Katherine Heigl's problem with Grey's Anatomy and the Emmy awards

What happened

Katherine Heigl, co-star of TV's Grey's Anatomy as well as the film Knocked Up, declined to be a contender for this year's Emmy awards, even though she won last year for best supporting actress. "I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination," Heigl, who plays Dr. Izzie Stevens on the hit ABC drama, said in a statement.

What the commentators said

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"Okay, I can understand modesty," said celebrity blog The Superficial, "but I'm pretty sure Katherine Heigl just" insulted her show's writers. For the premiere of next season, she'll probably get a quick cameo in the credits in which she "becomes a paraplegic coke mule that steals babies and eventually dies from the Ebola virus."

That's the probelm—the writers already diminished Heigl's role in season four, said the Hollywood blog Bitten & Bound. "Logic would suggest that last year's Emmy winner would get a juiced up script to match her proven acting chops." Instead, she got a "reduced story line." She's totally justified for "rocking the boat"!

"This is embarrassing on multiple levels," said the Emmy-watching site Awards Daily 2008. The Emmys have never been "cutting edge," and they're ignoring many "great performers" on Grey's Anatomy like Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh, Ellen Pompeo, and Kate Burton. If Heigl is "stepping out of the way to give other more deserving members a shot, this is a good thing. And the only way, probably, to combat the Academy’s need to award the same people year after year."