Eric/Calleigh romance - why we dislike it. **spoilers**

One may leave ,others will come.How can we tell that many are not waiting for E/C to actually start watching?It's hard to tell but as far as I can see,ratings has remained the same so the relationship is not significant rating wise.They may improve next monday a little but if the writers don't come up with compelling storylines,it will be the same again.See,there is more in Miami then Eric and Calleigh, so in order for the ratings to increase or decrease something that surpasses them has to happen.

And to be fair ,if people that do not watch are as active as us,the writers have enough to keep them interested.


MJ,I never meant to say that ALL fans want Eric and Caleigh and that is the reason is happening now.But when I see such strong reactions from both sides ,I think the storyline is working.I have been in the opposite side (in CSI LV ) and now I believe that the debate kept the storyline alive.It will be a failure,IMO when we get a promo like the recent one and nobody cares.At the end,writers want ratings so if we comment so intensely means that we care.It would be imposible for me to quantify how many viewers has a particular ship or not but maybe the producers did and went for the most "attractive " one for most viewers .Again ,this is JMO,not a fact.

 

I don't know that this storyline started out as the overwhelming fan choice that it's now being advertised to be. I think TPTB started slowly marketing it a while back and some bought into and some didn't. And the more TPTB said fans were supporting it the more the media jumped on the bandwagon and all of a sudden "everyone" wanted Calleigh and Eric together. It's called selling it. Only they forgot to define "everyone".

Because those who haven't gotten involved in the discussion or aren't online posting about this type of thing have gotten left out and because they aren't vocal they are just sucked into the "everyone" group.

I certainly was one who, until very recently, didn't make my feelings known. As I stated earlier, everyone of my family and friends have stopped watching this show. Most because of the Calleigh/Eric "soap opera" relationship (their words - not mine). It was their choice and I respect that.

I hope to hang in their and ride it out and hope that very soon we get back to what is most important - the team and the science. That's what the fast forward button is for.

 

Quite honestly I don’t hate the couple itself, since I’m kinda happy for them they’re finally together.
If that’s what TPTB and fans wanted, I’m just glad they did it.
The thing I don’t like about it is the way they did it.
In fact the things which make me kinda hate this couple are:
-Eric’s in troubles & the only person who helps him is Calleigh
-Calleigh is in troubles & the only person who helps her is Eric
-Jake as a part of the triangle. I still think they used him just to get Eric & Calleigh together.
-My loss of respect towards both Calleigh & Eric.
While I’m gonna say what I don’t like abou it, I’m gonna quote some people with their thoughts I found interesting

I’ve always seen Calleigh & Eric as very good friends possibly best friends after Speedle death since they were the only ones left from the original team except for Alexx & H.
I also thought they were going to get together after it & I was kinda shipping them (I’ll admit it) b/c I did find it pretty interesting to put these two together to kinda honour our beloved Speedle.
The thing went on even with Ryan’s arrival since at first I hated him. He was the newbie & Speed’s replacement not to mention that I hated his behaviour. But what Eric is doing right now along with Calleigh and TPTB, IMHO, is even worse than everything Ryan did in his first 2 season.

I still think that my hate for this couple started with “Man down” & its consequences.
We all know that people don’t recover that fast from a bullet their temporal lobe and they don’t get back to work so fast as he did.
Since the beginning of his recovery we know he’s not going to be the old Eric Delko, again.
Alexx said it & hey she’s a doctor.

We saw a radical change in Eric. He’s not that immature guy he used to be in the first 4 seasons and he doesn’t hang out with different girls every week (toothing stuff included)
He’s a completely different guy. He’s unsure & very sensitive. He’s also a kind guy. It looks to me as if they wanted to transform him into the prince charming he’s not. IMHO, TPTB can’t pretend we never knew the old Eric Delko, the guy who just wanted to have fun with some girls he met in the disco.
While I can appreciate a more mature Delko, I still can’t get over the idea they’re pretending he’s the prince charming. He’s never been it, he’s not it and he won’t ever be it, IMHO.

