The TV Zone

Here's a stop-the-presses bulletin; Katherine Heigl has pulled herself out of Emmy contention because she thinks -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- she had bad material on "Grey's" Anatomy last season.

Now stop to consider that, and let's just add a few "!!!!'s" for good measure.

No one -- per my memory -- has ever pulled themselves outta Emmy because they blamed the writers. Ever. Sure -- Kelsey Grammer and others have pulled out (Candice Bergen, most notably) because they had the generosity of spirit to let someone else win for a change. But to pull yourself out because you hated the role??!!

Tom O'Neil, the guru of Emmyland and the Goldderby.com maestro -- has the scoop, and go there for the details. But Heigl tells him: "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials."

Now my read: The next thing we hear is that Kate has, by mutual consent, decided to leave "Grey's" for a big screen career. It's a matter of time, friends. And out the door immediately after her: McDreamy.

Why did she claim to have bad material? Because she did. It was awful and "Grey's" and Shonda pretty near ruined her character last season. She actually has a point here.