Friday, March 12, 2010

Notes on Pop Culture: Heigl Reportedly Working on Exit, 'Grey's' Deals in Power Struggles & Jealousies, 'Private Practice' Love Triangles

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.*

No More Izzie Stevens?

Have we seen the last of Katherine Heigl as Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy? Was that locker room scene with Alex Karev back in January at Seattle Grace, when she said she was looking for a job out of town, her last? Entertainment Weekly, quoting unnamed sources, says that Heigl is currently negotiating details with ABC brass so she can leave the ABC drama.

Izzie has been mysteriously absent for most of this season. First George O'Malley died. Then she miraculously recovered from cancer that seemed like it was going to kill her. She got canned from Seattle Grace and fled in shame, refusing to make contact with Alex or with her doctors. She popped in a few weeks ago for one episode but then disappeared again making vague statements about looking for work elsewhere.

We knew that in real life, Heigl took time off for a movie and to bond with the baby she recently adopted, but it wasn't publicly clear, until today, that Izzie may not appear on Grey's again. Wonder if the Grey's writers will concoct a story about Izzie dying -- maybe getting George O'Malley'd and hit by a bus? -- or if they'll just never mention her again, kind of like Erica Hahn who disappeared into a parking lot.

It's kind of sad what happened to the once interesting Izzie. (I know, there are plenty of Izzie haters, but -- excluding the Gizzie debacle -- I wasn't one of them.) I would've liked to have learned more about her trailer park background, about the circumstances which led her to give up her daughter for adoption. Her backstory made her interesting. I much prefer her to ANYONE from Mercy West.

Grey's "Push" episode

The latest episode of Grey's, "Push" -- about which I blogged over on CliqueClack TV -- focused largely on a power struggle between Richard Webber and Owen Hunt, Richard and Derek Shepherd and the jealousies experienced by Owen over McSteamy's interest in Teddy Altman (for whom Owen still harbors feelings) and Lexie over McSteamy moving on.

After watching this episode I'm willing to climb out on a limb and make these three predictions. By the end of the season, 1) McSteamy and Callie Torres will be trying to have a baby (given Arizona Robbins' bombshell at the end of "Push") 2) Owen and Cristina will be kaput or circling the drain and 3) Derek will no longer be chief.

My favorite part of the recent episode: Bailey's rant about how she saw no need to wax her "surgical area" and that if her male friend couldn't handle a little "nature" and "God," then he wasn't worth her time. That, and her embarrassment at the prospect of having to pick up condoms for her date, were fantastic.

Private Practice keeps being romantically ridiculous

I'm really growing weary of the romantic storylines on Private Practice this season. I really wish the characters would heed Sheldon Wallace's advice to "grow the hell up" -- including Sheldon.

The sophomoric "I love you . . . No, I love you now . . . No, no, no, YOU'RE my soul mate" blather has gotten really old. I'd much rather see these late thirty- and fortysomething characters start acting like mature professionals who hold people's lives and mental health in their hands, not like teenagers in heat governed solely by their hormones.

It's not that I'm hoping they'll all get married and enjoy placid, loving relationships, but, as I said in my CliqueClack TV review of the latest episode "Triangles," I'm starting to think we need a who's-sleeping-with-whom scorecard in order to figure out Private Practice these days.

Image credit: Michael Desmond/ABC.

No comments: