With Billy (Gil Bellows) leaving Ally McBeal, what's his estranged wife, Georgia, to do? Follow suit.
Courtney Thorne-Smith, whose Georgia has been a romantic rival, colleague, and sometime smooch partner of series star Calista Flockhart's Ally, is leaving the Fox show at the end of this season.
Thorne-Smith is being courted for her own sitcom series for next fall and is currently reviewing scripts from several networks, according to Variety.
Along with Heather Locklear (now on ABC's Spin City), Thorne-Smith is one of the few Melrose Place alums to land on a successful show after that long-running soaper closed up shop.
The characters of Georgia and Billy were created for the short term but grew into an integral part of the surreal legal ensemble, says Ally exec producer David E. Kelley. "We've had a great run with these characters, who we originally planned to use for the first season only. Billy and Georgia will re-occur next season, and new characters will be introduced this year," the prolific TV figure says in a statement.
After leaving Melrose Place, Thorne-Smith had a half-hour sitcom in mind but was convinced to join Kelley's hour-long comic drama for one season. Three seasons and numerous legal wranglings and catfights later, it's finally time for Georgia to leave the building.