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''Grey's Anatomy'', despite its popularity, has its share of detractors. The show has been widely criticized by various groups, many of them medical, for inaccurately presenting medical situations and greatly exaggerating the degree to which doctors and medical professionals fraternize with one another. <ref> [http://medicalmadhouse.blogspot.com/2005/05/greys-anatomy-self-destruct-button.html] A Resident's Review, May 9, 2005, Chronicles of a Medical Mad House </ref> In particular, the show was initially targeted as showing a disrespect for nurses (several lines of dialogue had doctors referring to nurses in sarcastic or belitting ways; in the pilot episode, Meredith is offended when Alex thinks she is "just" a nurse.) The creator defended this line saying that it shows what would be offensive to a surgeon and that in the scenes after it is seen that the nurses know more than the new interns.
''Grey's Anatomy'', despite its popularity, has its share of detractors. The show has been widely criticized by various groups, many of them medical, for inaccurately presenting medical situations and greatly exaggerating the degree to which doctors and medical professionals fraternize with one another. <ref> [http://medicalmadhouse.blogspot.com/2005/05/greys-anatomy-self-destruct-button.html] A Resident's Review, May 9, 2005, Chronicles of a Medical Mad House </ref> In particular, the show was initially targeted as showing a disrespect for nurses (several lines of dialogue had doctors referring to nurses in sarcastic or belitting ways; in the pilot episode, Meredith is offended when Alex thinks she is "just" a nurse.) The creator defended this line saying that it shows what would be offensive to a surgeon and that in the scenes after it is seen that the nurses know more than the new interns.


''Grey's Anatomy'' has also been accused as a ripoff of the NBC series ''[[Scrubs (TV series)|Scrubs]]''. In episode 11 of Season 5, "[[My Buddy's Booty]]", main character [[John Dorian]], or JD, exclaims (in reference to ''Grey's Anatomy''), "Oh I do love that show, it's like they've been watching our lives and just put it on TV!" a dig at the more popular show (see External Links for clip). Ironically, this joke was borrowed from a mid-nineties episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', an acknowledged influence of [[Scrubs]], only about the similar show ''[[Dinosaurs (TV series)|Dinosaurs]].''
''Grey's Anatomy'' has also been accused as a ripoff of the NBC series ''[[Scrubs (TV series)|Scrubs]]''. In episode 11 of Season 5, "[[My Buddy's Booty]]", main character [[John Dorian]], or JD, exclaims (in reference to ''Grey's Anatomy''), "Oh I do love that show, it's like they've been watching our lives and just put it on TV!" a dig at the more popular show (see External Links for clip). Ironically, this joke was borrowed from a mid-nineties episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', an acknowledged influence of ''Scrubs'', only about the similar show ''[[Dinosaurs (TV series)|Dinosaurs]].''


However, supporters of the show have defended its lack of realism, claiming that a dry, precise medical show would lack the charms <ref> [http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/10/31/greys-anatomy-into-you-like-a-train/] TV Squad Review: "Into You Like a Train", October 30, 2005, TV Squad </ref> that make ''Grey's Anatomy'' so popular with its wide audience and pointing out that very few TV programs &mdash; including ones purporting to be far more serious &mdash; hew strictly to realism.
However, supporters of the show have defended its lack of realism, claiming that a dry, precise medical show would lack the charms <ref> [http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/10/31/greys-anatomy-into-you-like-a-train/] TV Squad Review: "Into You Like a Train", October 30, 2005, TV Squad </ref> that make ''Grey's Anatomy'' so popular with its wide audience and pointing out that very few TV programs &mdash; including ones purporting to be far more serious &mdash; hew strictly to realism.

Revision as of 15:59, 9 August 2006

This article is about the television series. For the anatomy textbook, see Gray's Anatomy. For the Spalding Gray film, see Gray's Anatomy (1996 film).
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy title screen.
Created byShonda Rhimes
StarringEllen Pompeo
Sandra Oh
Patrick Dempsey
Katherine Heigl
T.R. Knight
Justin Chambers
Isaiah Washington
Chandra Wilson
Kate Walsh
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes36 (to date)
Production
Running time60 minutes (approx. 42 min)
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseMarch 27, 2005 –
Present

Grey's Anatomy is an award-winning and popular American primetime television medical drama. The pilot episode aired on ABC on March 27, 2005. The story revolves around Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The show features an ensemble cast, but Meredith is featured as the main character, with a voice-over narration at the beginning and end of most episodes.

