day 179

oh no they didn't: grey's anatomy edition 

if you haven't watched last night's grey's anatomy season finale and don't want any hints as to what happens, i suggest you don't read on.  after the finale pulled in almost 18 million viewers, entertainment weekly got an exclusive interview with the show's creator, shonda rhimes. here's what we learned from the episode and the interview: shonda says that, while rumors may be floating around that katherine heigl (izzie) and tr knight (george) want out of the show, the fate of their characters was decided far beforehand; shonda knows how each of the seasons will play out and knows what she wants to do with her characters and isn't capitalizing on tabloid rumors - she swears she doesn't even pay attention to what gets printed.  that said, both izzie and george hang in the balance, somewhere between seattle grace hospital and heaven.  but, it looks like they either will both go bye-bye or both hold on.  why? because when asked "do you know which one of them lives and which one of them dies?" shonda responded "i don't know that you should be saying 'which one of them lives and which one of the dies.' i know what happens to the characters." so somethings happening and they might not be dead or they might not be alive. inneresting, no? the only problem i have with shonda's explanation is that she says she knows how the characters will play out, but how do you explain network-enforced removals of actors isaiah washington and brooke smith (dr. hahn)?  obviously those weren't pre-planned?  but oh well.  shonda is allegedly the only person who knows what will happen to izzie and george and if anything were to happen to her, the show itself would be hanging in some weird limbo area.  and as for meredith and derek's wedding?  it looks like the post-it is as official as it's going to get, at least for a while.  shonda believes that to the twosome the post it is official and will have "big ramifications" next season.  they show is also going to have to get creative; star ellen pompeo (meredith) is pregnant and will be on maternity leave at the beginning of next season's production.  the show will only have 5 or 6 episodes finished by that time; shonda says she and the writers will decide what happens in early june when they get back from break.  my best bet is that the show will start production early, filming more episodes than normal earlier and then take a break.  there will probably be 2-3 episodes sans-meredith, and i imagine those will focus on christina or, if she survives, izzie.  i still think katherine heigl will leave the show, no matter what happens to izzie. i can see izzie living and deciding on a new life path, away from medicine and seattle. shonda also took time in the interview to semi-apologize for the amount of denny in this season; looking back, it was necessary for the story shonda wanted to tell, but she did sit down with abc head-honcho steve mcpherson and they mapped out how many episodes denny was necessary for.  other scoop? jessica capshaw (aka arizona) will most likely be back as a full time cast member next season, filling the void left by the cardio-thoracic surgeon spot (ie washington and smith).  but the introduction of a new perky blonde could also fill a heigl void.  lots of possibilities ahead - too bad we have to wait until september to find out what will happen in the world of grey's. 

america's next top bitch fest

if you haven't already heard, next season of america's next top model will be down one judge. paulina porizkova to be exact.  the former model was booted from the cw reality hit after alleged budget cutting (but we'll figure out if budgets really did get tighter or not if they replace her) and is none too happy about it.  paulina claims she was fired on her birthday and keeps leaking a little bit of info about the situation here and there, none of which paints tyra banks in a great light.  paulina was given no forewarning or reason really for her firing other than money concerns, but thinks her having voiced her opinion may have been the real reason.  paulina said she took up her issue of tyra keeping the crew waiting up to 6 hours for the judging shoots with producers and didn't get back any positive responses.  porizkova admits to having mini hissyfits, screaming "we can all be here on time, why can't tyra?" but she still thinks she's been wronged and i do too.  while paulina doesn't think tyra felt threatened by her, she may have. while tyra may appear super sweet, she's a business woman and knows she has to keep herself in mind first.  so when anyone starts to take her spotlight, they get cut - including the contestants.  notice how tyra almost always picks the less-likely winner; the runner-up is almost always the stronger contender, but that means they could have success and that's just not okay.  paulina says tyra's world is very self-centered and that tyra never paid much attention to paulina.  sounds like a case of the divas to me, but who really cares anyway?  none of the antm winners do anything worth noting beyond their "my life as a covergirl" segments and the show's viewership is tanking, with this week's finale being the least watched season ender ever.