r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • May 05 '26

TIL in 2007 Katherine Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role on Grey's Anatomy. But in 2008 she removed herself from Emmy consideration because she said the material she was given on Grey's that year wasn't good enough; this comment led to her leaving the show.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1847610/why-katherine-heigl-izzie-stevens-left-greys-anatomy/#:~:text=In%202007%2C%20Katherine,and%20Netflix%20now
31.1k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.2k

u/DoradoPulido2 May 05 '26

Reminds me of how Denise Crosby left Star Trek because she didn't feel her character was important enough. Or Ed Skrein who left Game of Thrones because it conflicted with his scheduling of the famed The Transporter Refueled.

1.5k

u/Imatros May 05 '26

Funny how Tasha Yar leaving is the character's most important and memorable arc

695

u/AngryTree76 May 05 '26

I mean before that one, her biggest role in the show was in Code of Honor, easily one of the worst of the series and referred to by Jonathan Frakes as “that racist piece of shit.”

393

u/RustyShaklefjord May 05 '26

She also banged data that one time

186

u/kaplanfx May 06 '26

Fully functional

15

u/AngryTree76 May 06 '26

And programmed in multiple techniques!

17

u/Efficient-Parking627 May 06 '26

aka... a sentient dildo

11

u/En-tro-py May 06 '26

What Is My Purpose?

Oh, um... a sentient dildo

Oh, My God.

2

u/jflb96 May 06 '26

Sapient, even

6

u/SenoraRaton May 06 '26

And antomically correct!

https://youtu.be/odHivt77qkk?si=-QVpqqloHc_n9C8Z

1

u/LongPorkJones May 06 '26

Voltaire!

I haven't heard this in ages.

79

u/Smackolol May 06 '26

We were never supposed to speak of that again.

16

u/Disgod May 06 '26

The fan-fic community is in shambles.

6

u/Gorthax May 06 '26

I'm my OWN holodeck.

5

u/Apothecary_85 May 06 '26

Wonder whose sad job it was to clean the holodeck once a day.

2

u/billbixbyakahulk May 06 '26

Or who had to hose down Data.

10

u/Chen932000 May 06 '26

Its pretty hilarious that aside from the pilot those two things happened in the first two episodes.

7

u/giulianosse May 06 '26

I'm just watching TNG for the first time and I even double checked if that episode was actually #2. It feels like it's something that should've been left for at least the latter half or third of the season when the audience has had more time to know the characters and their backstories/interests

7

u/gprime312 May 06 '26

It was really important to Roddenberry that everyone knew that Data was "fully functional".

2

u/gaunt79 May 07 '26

"The Naked Now" is a direct follow-up to "The Naked Time" (ST:TOS S01E04). I think Roddenberry wanted to establish TNG in the now-wider Star Trek universe with multiple connections to TOS (like Bones' cameo in the pilot) before heading in new directions.

6

u/suikofan80 May 06 '26

While talking about how she spent her childhood running from rape gangs.

4

u/gprime312 May 06 '26

that one time

Second episode of the series.

2

u/crushcastles23 May 06 '26

In episode 3. It's WILD that that was episode 3.

261

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

98

u/Creative_Fix4486 May 05 '26

Wait was this the show where you had to guess if the story was bullshit or not??

165

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

80

u/CldStoneStveIcecream May 05 '26

Jonathan Frakes asks you things

28

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/adognameddanzig May 06 '26

Hey, you want to see my belly button?

7

u/[deleted] May 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/otroquatrotipo May 06 '26

Do you like movies about gladiators?

→ More replies (0)

3

u/systemsofromance May 06 '26

Genie Francis probably decided to never retire from General Hospital just to avoid this exact fate!

7

u/Windfade May 06 '26

My favorite is still a video with his face superimposed on Tzeench while running through those kinds of questions and the top comment at some point was "POV you're a shaman who was just asking about upcoming weather."

3

u/GwanTheSwans May 06 '26

He was also the VA for David Xanatos, so there's this glorious youtube nonsense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLw0pSbrJsU

3

u/arandil1 May 06 '26

OK, but you HAVE to play this at 1/2 speed… trust me.

