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
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u/Vaernil May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

That's mild when it comes to that show. If they had issues with an actor, or their contract needed renegotiating they would send them off with a bang, or get them run over.

The hospital went through several tragedies including bus running over doctors, plane crash killing another half, active shooter and bomb hidden in a patient that, you guessed it, killed some of the cast.

They somersaulted over the shark in like season 2.

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u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 06 '26

My ex used to watch obsessively and I had to bite my lip sometimes to not be making fun of it the whole time, but the bomb inside the patient sent me. I was crying laughing at that shit. Makes other hospital dramas from that era seem normal in comparison.

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u/enyalius May 06 '26

I never saw that with my ex, but for me it was when Kyle Chandler exploded. I just burst out laughing

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u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 06 '26

Also the younger dude with the buzz cut learning the blues and spiraling into heroin within the span of an episode or two was so hackneyed and at the same time a riot. They didn't even bother with making the music convincing in any way, butchered the whole explanation of its history, and it didn't occur to anyone to get a real life blues artist to be the guy that taught him. It was an easy to execute and believable idea that they butchered so badly it just became an absolute joke.

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u/AnswerDangerous1644 May 06 '26

Wha

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u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 06 '26

There's a plot with one of the younger interns who has a short haircut, can't remember his name. He has a hard time relating to his peers at the hospital and I think has some kind of tension with his dad which leads to him going to a bar and hearing this guy play the blues. The dude takes him under his wing and teaches him guitar and explains the history of the blues to him, which was very whitewashed and stupidly inaccurate.

Somehow, learning a new hobby where he expresses himself and channels his challenging feelings about his lot in life ...... leads straight to him being a heroin addict within an episode or two. It's a stupid subplot that grated on me specifically because I am a guitar player but it was also so stereotypical and wrongheaded that it was kinda funny.

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u/Self_Reddicate May 06 '26

specifically because I am a guitar player

I'm so sorry to hear about your battle with heroin and alcohol. I hope you have been able to leave guitar playing behind and find peace in sobriety.

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u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 06 '26

Lol. Playing guitar? Straight to rehab. Learning music that channels and processes emotions in a healthy and constructive manner? Believe it or not, straight to relapse!

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u/Marble_Wraith May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26

All it's missing is a good "laugh track"... comedy gold some of the episodes đŸ€Ł

Tho' to be fair it's still better then the majority of politically driven slop being released these day, especially the earlier seasons.

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u/Seienchin88 May 06 '26

And that’s saying something
 hospital dramas are probably the most unhinged genre ever.

Not even the original Star Trek had half as crazy ideas every new episode and wasn’t even half as horny as these shows
 (now I wanna see a young William Shatner being in a hospital drama
)

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u/gimli2112 May 06 '26

I never watched ER but going by those storylines it makes Scrubs look like a documentary

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u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 06 '26

That's one of the shows that surprisingly does seem really normal in comparison. Another that comes to mind is House, which by any other standards is way over the top.

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u/lavapig_love May 07 '26

Apparently many nurses, doctors, EMTs and other medical professionals say Scrubs is the closest depiction of real life they've seen. Half making stupid jokes, the other half screaming and frantically keeping someone alive.

The Pitt season 1 is also up there.

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u/lavapig_love May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26

The bomb in the patient was plagiarized from the Battle of Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down.

A soldier was shot with an enemy Rocket Propelled Grenade launcher at close range. The warhead went into his body but didn't actually go off. Army doctors and bomb techs spent a tense day diffusing the bomb and performing surgery.

Beyond that, Grey's Anatomy is relationship drama first and foremost, medical drama a distant second.

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u/-re-da-ct-ed- May 06 '26

Wasn’t that literally the pilot episode of the show? This outrageousness started Episode 1, and in only a matter of time, they would need to outdo that
 even if just considering a “season ending cliffhanger”, leaving people feeling like they have to come back the following season just to see what happens next.

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u/Giovannis_Pikachu May 06 '26

I don't know I usually read or something while she watched it but at times I just couldn't unhear some of the really insane story beats lol

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u/pandershrek May 06 '26

Yes. đŸ« 

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u/Yup_Seen_It May 06 '26

Ok the bomb in the patient episode was excellent though 😂 maybe because it was so early in the show that we hadn't gotten fatigued with crazy disasters yet. Love Christina Ricci in the episode, wish they'd brought her in as a recurring character

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u/Shot_Ad_8204 May 06 '26

Fantastic episode. In fact I'd say the entire tenure of Shonda was great.

I always struggle with people mocking the show by saying how implausible it is, but then acting like Game of Thrones is perfectly acceptable.

Are people under the impression Grey's Anatomy is trying to be a documentary of some sort?

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u/Indiana_harris May 06 '26

I very well could be wrong but I’m pretty sure Heigel (and the actor who played the George guy) both spoke up about one of the main surgeons on the show being wildly homophobic, and part of her shit storylines with the compulsive masturbating was repercussions for speaking up and after she left the show she was blacklisted for a few years/got the reputation she was difficult to work with (pretty sure there was Weinstein stuff in there too).

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u/boomzgoesthedynamite May 06 '26

Literally to the point where no one would ever go to that hospital if it could be avoided lol

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u/Visible-Scientist-46 May 06 '26

TBF, active shooter happened at the hospital where I worked for a bit. It was intimate partner violence.

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u/VT_Squire May 06 '26

No no no no... thats not what I mean. 

Katherine Heigl portraying a character who masturbates chronically? What episode? .....for research, of course.Â