Obviously, as a person who has a bullet in his temporal lobe, he has lots of difficulties while working: he has memory lapses ( he didn’t remember Marisol’s death), he made a mistake with H20 & H202, he suffers from hallucinations and he needs a cheat sheet to make sure he’s doing the right steps on a crime scene.
The bad idea TPTB had was to use Calleigh has his personal tutor. As far as I know H should be Eric’s supervisor, he’s also Calleigh’s one. So if you asked me should Calleigh help Eric, I’d say no, she’s not his personal supervisor. Not to mention that, after all, Horatio is his brother-in law.
Still they’re both in the limits of professionalism.

In the meantime we have this guy named Jake who has something going on with Calleigh and she never talks about it with Eric until she’s on the phone arranging her first date with Jake.
At the end of s5 we have the first conversation between Calleigh & Eric about their feelings for each others. While she tells him she’s not even sure how she feels about Jake, when Jake gets out of the elevator and kisses her, she’s not able to shut him down. She didn’t refuse the kiss and nobody can’t tell me that Jake forced her. He was the first one to kiss her, but she could have easily shut him down. Still she did it in front of Eric’s puppy eyes.
That’s exactly when I began loosing my respect towards Calleigh, though she still remained my fav. character of the show.
Even if she kinda gave some hopes to Eric about her feelings for him, she decided to stay with Jake and to go with him on vacation.
As much as it’s not that fair towards Eric, I can understand her behaviour in that moment, though I’ll admit..it’s left me kinda confused.

The beginning of s6 was all about Calleigh having a normal relationship with her boyfriend (b/c yeah she opted for Jake when she had to choose her guy) and it was all as a background story. We didn’t have CaKe moments in every single episode. All we had was a professional Calleigh working on crime scenes with her co-workers & enjoying her moments with Jake (at some crime scenes too).
But still we have plenty of e/c moments all over the episodes. Even if they’re not together we have at least on e/c scene in every single episode of s6.
Things got worse when Calleigh and Jake broke up because of the famous Stetler law with the helps of Delko. Even if he didn’t do it on purpose, he still did it, but TPTB still go on with the whole prince charming idea of Eric.

Anway both Calleigh & Delko are professional.
When Calleigh is involved in that bad accident of “Stand Your Ground” who’s the guy who’s there for her? Eric. It’s just Eric. Even Horatio who’s there, doesn’t ask anything about her condition.
Not to mention that the episode rotated on the idea that Jake was drunk & still working. What about Calleigh who was drunk and still shot at 2 people. She could have easily prevented to shoot, but she decided to empty her gun. And that’s when professionalism starts to disappear from the show. Not to mention that H’s team shouldn’t have investigated on it since Calleigh was involved.

Then, when Calleigh is kidnapped a guy disappeared from the show: Jake.
By the time they wrote & shot that episode Johnny Whitworth was available, but nobody decided to use his character, though he was need at least to have coherent storyline.
I’m pretty sure most of you thought “where the hell is Jake? Where the hell is her boyfriend?” (also because they mentioned him on Cooper’s site).
Again, I think it was made on purpose to have Eric as prince charming saving the day. I didn’t mind it ‘cause I was happy to finally see the team at least concerned for their Bullet Girl. The problem is that for an episode like this we had to saw Alexx in what? 2 seconds per episode? I mean she’s kinda Calleigh’s mother & she wasn’t even worried about her while everyone else was looking for her?
Not to mention that the ending of the episode was just about Eric driving Calleigh home. I mean yeah I liked it, but I would have preferred to see the whole team with her saying “hey I’m glad you’re ok” or something like this.

The whole team dynamic got lost because of E/C interfering with the plotlines.
I know TPTB wanted them to get together but they sacrificed too many things & people.
-Johnny Whitworth. What was the purpose to have him just to show he’s another bad guy for Calleigh? Did they want to show how prince charming Eric can be? There was absolutely no need to put Jake into the play.
-Eva La Rue. Does she have an interesting plotline in this show? Since Nick’s death I haven’t seen any interesting plotline for Natalia & it’s too bad, IMHO, b/c she’s a very good actress.
-Khandi Alexander. It doesn’t surprise me at all the idea she left the show b/c she hade very few screentime. I know that we never got an official interview of Khandi, but I still can’t get over this idea. Look how many interesting plotlines had Alexx in these last 3 years? 2: When Alexx left the team & when Alexx came back as an MD to save Calleigh’s life.
-Jonathan Togo. He’s another very good actor & I love how he can play Ryan’s character very well with his interactions with the other characters which are just great.

