Originally posted by: sao123
Being that there are only 2 houses left for this year...
It appears that since Kutner left the show, amber has had/will be having recurring roles as houses imaginary friend/consultant... What will cutthroat bitch do next week?
I bet the writers are sorry they killed her off now, she really could have been an every show character... Plus she is just so dam hot...
This includes a lot of my speculative "insight," but I'm pretty sure that this is what happened:
The show had too many "major" or "important" characters and the producers saw that it would soo be too expensive as the specific characters gained audience following and their actors demanded higher pay. They saw this coming a mile away and therefore had to "demote" some characters to "minor" or rather "disposable" characters. Obviously, this would upset their following, so they don't want to get rid of them completely... just lower their importance and thus lower the "price" they can demand in salary negotiations. Cuddy, Wilson, and House are considered the major characters. The writers have demonstrated a willingness to write Foreman off the show and demonstrably reduced Cameron and Chase to even lower importance.
All this got started during Season 3's salary negotiations for Season 4. Obviously, the supporting actors wanted too much due to their audience endearment, so the producers had to prove that they were willing to ignore this. No better way to do this than to up-end the table and replace them all. The writers "fired" their characters at the end of Season 3 and reduced their role to nearly-nothing in Season 4. Season 4's actors came cheap because of the reality-show inspired gimmick: Keep everyone in the dark as to whether or not they will be a regular/important character for more than just the one season (or less).
They played that for all that it was worth and kept them in the dark going into contract negotiations for Season 5! No doubt, this is why Amber was writen in as Wilson's girlfriend... the actors didn't know which three of them would "win" before those final episodes were created if four + the original three are all being offered contracts. The Amber character was, no doubt, only written in for those initial episodes to maintain that bargaining chip. Wilson's girlfriend?! HA! There were probably minimum-episode clauses in the Season 5 contract, so Amber has returned to finish those... AFTER Season 6 negotiations have finished. Because it required a Deus Ex Machina story-telling device, it probably played well into Season 6 negotiations as well: The other actors will see that the writers were quick to end her character without having even met the minimum episode clause yet, then the writers happily song & dance their way around it after the next negotiations are finalized. It shows that they aren't afraid to let it affect the show, so the actors lose that bargaining chip. Kutner being written out of the season abruptly doubly drove this point home... the actor didn't even have to film a parting/going-away episode before leaving to take his post in the Obama administration (the body's head is not visible... it's not him).
I'm pretty sure that Amber will not be in Season 6 and that all this was smoke-and-mirrors to negotiate with the rest of the current cast. Hell, I expect to lose Thirteen for Cameron and then regain Chase to have a four-man team for less money than the old three person team would have cost... they will all be on their toes after seeing how aggressively they can be written out with no disillusionments about how much they can demand in salary negotiations for Season 7.
It's the only network TV show I watch. I agree that it hasn't been good since Season 3 but as long as they have the ratings they believe that they can do whatever they want to cut costs. That Season 4 reality-show gimmick IMPROVED ratings in a WGA-strike-shortened season.
As for her "hotness," the characters talk about her "smokin'" legs and nice body because they know her face just isn't "hot" material. Of course, "hot" usually implies the total package is Grade-A, so that means "NOT hot" by my definition. That said, the other characters are simply too beautiful and it harms believability. The last thing in the world I'd want to see is for Anne Dudek to plasticize her face like every other actress for the sake of us Internet trolls and shallow viewers. I hope she stays the same and I wish her well on whatever gigs she gets.