ABC's canceled-too-soon Eli Stone is still making gossip headlines weeks after the series finale aired on ... a Saturday night.Via the Watch with Kristin column over at E! Online, we learn what the writers had planned beyond that last Eli Stone episode ABC aired.
Executive producer and creator Marc Guggenheim dishes about Eli and Maggie, Eli and Grace, the flash-forward in Times Square, Dr. Chen and Nate, Matt and Taylor, Jordan and Taylor's mother, Nate and Maggie (yes, you read right), and much more!
Spoilers(?) coming up!
I'm not sure they really qualify as spoilers since the series has been canceled and the tidbits below are not part of unaired episodes that may see the light of a DVD boxset. In any case, this is a quick rundown of what the writers had in store for us if ABC had renewed the series, which got better and better as the end came near.
- Eli and Maggie would have started dating and things would have been great until Grace came back in town.
- The writers are not sure Eli could have ended up with Grace due to Katie Holmes' schedule. However, Eli and Maggie wouldn't have lasted.
- Instead, Maggie would have ended up with Nate. Remember the baby Maggie holds in that flash-forward in Times Square? That's her baby, and the father is Nate!
- Nate would have joined forces with Dr. Chen and opened a practice together after Nate lost his job at the hospital.
- Matt and Taylor would have gotten married. Matt would have turned out to be a great father while Taylor would have had a hard time making things work between motherhood and work.
- Jordan would have reunited with Taylor's mother. The show was hoping to get Goldie Hawn to play the role.
- Wethersby Stone was set to grow and grow. Maggie would have eventually come back to the firm.
- The writers wanted Eli's profile as a prophet to grow stronger and stronger each season to eventually have him talk to crowds of thousands of people. They even planned that Eli would have had to quit the firm because he was getting too popular as a prophet.
What do you think of these "spoilers"? Do you think the path the writers were taking with the show was a good one? I, for one, would have been interested in seeing Nate and Maggie together, as well as seeing how the Western/Eastern Medical Practice with Nate and Chen would have turned out. I was never a Maggie+Eli shipper, but I would have liked to see more of Eli and Grace because I liked how she embraced his "gift" and weirdness.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-17-2009 @ 3:44PM
David said...
Ouch - talk about opening up old wounds. Thank you Isabelle. Screw you ABC.
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8-17-2009 @ 3:44PM
Isabelle Carreau said...
Yeah, it's always bitter-sweet to hear what could have been for series, especially when series were canceled without being able to give a proper goodbye or before wrapping up huge mysteries.
8-26-2009 @ 8:35PM
Redhed said...
hahahahahaha My sentiments exactly, David. I get so melancholy anytime I think about the series Eli Stone and how it was so quickly canceled with little or no marketing of it. That was the only show on prime time TV that I made sure I never missed. I'll never forgive ABC for ignoring it.
8-17-2009 @ 3:57PM
Richard said...
I liked Maggie and Eli together. The union of Chen and Nate would have been a wondrous melding of the diverse philosophies. Goldie Hawn as Taylor's mother--genius! The only thing I don't think I would have liked would be Eli giving up defending the weak to become a national guru. But, it might have worked. Too bad we won't find out.
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8-17-2009 @ 5:08PM
John said...
For once I feel happy that a show was canceled "before its time" because with those plans the show would have sucked. :/
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8-17-2009 @ 5:00PM
killer_twinkie said...
I didn't even know that the finale aired :-( I'll have to wait for the DVD's for all the episodes I missed.
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8-17-2009 @ 5:09PM
Isabelle Carreau said...
ABC sneakily aired the unaired episodes of Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money, and Pushing Daisies on Saturdays in May and June.
8-18-2009 @ 7:24AM
killer_twinkie said...
It's too bad that original programming means nearly nothing right now. This series kinda helped me and my roommate come together. Every week after Lost we would watch this and got really into it. I didn't watch either of the others but what I saw of Pushing Daisies was really good.
8-18-2009 @ 7:24AM
David said...
These were great to read, thank you! Bon Voyage, Eli Stone. You will be missed.
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8-19-2009 @ 6:07PM
Daune said...
Thanks for this. I like Nate and Maggie together. Mainly, I like Eli and Grace together. And, I knew Matt would be a great Dad. They were showing him softening all last season, and I loved that. What a shame. I miss Eli (and Charlie Crews from NBC's Life) a lot.
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8-19-2009 @ 2:12PM
sarah said...
sounds like it would have been great. I think I would have liked Maggie and Nate together.
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8-21-2009 @ 9:22PM
rwalter said...
I'm not as disappointed in Eli Stone being canceled now that I now what the writers had in stored for the viewers. Maggie & Eli were perfect for each & why would they put Nate with another one of Eli's former lovers? The writers did that already. I'm sorry but there was no chemistry between Grace & Eli. Could only see Eli as a lawyer defending difficult cases with Maggie.
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9-30-2009 @ 4:32AM
aydee said...
I completely agree with Rwalter. What a bunch of crap. I wish I never read those future plans. Nate and Maggie? Are you kidding me? It was pretty much suggested from the beginning that Eli and Maggie would be together.
And I agree, I saw NO chemistry whatsoever in Eli and Grace. It would be a good storyline cause of all the times she's been saved because of the Stone's, but Maggie and Eli are clearly soul mates. I would have rather had Eli end up with Beth then Grace.
And I'm really mad about Eli leaving the firm, HIS firm to become a superstar. That's against the whole idea of the show and the main message that it's not about money or power, it's about doing what's right. Hate to see this series go, but I love that it didn't carry on to that crap.
I'm going to continue to pretend that Eli and Maggie at Time's Square was them being together.
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