Perhaps Katherine Heigl’s recent, pre-Emmy Awards quasi-complaint about not getting enough nomination-worthy material on Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t entirely off base.

Her character, Dr. Izzie Stevens, is sleeping with her dead lover, Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), as we all know. The question is ... how does that even happen?

We'll have to wait and see, but according to Entertainment Weekly, ABC has already begun the process of "audience-testing" a love story between Izzie and Denny.

Last we checked, Shonda Rhimes wasn’t trying to create a Ghost Whisperer: Seattle, but then there isn’t a lot about Grey’s Anatomy that makes sense these days.

Actress Brooke Smith, whose Dr. Erica Hahn represented the only full-time lesbian character on the "Big Four" networks, was abruptly canned last month.

Mary McDonnell is an acclaimed and talented actress, but some have called her depiction of a renowned cardiac surgeon with Asperger’s ridiculous and unrealistic.

Add in Rhimes’ decision to have Izzie cavort with the dead, and Grey’s Anatomy has fast become this season’s most maligned show by fans (if you don’t count Heroes, that is).

It was theorized by many that Izzie's visions of Denny were related to her rumored brain tumor ... until Rhimes said last week that Izzie doesn’t have a brain tumor.

Sadly, that’s all the explanation we're going to get for now (Shonda Rhimes, Katherine Heigl, and ABC all declined to comment on the matter for this article).

However, with Grey's Anatomy iewership down 17 percent from last year, an insider says ABC is conducting audience testing on the Izzie-Denny love story.

Results aren’t in yet, so we’re forced to sift through future plot lines for any signs of relief. One can only wonder how the test audiences are reacting to it.

The good news is that Rhimes hasn’t given up on girl-on-girl action Bisexual Callie is about to start canoodling with new intern Sadie (Melissa George).

Elsewhere, Mark Sloan (a.k.a. Eric Dane, a.k.a. McSteamy) may end up doing the dirty with little Grey, Lexie (Chyler Leigh), and fan favorite Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) will show up for a special set of crossover episodes with her spin-off, Private Practice, in February.

The bad news is that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is slated to appear on Grey's Anatomy at least through February. There’s never an exorcist around when you need one.

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.