izzie stevens: persona annoya

Okay, I’m so over Grey’s Anatomy and am not even at all curious as to what Season 5 will hold this September. The writers effectively pounded this show into the ground last season with their descent into the trash commonplace on Desperate Housewives some of their storyline choices, and I have to say, that breathlessly anticipated McDreamy/Meredith reunion in the finale?

Yeah.

Not only was I utterly bored, but I think I also laughed because it was so god-awfully trite. Soap operas have more convincing plot arcs.

And don’t get me started on the OMG!I think I’m a lesbian! “twist” or the sheer and utter waste of a superb talent like guest star Elizabeth Reaser. The conclusion of the Ava Rebecca/Alex arc was a travesty.

(And Hahn/Callie is ridiculous.)

Anyway, one of my very favorite people in the entire universe sent me a link to a post from Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity this morning, and I have to bring it over here.

I abandoned TWoP a while ago because I think it’s all spiteful snark with very little substance most of the time, but Ms. Cohn’s open letter to Shonda Rimes is a gem.

And “persona annoya” is my new favorite term.

I wonder how many times I can work it into conversation before I have random objects enthusiastically hurled at my head.

An Open Letter to Shonda Rimes
By Angel Cohn, Television Without Pity
(July 14, 2008)

Dear Shonda,

It’s been a while, but that’s because your show has actually been kind of pretty good lately. Thank goodness for that whole writers’ strike mess, right? Anyway, I heard that you’d been considering killing off Katherine Heigl’s character on Grey’s Anatomy and just had to drop you a note to say that I’m behind you all the way if you choose to go down this path.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a bloodthirsty person, I don’t need her to have a helicopter dropped on her head or anything like that. But killing her off would solve a lot of problems, and by offing her instead of sending her off to New York or something, you wouldn’t have to worry about her begging to come back two years down the road when her movie career has fallen flat and she desperately realizes what an idiotic mistake she made badmouthing the hand that feeds her.

Seriously, I used to adore Katherine Heigl. Back when she was all adorable on Roswell and when she started on Grey’s I was excited. Hell, my own kid is named Isabel (not Isobel, didn’t want to have to explain to people how to spell it all the time) and I really, really wanted to call her Izzie because of one Ms. Izzie Stevens. But now I’m glad that we’ve got other nicknames for my kid, because Katherine Heigl and Izzie Stevens are pretty much persona annoya in my book right now.

Maybe Katherine had a point when she took her name out of Emmy contention because it wasn’t the best season for her character. But that’s not the issue. The girl needs more media training than Isaiah Washington. She’s been in the business long enough to know that she shouldn’t tell the press that she’s not happy with how her character is being written. This from the same loudmouth who jumped into the middle of the Isaiah/T.R./racism hubub instead of keeping her nose out of it all. Oh, and I feel like I remember her griping way back when Kate Walsh got the spinoff instead of her too. Ugh. Even if her character hasn’t had the best storyline (Gizzie, ick!) she should be thankful she’s got a job on the hot tamale train that is your show. Talking about it to the press is like going to Gawker with company secrets when your boss pisses you off instead of just talking to TBTB.

Honestly if I hear her open her mouth one more time about something, it is going to make me want to stop watching the show. So kill her off. Please, do us all a favor. She wants to leave. Once she’s gone I can ignore her inane ramblings because she won’t be on a show I still care about. And judging by the David Caruso’s of the world, it will be years before she lands another series I may actually want to watch.

Really, it wouldn’t be such a loss to lose Izzie at this point anyway. Sure there was that desperate kiss between her and Alex (they do have some chemistry) in the season finale, but Alex can hook up with anyone. Bring on a new hottie doctor. Have him in the middle of a threeway with Hahn and Callie. Find him a nice girl even, that poor dopey nurse Rose is available. He deserves better than Izzie. And we deserve better than any more scenes with George and Izzie. (Thank god you kindly moved him out and into an apartment with Grey Jr.) They can’t really be friends anymore because I really can’t look at them together without gagging. This way T.R. gets his Emmy clip (with his touching heartbreak about dealing with the death of his beloved friend and former bed buddy) and you can send Izzie off to reunite with Denny. You can pen a big two-parter with a cliffhanger right for the midseason finale. Everyone wins.

There’s probably contracts and crap to be dealt with, but if you are at all worried that fans will abandon the show if you kill off this particular lead, the answer (at least from this corner of the world) is a resounding no. I’ll support you if you decide to keep her around, but I’d be much more enthusiastic about the new season if you didn’t.

Good luck,
Angel