Exactly. I really don’t get the way they did it. I mean, lots of people are best friends & can get together after certain events, but what happened to both Calleigh & Delko in order to put them together was a little bit too much. Did they really need to put a bullet in Eric’s head, to kidnap Calleigh, to make her have 1000 car crashes or stuff like that, to have her ending up in an hospital bed in coma??? I don’t think so.
They could have put these 2 together in lots of different ways.

I kinda think the team interaction was put aside since Speedle’s death. I was discussing about it on another forum and hey Calleigh & Horatio’s hug was the last moment we had to see something touching on a show like this. They were hugging b/c they just lost a member of their team & they were going to his funeral. That’s the last time I saw a scene like this on Miami.
Now whenever one of the members of the team is in trouble, also he/she’s in an hospital bed they’re kinda “whatever”. I still think that “Smoke gets in your CSIs” proved it.

I know that TPTB do everything they can for ratings, but I still think we’re getting too many interviews about this couple.
I know that both Emily & Adam enjoy this moment since they’re gonna have to play as a real couple, but it’s kinda annoying to read or hear other interviews to ELR or JT w/ the interviewers who ask them questions about Calleigh & Eric. Are you kidding me? Come on you could ask some questions about their characters instead of asking them about a relationship they’re not playing in. But hey what kind of question can you make to people who practically have some normal scenes every now & then in this show?
Still I kinda hate the fact the articles & interviews are all about their relationship & also how the other member of the cast & crew reacted to their first kiss. I think it was kinda unpolite towards people who may not like this relationship (cast & crew included).

It wouldn’t surprise me at all to find that Cal is pregnant & not because of Eric. Quite honestly, that’s the direction the show (the whole franchise) has been taking in these last years. And quite honestly, I don’t like it b/c that wasn’t the reason why I started watching CSI.
I loved CSI:Miami more than the other 2 b/c we had more glimpse on our CSI’s personal lives, but it wasn’t that much we’re having right now with the whole E/C stuff.

The problem, is that they’ve been dragging out this love story for more than 2 years without succeeding. Look at GSR & Danny & Linsday on NY, did it take them so long to finally show their feelings.
Once it was clear they’re going to play with them, it didn’t take them more than 2 years to finally play their cards as it happened with E/C.
That’s one of the major reason why I don’t like this couple.

Let’s say it has been erratic for lots of episode since s6 and the fact they’re now together after some episode like the last one “Head Case” included, leaves me kinda “uh what did I saw last week?”

It is one of my biggest issue too.
When I first saw her (it was her hilarious scene in “Dispo Day”) I thought she was a normal (well probably it’s too much considering the scene :lol: ) who enjoys working and having fun with her collegues.
Whenever it’s time to help some of her friends she’s ready to do it as long as it remains professional.
When Speedle died she could have wrote a colmpletely different reason from “malfunctioning gun”. It was a professional way to say “look his gun didn’t function & we all know why, but let’s not do it since we don't want to speculate on a dead person”. It was a form of respect towards both Speed and her professionalism.
Whenever she’s helping Eric she’s on the verge of being unprofessional & what she did both in “Down to the Wire” & “And how does that make you kill” was way unprofessional and yeah she left me kinda disappointed w/ her character. This is not Calleigh Duquesne, the one I know. This is Calleigh Duquesne, the one who has to be put together with her co-worker she has never loved since she chose for other people instead of him, more than once.

Considering what they have been doing in these last season I can easily picture this rule completely disappeared. I just can’t imagine TPTB ruining this couple with this very simple rule so that they won’t disappoint their fans.
If I were a TPTB I wouldn’t do that, considering what fans have been waiting for more than 2 years. I promised it and I have to keep promises.
So if you ask me, the real problem is that TPTB wanted to make their fans happy, but they don’t know that not all of people love this couple. Let’s say that there are lots of non-E/C fans. So they should have just written something else for the other characters or for the whole team, instead of going on with this romance.

