

You bring up an excellent point regarding any character getting in the way of an established or potential pairing as having difficulty sticking around. I can see that, but what I don't get is, usually, the audience seems to also agree about wanting to oust the character. But for the most majority of fans, we didn't want Laynie ousted. :(

And that is just plain lame if all the stupid network did was lurk over on the WB board that has 13 year olds over there posting things. :rolleyes: You are so right, that they do still listen to these very young teeny boppers.. In fact, I can barely even stand being over there because I can gather immediately upon being over there, how very young the age group is, as well as how ridiculous the topics and comments over there actually are. I could just picture the network absorbing all the comments over there and you're right, there probably wasn't huge Ephram/Laynie fans over there. It's unbelievable that they would not take into accout that A) The internet is only a tiny part of who watches, B) If you are going to do some website lurking, take a look at a well rounded age demographic, instead of listening to just opinions from the teeny boppers, as they are only just a fraction of the age group that watches Everwood.. In fact, I would bet the median age is around 30 years old if I had to guess.. Everwood is unique because the age group that watches is diverse. Not just strickly young teens so you absolutely can't just go by what this young population thinks.. But like you said, the network execs indulge them, nonetheless, which completely blows my mind.

I've been working my way through the Season 1 DVD recently, and, after watching her episodes, I think Laynie brought elements to the show which have gone missing without her:
1) She brought spunk. I am enjoying Hannah's friendship with Amy, but the shy, and now tragic, Hannah is no challenge to her. She doesn't bring the "needle" like Laynie did; the sense of fun (remember, I'm talking about Season 1). For example, I loved her telling Amy and Colin to go back to their tickling when she brought Ephram home with her from the post office (where "someone was trying to return him"). In that situation, Hannah would probably be more embarrassed than anything else. I'd like to see that quality brought back.
2) She was a formidable foil for Ephram; sharp wit, "in your face" attitude. Even though he didn't love her, you could see he enjoyed their exchanges greatly.
3) Best of all, she brought us Jealous Amy. The Laynie-induced Jealous Amy was fun. The Madison-induced one is not.
I missed most of her appearances in Season 2, where I understand she was treated poorly by Depressed Amy. It's interesting that Amy still described Laynie to Hannah as her best friend before Hannah attained that status.
Bringing her back and inserting her into the current Amy/Ephram dynamic, with the added element of Hannah, would seem to offer vast story potential, along with the return of some of the fun which seems to be missing without her.

I had no idea Kat Dennings was going to be Laynie. I like Kat, but I just can't imagine her playing her. I'm happy they went with Nora, she was a good choice. I've still got my fingers crossed that they'll bring her back sometime this season. Maybe that's wishful thinking, I don't know.

Are the season one DVDs worth it? I kind of want to get them.