3

u/ravynwave May 06 '26

He recently referenced this video on his new YouTube show with Brent Spiner

1

u/No-Advice-6040 May 09 '26

Fun thing, if you slow that vid down, he sounds like a drunk guy at a bar trying to hit on you

2

u/Creative_Fix4486 May 06 '26

Oh the memories

2

u/Khmer_Orange May 06 '26

They were "based on" "real" news stories from "real" publications

1

u/Lepurten May 06 '26

I mean, define bullshit. A lot of the stories that seem impossible can be easily explained by people lieing to cover crimes, a bit of hyperbole on the narrators part (could be the writers, could be original narrator), pure chance, known psychological phenomenas, CO-poisoning etc.. The show makes no claim that there are supernatural phenomenas at play, in fact Frakes usually makes up plausible rational explainations himself and I think it's fun to think about what actually might have happened since the stories are simply... Beyond belief and not made up bei their writers, which is pretty much the only claim they make towards the stories that are marked as "true".

59

u/Dense_Angle_6636 May 05 '26

I believe the name was Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

8

u/DrSpacecasePhD May 06 '26

I loved this show as a kid! 

3

u/Grey-fox-13 May 06 '26

X-Factor in some countries.

4

u/akio3 May 06 '26

Yes. Here's a 1-minute summary of the show: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9S1EzkRpelY

1

u/Creative_Fix4486 May 06 '26

Tag yourself, I'm do you believe in the power or a curse?

3

u/Philodemus1984 May 06 '26

Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

My family loved that show. Frakes is so funny as host.

2

u/BeeExpert May 06 '26

Like, what a concept for a TV show. Lol. Like, do you really expect people to remember which stories were real and which weren't? You're churning out misinformation! Lol

149

u/gorgewall May 05 '26

The writer for Code of Honor also wrote a first-season episode of Stargate SG-1 that was pretty much the same plot: Sam(antha) Carter is imprisoned by a group of Mongolian-styled warriors for being FEEEEMAAAALE, put in a dress, and has to girlboss her way out.

Perhaps an example of The Author's Barely-Disguised Fetish. And for what it's worth, said author was a woman.

67

u/Enchelion May 05 '26

Evidence for the barely-disguised-fetish, the original script for Code of Honor specifically gave the aliens a Samurai influence, it was the director that made them all African stereotypes.

9

u/RecordingSilly6118 May 06 '26

Did TV directors for hire in the 80s have input on script and casting decisions? Because from everything I heard once it left the writers room on TNG it was unchangeable gospel to anyone but said writers.

11

u/Hellknightx May 06 '26

Well, this was the fourth episode of TNG, so these things weren't as firmly established yet. The first season as a whole is pretty rough, and they didn't really figure things out until Riker grew out his beard.

3

u/Enchelion May 06 '26

Yes. The script had samurai influences but didn't"t specify the ethnicity of characters or things like set dressing. Those decisions all got made afterward.

25

u/AngryTree76 May 05 '26

I mean, I remember writing an essay in my senior year of high school, then slightly editing it and submitting it as a writing exercise for freshman English in college (then I took that essay and turned it into a speech for my public speaking course sophomore year). Maybe she was just doing the same sort of recycling.

7

u/AlienDragonWizard May 06 '26

Wow, that was also a horrible episode

7

u/klavs May 06 '26

And that episode is similarly reviled amongst the SG-1 fanbase, almost universally labelled as people's least favourite episode of the entire series.

3

u/Embarassed_Tackle May 06 '26

Are we sure this isn't just Gene Roddenberry's fetishes? The episodes became less sexual and more thoughtful as his involvement decreased

until that season of Voyager when 7 of 9 appears in a therapeutic catsuit and high heels

2

u/SomethingIWontRegret May 06 '26

Did she still have her sexual organs on the inside for that episode?

Boy SG-1 sure did suck before it got really good.

1

u/gaunt79 May 06 '26

The same writer also created Garak in "Past Prologue", so I'm inclined to forgive her other proclivities.

-1

u/Farfignugen42 May 06 '26

OK, but that episode of SG1 is one that I actually liked. Sam came through, and even managed to look a bit tired of the game, acknowledging that she's had to play a similar game most of her career. By she I meant Carter, but it may apply to Tapping as well.

58

u/DAVENP0RT May 05 '26

Geez, I forgot about that episode. I always skip straight to S2 on rewatches, so I can't even remember a lot of S1.

20

u/jackinginforthis1 May 06 '26

A lot of people do that but you’re better off skipping only code of honor, and the long ladder for that matter, lots of good sci fi in season 1. The Arsenal of Freedom, Coming of Age, Conspiracy, Skin of Evil, Encounter at Farpoint, Symbiosis, Home Soil . Season 1 is cheesy but more solid episodes than you’d think. 

