Shocking news about Girlfriends

The following is some damn sad news from the set of the new season of Girlfriends. From AOL Black Voices comes this shocking infromation regarding the characters of Joan and Aaron, and also covers some of the themes and tidbits for the eighth season of Girlfriends.
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'Girlfriends' is not set to return for its eighth (and presumably final) season until Monday, Oct. 1, but folks are already asking if co-star Jill Marie Jones (who played Toni Childs) will return to the series. The show's executive producer Mara Brock Akil told me during our candid phone interview that if Jones was interested in returning, the show would be willing to have her back. However, she's also confident that 'Girlfriends' will have another impressive season with or without the actress.

"I know that a lot of the audience really missed Toni in the show. I completely understand it and I think I've mentioned it a few times in different articles that it was a disappointment to me as well. But you have to move on. This is part of the business side of things that sometimes affect the creative," Brock explained. "This is just one of the things that's out of my control. I don't have the control to make an actress come back to work."

Though Brock was tight-lipped about the forthcoming storyline for this fall, she did share that the season will have a theme. "I'm kind of theme-ing this season "Joy and Pain." I think everybody is familiar with that wonderful song by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. I think that's life. One minute it's pure joy and there are going to be some painful moments, but the beautiful thing is that all of these friends have each other. It's about support and helping each other through things, which has been the journey of the show forever and it continues to be taken up another level," she disclosed.

The 37-year-old Los Angeles-bred executive also shared that actor Richard T. Jones, who played Tracee Ellis Ross' love interest, Aaron, last season, has been cast in another series (Fox's 'The Sarah Connor Chronicles') and will not be able to return this fall. "We're faced with another challenge because the Richard T. Jones has a new show. What am I going to do with that? We're gonna work with that in a beautiful way. I'm excited about it to go on the journey yet again with Joan," Brock revealed.

Does that mean that Ross' character Joan will be dumped again?

Playing coy, Brock responded: "Who's to say I'm getting rid of [the] Richard T. Jones [character]? Don't underestimate me!"

Hmmmm. Okay!

While ratings for 'Girlfriends' were at an all-time high last season-one of the main reasons the show is now one of the longest running African-American sitcoms on television-Brock is aware that fans had mixed feelings about season seven's storyline.

"Exiting one of your main characters from your show can be a very difficult task and I was very proud of the way we handled that. Part of the success or the allure of the show is that we really did tackle life in a very funny way and sometimes we'll go for the dramatic. With what we had, I was very proud of it. I know sometimes that's difficult for the audience because a lot of times they don't have the inside knowledge; they just have to deal with it. We get to process it a little bit longer and we have the opportunity to be a part of the transition, whereas the audience just has to accept the transition. I understand that, but that's where we disagree. I thought it was a fantastic seventh season! I was very proud of the build that we had to a wonderful finale and that's been the nature of 'Girlfriends' for seven years, and hopefully eight, that we keep rising to the challenges and the obstacles," she said.

I guess we'll just have to tune in this fall and see how Brock continues to evolve the lives of Joan, Maya (Golden Brooks), Lynn (Persia White), William (Reggie Hayes), Darnell (Khalil Kain) and Monica (Keesha Sharp) even with 'Girlfriends' newest obstacles.
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Wow so this really blows... I can't believe that when Joan finally finds the perfect man who accepts her crazy ass for who she is, he needs to up and leave or something bad has to happen just because he got a new show. This is so shitty. I mean, I totally have faith in Mara Brock Akil (I mean, look at how phenomenally she handled the whole Toni thing), but this is going to be interesting. I actually think I'd rather them have Aaron replaced with another actor, because it would just be way too sad if his character had to die or something tragic had to happen, as Mara kind of alluded to with her "joy and pain" theme.

We will just have to see how this unfolds, and look to Oh Hell Yes! for many more things on Girlfriends...