At the movies, Katherine Heigl is the goofball, throwing barbs at Seth Rogen in Knocked Up and singing Elton John with James Marsden in 27 Dresses. But on TV, she's on that show I don't watch about the doctors who cry all the time, and presumably that's enough dramatic experience to prep Heigl for her first starring drama role.

The actress formerly known as Izzy (they killed her off, right?) will star in LIfe As We Know It, a Warner Bros. drama about two single people who are suddenly taking care of the orphaned daughter of their best friends, who were killed in a car accident. According to THR they're fast-tracking the drama, which was written by Ian Dietchman and Kristin Rusk Robinson.

Given all the tear duct workouts she was doing on Grey's Anatomy, it's probably high time Heigl try a movie drama. It sounds like a decent middle-of-the-road weepie, which is the right way to go-- if she starts angling for Oscars right now it's going to backfire. I'll root for her for now, but if it starts heading toward My Sister's Keeper territory, I'm out.