The title of the show is a pun on the title of the famous anatomy textbook, Gray's Anatomy.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters from Grey's Anatomy

The characters of the series include a group of surgical interns, the various physicians who serve as mentors to the interns, and additional people in their professional and personal lives.

The show has been lauded for its non-traditional cast. The show's producers pride themselves on the fact that they used a "blind-casting" technique. "Blind-casting" means that the producers did not assign a specific race to each character before casting, they simply chose the best actor/actress for the part, and race was not a determining factor. The cast includes several African-American actors (Chandra Wilson, Isaiah Washington and James Pickens, Jr.) an Asian-Canadian actress (Sandra Oh), and a Latina actress (Sara Ramirez) in heavily featured roles. The Emerald City Bar's proprietor, Joe (Steven W. Bailey) is a gay man. His large-sized frame is a departure from how gay men are usually portrayed on television.

Criticism, praise, and media coverage

Grey's Anatomy, despite its popularity, has its share of detractors. The show has been widely criticized by various groups, many of them medical, for inaccurately presenting medical situations and greatly exaggerating the degree to which doctors and medical professionals fraternize with one another. [1] In particular, the show was initially targeted as showing a disrespect for nurses (several lines of dialogue had doctors referring to nurses in sarcastic or belitting ways; in the pilot episode, Meredith is offended when Alex thinks she is "just" a nurse.) The creator defended this line saying that it shows what would be offensive to a surgeon and that in the scenes after it is seen that the nurses know more than the new interns.

Grey's Anatomy has also been accused as a ripoff of the NBC series Scrubs. In episode 11 of Season 5, "My Buddy's Booty", main character John Dorian, or JD, exclaims (in reference to Grey's Anatomy), "Oh I do love that show, it's like they've been watching our lives and just put it on TV!" a dig at the more popular show (see External Links for clip). Ironically, this joke was borrowed from a mid-nineties episode of The Simpsons, an acknowledged influence of Scrubs, only about the similar show Dinosaurs.

However, supporters of the show have defended its lack of realism, claiming that a dry, precise medical show would lack the charms [2] that make Grey's Anatomy so popular with its wide audience and pointing out that very few TV programs — including ones purporting to be far more serious — hew strictly to realism.

Supporters likewise claim that the purpose of the hospital setting is to provide a dramatic backdrop that allows for the characters to be put into emotionally and physically intense situations that would rarely occur in other circumstances and settings. In this sense, Grey's Anatomy is similar to many other television shows in using larger-than-life scenarios in each episode to metaphorically express emotions that every person, no matter how mundane or fantastic his or her life may be, goes through. Grey's Anatomy bends fact to fit its mixture of romantic comedy and serious character drama, while avoiding the campy or the surreal.

The show, reportedly, has also grasped the attention of some of Hollywood's brightest stars. Those who have been rumored to be consistent admirers of the drama include actress Catherine Zeta Jones, soccer superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as well as international children's law expert Jennifer Musika. Oprah also watches the show passionately.

In 2005, ABC gave the hit show a vote of confidence by announcing that Grey's Anatomy would receive the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot which aired on February 5, 2006[3].

The series has twice been featured as a subject of special episodes of the ABC News program 20/20, including one 2006 episode on the realism of the sometimes outlandish medical stories of Grey's Anatomy, and real cases similar to them. Additionally, a 2005 broadcast of ABC News' Nightline more specifically covered Grey's Anatomy's multiracial cast and race relations depiction in entertainment.

Season synopses

Template:Spoiler

File:Greysanatomy.jpg
The season 1 cast of Grey's Anatomy.

For more detailed synopses information, listed by episode, see List of Grey's Anatomy episodes.

