ABC Conducting Audience Testing on Izzie-Denny Story
Perhaps Katherine Heigl’s recent, pre-Emmy Awards quasi-complaint about not getting enough nomination-worthy material on Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t entirely off base.
Her character, Dr. Izzie Stevens, is sleeping with her dead lover, Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), as we all know. The question is ... how does that even happen?
We'll have to wait and see, but according to Entertainment Weekly, ABC has already begun the process of "audience-testing" a love story between Izzie and Denny.
Last we checked, Shonda Rhimes wasn’t trying to create a Ghost Whisperer: Seattle, but then there isn’t a lot about Grey’s Anatomy that makes sense these days.
Actress Brooke Smith, whose Dr. Erica Hahn represented the only full-time lesbian character on the "Big Four" networks, was abruptly canned last month.
Mary McDonnell is an acclaimed and talented actress, but some have called her depiction of a renowned cardiac surgeon with Asperger’s ridiculous and unrealistic.
Add in Rhimes’ decision to have Izzie cavort with the dead, and Grey’s Anatomy has fast become this season’s most maligned show by fans (if you don’t count Heroes, that is).
It was theorized by many that Izzie's visions of Denny were related to her rumored brain tumor ... until Rhimes said last week that Izzie doesn’t have a brain tumor.
Sadly, that’s all the explanation we're going to get for now (Shonda Rhimes, Katherine Heigl, and ABC all declined to comment on the matter for this article).
However, with Grey's Anatomy iewership down 17 percent from last year, an insider says ABC is conducting audience testing on the Izzie-Denny love story.
Results aren’t in yet, so we’re forced to sift through future plot lines for any signs of relief. One can only wonder how the test audiences are reacting to it.
The good news is that Rhimes hasn’t given up on girl-on-girl action Bisexual Callie is about to start canoodling with new intern Sadie (Melissa George).
Elsewhere, Mark Sloan (a.k.a. Eric Dane, a.k.a. McSteamy) may end up doing the dirty with little Grey, Lexie (Chyler Leigh), and fan favorite Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) will show up for a special set of crossover episodes with her spin-off, Private Practice, in February.
The bad news is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is slated to appear on Grey's Anatomy at least through February. There’s never an exorcist around when you need one.
November 26th, 2008 1:47 PM
Ok lets be honest here,Denny needs to go.If possible straight away.The programme has been on the slide since Season 3 ended,firstly because Burke left,then George and Izzie,Rose,Hahn.............etc.These were ok.And all were resolved fairly lively.This is just insulting the intelligence of every person who watches this programme.The Dude is dead.Gone.Caput.This usually means no more love triangles,sex and generally breathing.Get rid of him before ratings suffer more and this show is dropped.
November 26th, 2008 1:51 PM
I compleatly agree with you-Radiohead
and I can't wait for the crossover ^^ yay!
November 26th, 2008 2:00 PM
"The bad news is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is slated to appear on Grey's Anatomy at least through February. There’s never an exorcist around when you need one."
Thats a bit harsh? Its not his fault they chopped him in the first place, he wanted to stay!
November 26th, 2008 2:11 PM
I really hope this show doesn't get cancelled due to Shonda and her sudden strange ideas...
It's starting to sound too much like a story my friend and I wrote a year ago, and that's rather disturbing.
November 26th, 2008 2:13 PM
I agree and I disagree about our Denny situation. I mean I don't want him around for too much longer but I do admit this season has been rather interesting for me. I am eager to learn the truth behind what is going on with Iz and Denny. I mean come on this is a TV show for crying out loud, it lets me escape from my boring reality every week for an hour so in truth I don't mind having some unrealistic things thrown in now and again, besides it has made me excited every week to see what the outcome is going to be! I count down to the next episode! So for me this plot line is not a bad thing and for those of you that HATE this plot line, just go along with it for now enjoy Denny for the time being because for all we know it could be a dream and dreams don't last forever.
November 26th, 2008 2:49 PM
Please, please, please do not cancel my favorite show because of this stupid storyline. I'm guessing they are going to start doing some explanations QUICKLY before they lose the show.
November 26th, 2008 3:08 PM
Ratings are actually up since they started the storyline believe it or not.
November 26th, 2008 3:14 PM
ABC needs to cool it with the audience testing--isn't that the reason why they fired Erica (supposedly). While I'll be the first to admit I HATE the Denny storyline (always have, always will), I can't help but think of The Phantom of the Opera every time I read about the execs interfering with the storyline of the show. "And my managers must learn that their place is in an office! not the arts."
Maybe Shonda will really go off the deep end, put on a fancy cape & mask and start terrorizing the ABC lot.
Barring that, I'd just like to see the show go on. Don't cancel it, let her have her stupid Denny thing for now, but please, stop firing people because 20 dumb audiences in your dumb survey didn't like the storyline. What ever happened to creative freedom?
November 26th, 2008 3:48 PM
Ratings are actually up since they started the storyline believe it or not.
Trainwreck syndrome. People tuned in to see what the fuss is about but the storyline is so bad and absurd they won't stick around. What's worse is that keeping Denny on and thus taking screentime away from the main characters will anger and frustrate the hardcore viewers who tune in to see the characters they are invested in. We've been already seeing that happen. Mer/Der, Alex/Izzie don't have many scenes together, we hardly get any Fab Five scenes or any other friendship scenes besides Mer/Cris, Derek/Mark, Mark/Callie. Some characters don't have storylines and have hardly been on the show, the most obvious example is probably George. As long as Denny stays on, fans aren't going to get many scenes with the characters they like.
November 26th, 2008 4:14 PM
I agree with Radiohead.
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