Isaiah Changing Channels?

Tue., Jun. 26, 2007 5:19 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

ABC may be through with Isaiah Washington, but the Peacock Network may be willing to give the embattled actor a second chance.

The former Grey's Anatomy star, who learned June 7 that he was not being invited back for a fourth season, has reportedly been in preliminary talks with NBC regarding a future role at the network, although it isn't known whether he was being considered for an existing show or a new vehicle specifically for him.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, however, the discussions have stalled. NBC has declined to comment on the alleged negotiations.

Washington, at first up in arms over his firing and threatening legal action, eventually copped to feeling saddened by the decision to let him go, six months after he uttered an anti-gay slur backstage at the Golden Globes and set off a flurry of calls for his ouster.

A third-season finale in which his character, Preston Burke, broke off his engagement with Sandra Oh's Cristina Yang and moved out of their apartment was a not-so-early indicator that Washington's time with the show was up.

But after a series of apologies, efforts to reach out to the gay community and a stint in counseling, Washington may have felt that he was off the chopping block. Up until he learned of his firing, publicist Howard Bragman was assuring the media that, as far as they knew, Washington would be continuing on Grey's.

Washington told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month that he and agent Ben Press were currently "sorting through all the options" before making his next career move.

"I've gotten a ton of offers in both film and TV…There is one network in particular that's very interested," said the 43-year-old star of the upcoming indie drama The Least of These. "But I don't want to say anything specific until it's a done deal."

Of course, since then he's also told the press that ABC "fired the wrong guy" and that it was costar T.R. Knight who should have gotten the axe.

"I knew T.R. was gay, but I would never attack him because of his sexual orientation. That's stupid," Washington told his hometown paper, the Houston Chronicle. "I've been working with lesbians and gays for 21 years in this business...My whole existence has coexisted easily and beautifully with individuals who happen to be gay, but, more importantly, are immensely talented. There's no way in my mind and my heart that I could be a homophobe."

"I feel all of this was about him getting a raise and getting his character to stop being perceived as a dopey, kooky kind of character."

Make that a dopey, kooky character who will be back for season four.