Season 1: (2005)

Season one began airing March 27, 2005 and ended on May 22, 2005. Meredith Grey, daughter of the once-renowned surgeon Ellis Grey, becomes an intern at the Seattle Grace Hospital. She meets fellow interns Cristina, Izzie, and George who will be her closest friends during the intern program. Other characters include Dr. Miranda Bailey, who is nicknamed "The Nazi" due to her "tough love" capability; Alex Karev, another intern who is not very popular with the other interns (especially Izzie); and surgeons Dr. Derek Shepherd and Dr. Preston Burke. The chief of surgery is Richard Webber. The season chronicles the first few months of the intern program and the day-to-day life of a surgical intern. Recurring plots include Meredith's battle to keep her mother's Alzheimer's disease a secret and her relationship with Dr. Shepherd. Others include George's infatuation with Meredith and a power struggle between Dr. Burke and Dr. Shepherd

Season 2: (2005 - 2006)

The first season originally contained 13 episodes, representing ABC's original midseason order for the show. However, it was decided to end the season early because ABC executives wished for the show's first season to end with ABC's Desperate Housewives (which had the timeslot before Grey's Anatomy for the first two seasons}. Rather than condensing or throwing out plotlines, Grey's Anatomy producers chose to end the season with the ninth episode and save the following episodes for the second season.

File:Fullcast-s2a.jpg
The season 2 cast of Grey's Anatomy

Episodes 10-13 were then held and broadcast as the first four episodes of Season 2. ABC ordered 22 episodes in addition to the four being carried over, bringing the total number of episodes for the second season to 26. The count apparently does not include the recap specials "Straight From The Heart" and "Under Pressure"; however, a 27th original episode was eventually added to the season. "Bring the Pain," which aired as the series' 14th episode, has been cited in series creator Shonda Rhimes' blog as having been originally intended as the first season finale. With 22 episodes following this episode, it is possible that the additional episode may have been inserted earlier rather than later in the season.

The series' second season began airing September 25, 2005, and concluded on May 14 and May 15, 2006 with a three-hour finale spanning both nights. The Season 2 DVD will be released on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 — nine days prior to the tentatively scheduled start of the third season.

Season 3: (2006 - 2007)

On May 16 2006, the morning following the close of the second season, ABC announced plans for a third season of Grey's Anatomy to anchor the network's Thursday evening programming[5], set to air at 9 p.m. EST. As Thursday has historically been the most competitive programming night among American broadcast networks, the announced schedule change for the series has been viewed by media analysts as another vote of confidence in the series from ABC. By extension, the move of the series has been cited as one potential factor for competing network NBC's decision to move its own Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, originally intended to air Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST. ABC announced on July 18, 2006 that the third season premiere will be September 21, 2006.

ABC first tested the series' potential for Thursday audiences on February 9 2006, as it aired an encore of the Super Bowl XL-leadout episode titled "It's the End of the World". The following Thursday, February 16 2006, the network repeated the second part of the story arc, "(As We Know It)". Both airings began at 9:30 p.m. EST, and thus positioned Grey's Anatomy against CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Without A Trace also Survivor and NBC's longtime medical drama ER. Solid performance on these nights, with the repeat airings maintaining a strong second place finish, may have been influential in the fall scheduling decision.

The series officially assumed its new Thursday slot on July 6 2006, as part of a two-hour event featuring a repeat of the pilot episode, "A Hard Day's Night". Throughout July and August, the series will air twice weekly — once in the new Thursday time period, and once in its previous Sunday time period.

Though little is known about the upcoming season, It is known that Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey) is pregnant; Chris O'Donnel (Finn aka "McVet") is only signed on for the first 3 episodes, Katherine Heigl (Izzie Stevens) will be coming back,and that Kate Walsh (Addison Montgomery-Shepperd) and Eric Dane (Mark aka "McSteamy") are signed on for the entire 3rd Season.

