The on-again, off-again relationship between Katherine Heigl and ABC's 'Grey's Anatomy' is permanently off-again. Michael Ausiello reports that Heigl really is leaving the show for good.

But this isn't just some statement that ABC is releasing announcing the news, Heigl is actually the cover story this week at Entertainment Weekly, where she explains who she has fought with, why she is leaving the hit show, and why she needs to apologize for certain things she has said in the past. The big headline on the cover actually says "I'm Sorry."

Uhhh...does anyone else think that's a really odd cover? This is obviously a PR move, and that's fine (that's done all the time with celebrities), but a prayer pose? Seriously? I'd like to think it's supposed to be ironic and funny but it just comes across as lame.

Heigl was supposed to return to the show on March 1 but didn't, so both sides decided to have her leave the show.

Like so many of us, Michelle Obama seems to be having a hard time waiting until April 13 for the new episodes of 'Glee' to start.

According to the Ausiello Files, the First Lady has reportedly asked the cast of the Golden Globe-winning comedy to perform at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which will take place April 5 on the White House lawn. The cast, of course, said yes.

Mrs. O and daughters Sasha and Malia are said to be fans of the show, according to the report.

(S04E12) "How is it that I kill people and feel no regret, but disappointing Rita can make me feel like the scum of the Earth?" - Dexter Morgan

I don't care what the issue is, what topic I'm discussing, or what area of my life needs improvement. If Jennifer Carpenter, the actress who plays Debra Morgan on Dexter, has the answer for me, I'm going to follow it to a tee.

That's because she can correctly predict the emotional outcome of any situation, including the reaction I'd have to last night's Dexter finale. I should really have her sit in on my next IRS audit. Chances are if she can't help me cope with the soul crushing inevitability of my pending financial breakdown, she can curse out the auditor and leave him in a bigger sadness heap than I'll be in.

This season of Dexter has the most share of downs than seasons past, so much so that it's actually turned the audience against the strife and struggles of their longest running characters. But whoever thought that one of them would be sweet, lovable Rita?

Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker said in his most recent review at his "Watching TV" blog that the three things he wouldn't miss are the Batista/Laguerta relationship, Quinn's touchy relationship with a scoop hungry reporter and Rita, played by Julie Benz.

His issue isn't with Benz's performance, but he said he feels "dubious" about the fixes that have to be made to Dexter and Rita's relationship. All this talk of working out issues could turn an edgy show about a body chopping serial killer into an episode of The View with less screaming and violence.

The critic has spoken. What say you?

I didn't think we'd seen the last of boozy old gleester April Rhodes, and now it's official. Kristin Chenoweth is reprising her role on Glee for at least one more episode, to air in early 2010. Creator Ryan Murphy didn't divulge any more info about her role, so there's no telling if she'll spend her time getting Kurt drunk again, or if she actually learned a lesson from her last visit and found happiness in Branson.

What's interesting is that Chenoweth has made no secret about her desire to return to Glee, perhaps in a permanent capacity, so could this second visit be paving the way for a place in the cast? Again, Murphy is keeping mum, but what if it is true? Where would they put April Rhodes? Do you really want her to be a member of glee club? Would she help Will coach? Will she form a love square between Will, Terri and Emma? After all, he did have a monster crush on her in high school.

Now this is a TV tour I can get behind: According to Entertainment Weekly, the cast of Glee could be going on a music tour, playing concerts across the country. While it's only in the discussion phase right now, it looks like we could be seeing the cast belting out "Don't Stop Believing" in person as early as spring of next year, when filming on their first season wraps.

It sounds like FOX boss Kevin Reilly has seen the moneymaking potential of his cast of moppets for a while, telling EW back in July, "Certainly if these kids become stars in their own right, who knows? Live appearances. Albums. There's lots of things that could happen." Can't you just picture him sitting in a tall chair in a richly paneled office somewhere, steepling his fingers and saying, "excellent," a la Mr. Burns?

That bastion of journalistic excellence, Entertainment Weekly, unveiled their new cover and (surprise!) Letterman made the cover. It features the Late Show host without pants, which in any other context would be the lowest selling issue of EW since Ernest Borgnine forgot to put on underpants.

My problem isn't with the picture, although it seems it probably should be. It's the headline. Is "Oh, Dave" the best they could do? Hell, "Where the Wild Things Are" would be ten times better and save a fifth of the print space. Write a better headline in the comments section below and we'll feature the best ones in a future post.