What she did in “Down to the Wire” was completely irresponsible & that’s exactly the moment which really disappointed me.
Eric is still suffering from the bullet lodged in his temporal lobe and surely a CSI who uses a cheat sheet on a crime scene isn’t a good thing, even if he didn’t read it while on the crime scene. Still he had it & that cheat sheet put Calleigh in danger. If Cooper hadn’t seen that piece of paper, he wouldn’t have created his website & we all know what would have happened, if the website hadn’t existed.
When she was taken off the case by Stetler b/c of it (it was pretty clear by their discussion) I really hoped she was going to talk with H ‘cause she risked her life b/c of that cheat sheet. There’s no way to deny it and it was pretty clear also in her discourse while she was confronting Eric. The fact she didn’t tell H the whole stuff left me really disappointed with her character. I never thought she could behave the way she did. It was really disappointing &, let me say, out of character.

As much she’s still my fav. character, yeah I lost respect for her right in this moment.
It was unprofessional the fact Eric was reading through his shrink’s files. There’s no way he could have done it, but he did it. The most disgusting thing was that they had to put Calleigh in that scene too. Not to mention the purpose of it. So that she could read what Eric’s feelings for her were? WOW!!! What a great way to do it!!!
Seriously, do you need to make your lead character (since she’s having a far major role than H in this season) the less professional person at work? So that everyone can trust her?
That’s absolutely the worst way to do it.
That is not Calleigh Duquesne. That is the girl who Eric is going to jump on!

The positive thing of this romance is that the idea of not wanting it made me love Ryan, Natalia & Frank.
I already loved them since they were growing on me, but definitely this romance was a huge step for me to love this trio.

This promo should have been about a murder on a ship (or something like this, if I recall correctly), Eric’s biological father and Eric in prison. But no, it was about Calleigh & Eric.
As much as I hate Eric’s stuff, I would have preferred to see Eric in prison, Eric crying, Eric punching his father (well that’s the only thing that happened along with his arrest) and Eric talking about his family with someone like H or Ryan.

That’s the reason n.1 I don’t like this couple. I enjoy CaKe or even Carwash or Ducaine just b/c you don’t have to see it in every single episode.

Exactly, but still she didn’t talk about it with H. At least, we never had the chance to see it.
There are too many behind the scenes things regarding Calleigh’s behaviour (towards Eric) when she’s with the other members of the team.
Again, I just can’t see the team anymore.

Again, I still love Calleigh & appreciate Delko, but I find it more & more difficult everyday to cope with them as a couple because of the reasons I just mentioned.

I really hope I didn’t offend anyone’s feeling with my opinion/rambling & I’m ready to discuss it with anyone

 

Electra, I do see your point, but again I don't really feel that just because something/someone is heavily talked about (negative or positive) that it should be the reason that they(TPTB) avoid everything else they've written & stick with it; nor do I think at all that "discussing" means the said story is working. If it was working for everyone, then everyone would be discussing it in a positive light.
I'd just like to see more creativity on thier parts instead of seeing things they've pulled from some fans' wants. It shows me that they've become a little desperate. I mean some of these stories have been strait out of fanfic, & it seems to be that it's TPTB's way of just pleasing one set of fans. & Im not just referring to ships, because I would never want this show turned into Grey's Anatomy where all the characters are bedhopping & swapping DNA. But it's kinda feeling that way at times, given the past.

When word came out about Horatio's dark side, there were many vocal sides, some liked it, & others were completely disgusted with the idea. It even had it's own thread as well. Horatio is always talked about too (good & bad), but I don't see that TPTB have directly pulled ideas from the fans to lead them in the direction of an entire story for them.

 

The fact that the storyline od E/C is working is no reason to forget other characters and to write compelling stories.That's where probably the future of the show is about.Fan talk is important IMO.AJ(from NY) was made a regular becouse fans liked him even in a small role.Maybe if we have seen more positive talk about natalia on the board,she would have more to do on the show.

 

I just don't see it that way. Obviously there was a reason why they wanted to keep Eva/Natalia, THEY obviously liked her, & Im sure Eva's fans may have sent "nice" fanmail to her or TPTB regarding her character.

