'Grey's Anatomy' writer says a fan tracked down his number and called to yell at him after Denny Duquette was killed off
- A "Grey's Anatomy" writer got an unsolicited phone call asking "How could you kill Denny?"
- But Tony Phelan didn't even write the season two finale episode in which Denny dies.
One of the reasons ABC's hit medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" has lasted for 18 seasons and counting is the incredible romances portrayed throughout the years. One such relationship only lasted for a season, but there is no doubt it impacted fans.
According "How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy," a new tell-all book by Entertainment Weekly's editor at large Lynette Rice, the husband and wife writing team Tony Phelan and Joan Rater were harassed by phone after "Grey's Anatomy" killed off fan-favorite Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) on the season two finale.
The book reports that a fan from New Jersey tracked down the couple's home phone number to ask, "How could you kill Denny?" The heart-transplant patient met and fell in love with Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) during his many stays at Seattle-Grace Memorial Hospital and the two were engaged to be married when the character died.
Phelan recalled that the incident "just shows you how invested people are" in the lives of the fictional characters they watch every week on-screen. But he and Rater did take steps to protect themselves after getting the unsolicited phone call. "We're not listed anymore," he said, according to the book.
The irony of the incident is that Phelan and Rater didn't even write the episode in which Denny dies. The couple wrote the episode immediately before his death, titled "Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response."
On that episode, Izzie and her fellow interns must deal with the consequences of Izzie cutting Denny's LVAD wire to get him moved up on the heart transplant list. She does so thinking that Denny's doctor Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) is on his way to help stabilize Denny after retrieving a donor heart. But Dr. Burke is shot upon returning to Seattle-Grace.
The ordeal that Phelan and Rater put Denny through is not fun. But he does survive long enough to undergo a presumably successful heart-transplant surgery, only to die of a post-surgery stroke on the second season finale called "Losing My Religion." Denny's final episode alive was written by the show's creator and then-showrunner, Shonda Rhimes.
"How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy," which details the audience's response to the biggest moments of the series, is available now.