PASADENA, Calif. -- Four years ago, Mandy Patinkin had to explain -- repeatedly -- why he was leaving "Chicago Hope."
After all, the show was only entering its second season. And his portrayal of brilliant, arrogant, insufferable heart surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Geiger had won him an Emmy as outstanding lead actor in a drama series.But, at his own request, Patinkin was written out early in "Hope's" second season. His family had remained in New York while he worked in Los Angeles, and he wanted to spend more time with his wife and two sons.
Flash forward to the present day, when Patinkin is being written back into "Chicago Hope." It's something cooked up by the show's creator, David E. Kelley, who went on to create, write and produce shows like "Ally McBeal" and "The Practice."
Actually, Patinkin returned as Geiger -- now the hospital's chairman of the board -- in May's season finale. And the character caused an immediate stir when he fired most of the staff.
" 'Chicago Hope' was in trouble in terms of even getting renewed," Kelley said. "Along with that, Mandy had expressed an interest in coming back. We met with CBS (and) pretty much agreed that in order for 'Chicago Hope' to come back it would have to really be reborn again and sweeping changes would have to be involved."
Those sweeping changes include dropping most of the cast -- including actors Christine Lahti, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Peter Berg, Jayne Brook and Stacy Edwards -- and bringing on several new characters, including new doctors played by Barbara Hershey and Lauren Holly.
"When I sat down to write the final script last year, it just seemed very organic in bringing back Geiger -- that he would be the instrument of the sweeping changes," Kelley said. "If Geiger had his way, he would have fired everybody, but he knew that he couldn't. Some had to be left.
"You have to remember with Geiger, he's a character (who) if you don't have something nice to say, then start saying it. And he's a character that can do it with no malice, if you can believe that."
It was an episode that immediately harkened back to that great first season of "Chicago Hope," when Kelley and Patinkin created a character that was infuriating, sympathetic and funny all at the same time. That's not likely to change. "Pretty much everyone clashes with Geiger," said new executive producer Henry Bromell.
"I love the character," Patinkin said. "And I love my relationship with David and the things that he says and the moral tales that he puts forth in the scripts. And the way he uses Geiger as a voice for that learning of morality and in some cases the teaching of morality. So, of course, I miss it because I love living my day putting in front of my face and in front of my eyes songs and words that mean something to me and that are the kinds of ideas that I want in front of my face. And that's what David writes and that's what the character, I feel, both learns and delivers. So that's why I wanted to come back -- it's a character I love.
"I've been talking to David ever since I left about
having some involvement in any of his shows because I loved worked with David and I didn't want to let that relationship die."
As he pointed out, he made occasional guest appearances on the show after he left his regular role. And what made him decide to come back was the fact that Kelley is again taking a regular role in the series himself as a consultant and sometime writer. Kelley had turned operation of the show over to others in its second season, and it was only to stave off cancellation that he agreed to take a more active role.
Kelley wrote the first episode of the upcoming season and will write "one or two" others.
"I certainly plan to be a more active consultant that I was the last two or three years," he said, adding that he will be reading all the scripts, offering story ideas and notes to the writers.
And Kelley's involvement makes a big difference for Patinkin.
"When David said he'd be there and he'd be overseeing it, I said, 'Well, if that's the case, I'll be there in a heartbeat because I want to be involved,' " Patinkin said.
But not as heavily involved as he once was. "Chicago Hope" won't turn into the Mandy Patinkin show, which it very nearly did in its first (and best) season.
"It will be much more ensemble," Patinkin said. "I always enjoy a more ensemble feeling. I like it better. It's more fun. It's just better. It feeds everybody. And so I definitely think you're going to see that. And I think that's one of the improvements."
As a matter of fact, the actor won't even appear in all 22 episodes during the upcoming season, although exactly how often he'll be on has yet to be determined.
"He will be in episodes and he will be out of some," said executive producer Michael Pressman. "Actually, the number is not defined."
(Expect to see Patinkin in at least a dozen of theh 22 episodes -- possibly as many as 18.)