I think it is completely wrong to push aside a character ...why...only because a message board doesn't speak highly of her? That's just plain & simply wrong - it doesn't mean that there aren't other millions of viewers who DO like her, & want to see more of her!
I don't think it should be made into a popularity contest. This show has wonderful actors, & loveable characters (2 I obviously have grown to not appreciate, sadly) but hey they are all there for a reason, & regardless of how many folks "talk" about them, they EACH deserve the same amount of screentime & storyarcs.
It should NEVER boil down to focus on only 3 characters for the sole purpose of being "heavily & positivly" discussed on message boards.

I'm with Florry when I say the one thing that has been positive about e/c is the fact that, I too, have grown to appreciate Ryan now more than ever! I was & always will be a huge Eva/Natalia fan, so I don't need to go there, but I was never fully impressed with Ryan's character. Though I loved Togo. But now after all this e/c bombarding....geeeshhh....It just made me miss his character, & eager to know more about him.
I don't have that kind of appreciatation for e/c, sorry but I just don't.
I find it insulting towards fans & the other actors when 2 people can hop on thier clouds & pimp themselves out while thier co-stars sit back & get next to nothing.

 

Just MJSZUD I am one who is anything but happy with the possible hook up between Eric and Calleigh. To my eyes this possible union has a number of problems.
-the romance seems contrived, as if the writers are pulling things out of thin air to keep viewers interested
-TPTB has overplayed their hand with these two. They have been teasing us with the possibility of E/C for 2 1/2 seasons. This does not seem realistic or plausible.
-Visually, E/C seems to lack believable chemistry. They just don't appear as a natural couple. Somehow it seems forced.
-I also don't like how it has changed certain traits of the characters. For example, ever since Delko started pining away for Calleigh, the confident fellow he was has morphed into a sort of indecisive and needy sort. This was a far cry from what he was when he and Natalia dated. Even in the few scenes that Eric and Nat get this season you can see the difference. With Nat he seems happier, more confident, more animated, and more fun.
And the two look like a far more natural a couple than E/C and they just drip sex appeal.

Something I find strange about the timing of a possible E/C hook up. If it is such a big deal for Eric and Calleigh to start a relationship, why don't they save such an event for a season finale? Instead TPTB seems to be starting this in mid-season. This could be an indicator that the story of E/C is not going to be a "happily ever after" sort of thing. There are issues with Terrence the horse dude, and maybe Jake Berkley could make an appearance.
I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

 

Oh ,I didn't mean like a popularity contest in message boards.While I do believe that is important,I am sure TPTB have their way to meassure which characters fans are more interested to see.But of course ,that doesn't mean that a show should be dedicated to just one character.Everyone is important on this show and the most important thing should be the case.

IMO ,CSI miami is not doing bad at all after 7 seasons.Even LV is not as good as it was before.But I do believe that the fact that Horatio is more human and that Ryan is getting more screentime has improved the show.And of course E/C makes it better for me.To have this ratings after so much time is impressive.

I have been in the other side (with GSR) and while I do not believe message boards are everything,heated debates mean something for producers.The worst thing is creating a story that nobody talks about.

But I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.

 

I am not saying that all we talk is going to be presented on the show.Afterall I am not TPTB.I just think it works better to promote something positive about the characters and storylines we like.What may seem negative ,may work in a different way.To be fair ,due to all this talk,I even rented season 6 Dvds just to see is certain statements are true or not .So in MY case,I am even more interested that what I was before.

Who knows what is in the future of E/C? The way it has been presented makes me think it would not be a short fling.If not it will probably be over already and they will be friends like Eden.But I will just enjoy the ride.

