Heigl exits 'Anatomy' — but does anybody care?

Remember when what happened behind the scenes of "Grey's Anatomy" was actually news?

 Isaiah Washington spouting homophobic slurs in the direction of T.R. Knight.

 Patrick Dempsey and Katherine Heigl rushing to Knight's defense.

 Creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes failing to come to Knight's defense and attempting to brush off the homophobia. And, at the same time, manufacturing a nonexistent incident of racism.

 Washington getting fired.

 Knight quitting.

 Heigl dissing the show's writers.

 Heigl dissing "Knocked Up," the move that made her a big-screen star.

 Heigl complaining about how hard she works on "Grey's Anatomy."

Ah, the good old days.

If all this had happened on a bad show that nobody watched, no one would have cared. But "Grey's Anatomy" was both good and popular.

Was.

This is perhaps the most damning thing that can be said about any show: "Grey's Anatomy" is boring now.

Last week's episode was filled with life-and-death situations. A dispute over assisted suicide. Even flashbacks from a war.

And it was a snooze.

And that explains, in large part, why Heigl's departure from the show was met with a big round of yawns.

Of course, she'd already pretty much left. Her last episode aired in January. And while she was supposed to return for the end of this season, she's not coming back to "Anatomy." Ever.

Her storyline remains unresolved, and Heigl admitted to Entertainment Weekly, "I know I'm disappointing the fans, and I know I'm disappointing the writers and my fellow cast members and the crew."

You know, the people who made her a star.

I hope she really did make this decision because she wants to spend time with her adopted child, as she told EW. It will be somewhat interesting to see if she plunges into a busy movie schedule.

Somewhat.

But, at this point, Heigl's departure from "Grey's Anatomy" is about as boring as the show itself.