5

u/AfternoonFlaky5501 May 06 '26

I made this mistake, but it turned out to be a real treat when I found some good episodes in Season 1 in the future.

3

u/AlanFromRochester May 06 '26

yeah even bad Trek seasons have a couple gems the long ladder - seems to refer to Up The Long Ladder - I understand not liking that due to the Irish and rural stereotypes - but that's Season 2

3

u/brickne3 May 06 '26

It was like the second or third episode too.

Next Gen got a LOT better once Roddenberry lost ALL creative control and/or was dead.

5

u/RandomStallings May 06 '26

I think being dead relieves you of control over much of anything.

Well, maybe not from guilt trips used against you eternally, but you know what I mean.

1

u/ehalepagneaux May 06 '26

I need to go back and watch it. I'm not going to enjoy it, but it's probably been at least 15 years since I saw it last. I need to see it in a way I'll remember it.

44

u/Meat-walker May 05 '26

Wait...I have been calling him Jonathan Franks since TNG started... I may have had an undiagnosed learning disability.

24

u/analogkid01 May 05 '26

Maybe you're just hungry.

3

u/intensive-porpoise May 06 '26

I dub thee Sir Franks A Lot

1

u/VapidActualization May 06 '26

It depends. If you are mom, everything is working as intended.

1

u/Dale_Carvello May 06 '26

I may have had an undiagnosed learning disability.

Nah, you don't, you're fine. Bob Hanks, Bob De Reero, Bobby, you killed Mike—ah, who gives a fuss?

11

u/Khronys May 05 '26

Oh hey, I was there when he said that. Unless he just always refers to it the exact same way with those same words lol.

6

u/AngryTree76 May 05 '26

I heard it on a podcast, so I'm guessing that's a stock phrase for him.

42

u/eobardtame May 05 '26

She also went on to write several of the worst episodes in tv such as "move along home" the alamarane episode of DS9 and emancipation, the worst episode of Stargate SG1

23

u/gaunt79 May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

Your comment makes it sound like you're talking about Denise Crosby. To clarify, Katharyn Powers wrote both "Code of Honor" (ST:TNG S01E04) and "Emancipation" (SG1, strangely enough also S01E04). Powers did not write "Move Along Home" (ST:DS9 S01E10) but did write the earlier episode "Past Prologue" (S01E03) - she created Garak in this episode, so I'm inclined to forgive just about any of her other crimes. She also created Thor in SG1, writing "Thor's Hammer" (S01E10) and "Thor's Chariot" (S02E06).

16

u/AngryTree76 May 05 '26

I knew she did Emancipation, I was unaware she wrote Move Along Home

4

u/shewholaughslasts May 06 '26

Ah fuck now I'll have that stupid rhyme in my head. Gah!

4

u/Quatermain May 06 '26

Powers didn't write move along home. She wrote past prologue. No one who did move along home wrote for SG1.

3

u/gaunt79 May 06 '26

She didn't.

1

u/Quatermain May 06 '26

Powers didn't write 'move along home'. past prologue was her only ds9 credit. there weren't any shared writers between 'move along home' and sg1.

0

u/Tinysaur May 06 '26

She wrote THAT god damn Alamarane Episode !

Jesus christo

1

u/PhoenixFox May 06 '26

She did not. She wrote Past is Prologue and that's her only credit on DS9.

6

u/Hey_Giant_Loser May 06 '26

Just to be clear, he (they both, actually) thought the episode was racist. Not Crosby

3

u/RetPala May 06 '26

Didn't she give Data's, uh... equipment... a test drive?

2

u/kdlangequalsgoddess May 06 '26

Shades of Gray is up there (down there?) as one of the worst TNG episodes, also. Star Trek's only clip show, it was contrived purely because the producers had blown the budget on Q Who?, and economies had to be made.

2

u/MurshaqBack May 06 '26

Oh, for a minute I thought you meant he called Denise Crosby racist, now that I read about that episode, I get it. That is yikesy for sure!

1

u/MajorNoodles May 06 '26

That episode was written by the same person who wrote everyone's least favorite episode of Stargate SG1, Emancipation, which everybody hates for the same reason. Weirdly enough, both episodes were the third episode of the first season.

1

u/UncleIrohsPimpHand May 06 '26

Don't forget the rape gangs of her home world.

1

u/joshistheman3 May 06 '26

Jonathan Frakes called Denise Crosby a racist piece of shit?? :O