 

A few on this thread have made comments on how glad they are that the writers seem to be "listening" to the fans via fan boards like this one and elsewhere. Their logic is that the vast majority of fans wanted E/C and thus they got it!
Just because the fans want something does not mean they should always get it. Such philosophy has been the kiss of death for a number of shows over the years.
I'm not against romance on any of the CSI shows per se. I think CSI-LV did a great job with Grissom and Sarah. It did not "take over" the show's concept and the relationship did not overshadow other characters on the show. Grissom and Sarah seemed a beleivable match and one saw enough of the two together to realize that the two were involved in an intimate relationship and that's all you needed. The same could be said of Danny and Lindsay on CSI-NY. The relationship does not dominate the show's concept nor does it act to the detriment to the show's other characters. I actually like the contrast there, the girl from Montana falls for the street-wise guy from New York City.
With E/C, that sort of dynamic is missing. E/C fans love to say "Calleigh has always been there for him and vice versa." So what? The southern belle and the tall, athletic Cuban don't seem to mix well.

With regards to the pair's timing, I can only say that it is odd and I would be willing to bet that there is something in store for the two that will take place prior to or at the end of the season. Of what that may be I just don't know.

 

Interesting how we can see things differently.I dislike GSR and D/L with a passion but I still watch becouse the cases are interesting enough. They are fans that actively hate or like each other of them so neither of them is liked by everyone.But for sure there is controversy about it.

Who knows how television works? It changes everyday and we don't know what will be important tomorrow.I would have never guessed that CSI would include any relationship at all considering how it started.But we have a big one in each of them.

 

Hmm, well actually I do agree with you on some points you just made, so we're cool.
The only thing I will slightly disagree on is that heated debates mean something to producers. Only because Ann Donahue said once in interview that they do read message boards & things like that, but she also said that she let's the "remote control" do the talking for them.
Having said that though, I still do believe that this "itch" for an e/c storyline was brought on by the vocal fans, & not necessarily the true intention of TPTB's direction.
There was quite a noticeable switch midseason 5 when it all suddenly became more focused on e/c; Calleigh & Horatio's scenes went to nothing, Natalia went suddenly to the backburner, & while Ryan sorta had a small arc with his firing, it still wasn't that much at all.

Please don't get me wrong, I totally think it's wise for any show to at least touch base with the wants & needs of thier vocal fans, but I don't think it's right to do a complete 180 on thier characters, interactions, & existing arcs just to please said fans.

I find it rather odd myself. D/L was used as a finale stopper too, as was GSR. Maybe it's just Miami, or maybe it's that there is something up thier sleeves...who knows.

It's too up & down, round & round for me - first we hear it's one-sided, she's with Jake, then she isn't (or so we thought), Eric's there for her, then Jake returns, then she's throwing the ball in Eric's court, then she goes off with Terrance, then she faces death & WALA! we're magically in love now :wtf::wtf:
I don't think they knew one way or another what they were really going to do with them; which in my opinion isn't good because they've managed to cause massive confusion to many viewers in the process, not to mention few here (like myself) also lost respect for them.
They (TPTB) throw things into the mix to further drag them out, & all it winds up doing is aggravating both fans & nonsupportive fans of this couple.

 

Well,if TPTB got the idea from vocal fans,it means that in some way ,either message boards,mail or even polls like politicians do ,they are certainly checking us.They must have a more reliable source then just a message board,I guess.Like I said,things change quickly on TV and they want to keep the shows alive.I am sure intentions of all show change if something is not working and that is why I have absolutely no idea how the show would be tomorrow or if something was planned or not.

This debate was interesting enough but I just feel like we are going into circles.We should agree to disagree.But thanks to all the talk I am so interested on all this ,that i want to have a vacation to watch season 6.:lol:

 

The first time I watched the show, I saw the episode where Eric was looking on as Jake kissed Calleigh... keep in mind that I didn't know anything about the characters, but though it was implied that there was supposed to be something between Eric and Calleigh, something about it rubbed me the wrong way. I just remember thinking why did TPTB decide to pair those two together.

Some people have assumed that I don't ship them because of Eric's ethnicity, which is far from the truth. First of all, the thing that bothers me is how they interact with each other... second of all, why is it that when I don't ship a pair, people assume it's a race thing? I'm more focused on chemistry and friendship, not nationality. Besides, I support other interracial couples... *shakes head*

Anyways, I strayed too far off topic... I'm not sure about how TPTB are developing E/C. Don't get me wrong, I like both of them individually, but I'm not sure if they're well suited for each other. I like them better as friends, is all.