As one of the stars of Grey's Anatomy, one of the most popular shows on television in the past year or so, Isaiah Washington seemed to have it pretty good -- until an incident in October of 2006 in which he reportedly used a homophobic slur against a fellow castmate. Still, he apologized (at the prompting of Touchstone Television) and underwent anger counseling. It might have been but a minor bump in Washington's career had he not continued to antagonize fellow cast members by such things as his flippant remarks about the incident at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January of 2007.

Still, he went back to work on the hit show, amid speculation that the incident would influence impending salary negotiations. But by June ABC had had enough and cut Washington loose. Further accusations flew, and Washington threatened to sue, to leave the country to dedicate himself to charity work, and to focus solely on a career in independent film.

Disney will scale back its film production schedule, and the bulk of its pared down offerings will be ten traditional Disney-style films a year -- with just two or three entries under its Touchstone brand. So, more Shaggy Dog less M. Night Shyamalan -- whose new film from Warner, "Lady in the Water," (unrelated to today's Disney announcement) ends a relationship between Disney and the writer/director that generated four straight hits.

Right now, Disney produces about 18 films a year. The cutbacks at Disney will result in the elimination of 650 jobs worldwide.

I found no specifics about where the cuts will come from, but Disney stated that the Disney features unit, Pixar, and Miramax, were among the divisions that weren't going to be affected by cuts. (Reuters).

Among those individuals pushed out already is Nina Jacobson, formerly production head at Walt Disney Pictures, who will be replaced by Oren Aviv, currently chief creative officer at Walt Disney Studios.