Entertainment Weekly Subscribers in New York and Los Angeles were treated to 40 minutes of video promoting the CBS fall lineup right in the pages of the magazine's Fall Preview this week, as Bob reported last month. But this groundbreaking movie got me thinking about how this technology could be used.

It's a potentially great development for the print medium. The player in EW is interactive, meaning that as you press on the page it's embedded in it responds. Click on The Big Bang Theory and you'll see the preview of the new season on that show. All those people who abandoned print for the interactive experience online can now get that in their favorite magazines as well.

The technology is a brilliant way for an advertisement to reach out to an even wider audience. These little players can be stuck just about anywhere, and loaded with 40 minutes or so of playback. Imagine picking up that DVD set of a TV show you've heard about and being able to watch clips of it right there.

If you're a Seinfeld fan, that is. If you're not a Seinfeld fan, please scroll up or down.

This week's Entertainment Weekly features a new photo of the cast for their Curb Your Enthusiasm guest appearances with Larry David. The cast will be in several episodes this season, playing themselves. The plot will have David getting them together for the Seinfeld reunion that fans want to see and we'll get a behind-the-scenes look at the fictional reunion and the fictional making of that reunion, which itself will be a real reunion.

Got that?

Everybody thought that Chuck and Blair were going to be the Upper East Side's hottest couple on Gossip Girl this season, but it looks like we were wrong. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, the hook-up that everyone is going to be talking about won't be between Chuck and Blair, Dan and Serena, or even Nate and Vanessa/Jenny/Blair/Serena/random moms. It's totally going to be between two dudes.

While one of the guys in question is going to be a newcomer to the show, the other one is a character that Gossip Girl fans know very well. For all of you super spoilerphobes out there, I'll stop here, but for the rest of you, click through for more details.

When you think of print magazines, what do you want to see in them? More pages? More features? More color? Less advertising?

How about more advertising? How about video advertising? How about 40 minutes of video advertising? That's what CBS is putting in the September Fall Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly (in limited areas only). Here's the video.

[via Adfreak]

Only 42 days to go. That's how long until the season premiere of NCIS. According to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, quoting exec producer Shane Brennan, the first minute of NCIS is a mindblower. What could this possibly mean? Will someone die, or will we discover what happened to Ziva? Was that her being beaten and tortured in the closing scene of last season's finale?

The week before the American Idol gigantic-mahunga-godzilla two-hour-plus finale aired, Simon Cowell predicted it would be a "ding-dong finale." Of course, that brilliant prognostication was hype personified, but Simon did his job. The finale drew 28.8 million viewers. Ironically, the buzz in the biz when those figures were revealed skewed it as a bad thing. It was the lowest-rated American Idol finale ever. But it still drew a tremendous amount of eyeballs, so why is it being characterized as a flop?

The answer is simply this: American Idol is competing with itself. It's expected to exceed its highs year after year, and generally speaking in television, that just doesn't happen. Older shows decline, and yes, even superhits like American Idol can't stay on top forever. Look at ER or CSI.

Attention, Rosie O'Donnell: Simon Cowell promised that next week's American Idol will be a ding-dong finale. Break out the Drake's Cakes! Actually, Simon wasn't referring to Rosie's favorite chocolate cake treat, he was using perhaps the strangest euphemism he could come up with to hype the finale which he anticipates -- and rightfully so -- a great showdown between two singers who could both be deservedly crowned the winner of American Idol.

Adam Lambert vs. Kris Allen might seem like a heavyweight versus a bantam weight, one guy who's already been splashed on magazine covers -- last week's Entertainment Weekly -- as the presumptive champ, while the other was nearly knocked on his butt by the judge's song choice that was so bad that Simon faulted Kara and Randy for setting him up to fail.

And yes, I am probably the 50th person to use that headline for this story. Thank you.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting (from various sources he has skulking around the television world) that FOX is just about to cancel The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The ratings haven't been great for the sci-fi show. FOX paired it with Dollhouse on Friday nights and there has been no reason to keep the show alive for another season (ratings-wise, anyway - I'll leave it to the fans to judge the quality of the show itself). Things don't look that great for Dollhouse either, but that's another story.

Officially, the network won't announce its fall schedule for another month or so, at their annual upfront presentation. Unofficially, you probably shouldn't look for the show on that fall schedule. Now I guess we'll just have to wait for the premiere of the movie where Christian Bale yelled at everyone.