Awards and nominations

Awards won

Golden Globes:

Screen Actors Guild:

  • Best Female Actor in a Drama Series: Sandra Oh (2006)

TV Land Awards:

  • Future Classic (2006)

NAACP Image Awards:

  • Outstanding Drama Series (2006)
  • Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series: Isaiah Washington (2006)

Television Critics Awards:

  • Program of the Year (2006)

Awards nominated

Emmy Awards:

  • Outstanding Drama Series (2006)
  • Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series: Peter Horton (A Hard Day's Night) (2005)
  • Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series: Linda Lowy, John Brace (2005, 2006)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Sandra Oh (2005, 2006)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Chandra Wilson (2006)
  • Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Kate Burton (Ellis Grey) (2006)
  • Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Christina Ricci (Hannah) (2006)
  • Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series: Kyle Chandler (Dylan Young) (2006)
  • Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Shonda Rhimes (It’s the End Of The World, As We Know It ) (2006)
  • Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: Krista Vernoff (Into You Like A Train) (2006)

Golden Globes:

  • Best Television Series - Drama
  • Best Actor in a Drama Series: Patrick Dempsey (2006)

Screen Actors Guild:

  • Ensemble in a Drama Series (2006)
  • Best Male Actor in a Drama Series: Patrick Dempsey (2006)

DVDs

The first season of Grey's Anatomy was released on DVD on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 (in the United States: Region 1), containing all 9 Season 1 episodes. Bonus features include an alternate title sequence, audio commentaries, an extended pilot episode and a making-of featurette. The set contains 2 discs. On the second disc, go to the Special Features. Then, go down to the Main Menu option, and press up. When it shows the red cross, click enter to get a surprise.

The second season of Grey's Anatomy is set to be released on September 12, 2006. [6]

Music

See Grey's Anatomy (soundtrack)

The show's main title theme is a snippet of "Cosy in the Rocket", by British artists Psapp. It is featured in the soundtrack album released via ABC corporate cousin Hollywood Records on September 27, 2005. A list of all the songs aired for each episode can be found on the program's official website.

A second CD, featuring songs from Season Two, will be released on September 12, 2006.

Catchphrases and storyline patterns

The characters on Grey's Anatomy speak in a very contemporary way, resulting in unique dialogue. As a result, the show has spawned a couple of catchphrases.

  • A trend began of "McLabeling" other characters or adding the "Mc" to other terms
  1. McDreamy, the first of this trend is a nickname given to Derek Shepherd by Cristina Yang
  2. McSteamy, Mark Sloan is given this by the female intern characters
  3. McHot, Addison Shepherd is given this by Alex
  4. McDog, the dog shared by McDreamy and Meredith
  5. McVet, Finn Dandridge
  6. McVomit, something George says he is holding back as female interns discuss other McNicknames
  • Euphemisms for female genetalia or other sexually related terms
  1. va-jay-jay, Dr. Bailey injected a noted euphemism for female genitalia: during the "Code Black" episode, George was assisting Addison Shepherd in Dr. Bailey's childbirth, and Bailey said to George, "O'Malley, stop looking at my va-jay-jay!" On the "Frequently Asked Questions" page of the show's official website, Shonda Rhimes credits assistant Blythe Robe as her source for the phrase.
  2. my good girl, A supporting character called her genitalia "my good girl" in the episode Damage Case.
  3. V-card, Chief Webber's wife Adele (Loretta Devine) used the phrase "cashing in her V-card" to describe her niece losing her virginity in the second-season finale.
  • The characters often say "seriously", usually at the end of a sentence, as a question or as a pronouncement. On the "Frequently Asked Questions" page on the show's website at ABC.com, creator Shonda Rhimes explains that one of the writers, Krista Vernoff, used the saying all the time and it spread to the writing staff, and eventually, to the dialogue.

Networks

First run

Grey's Anatomy is broadcast on the following channels around the world:

Syndication

Grey's Anatomy will air in syndication in the USA on Lifetime Television beginning in January 2007. Initially, the show will air once a week beginning with the first season. In Fall 2009, Lifetime can begin airing the show daily. Lifetime will pay $1.2 million per episode, for up to 200 episodes.[4]

References

  1. ^ [1] A Resident's Review, May 9, 2005, Chronicles of a Medical Mad House
  2. ^ [2] TV Squad Review: "Into You Like a Train", October 30, 2005, TV Squad
  3. ^ [3] "'Anatomy' Lesson Follows on Superbowl" Zap2It, October 31, 2005. The cliffhanger received record-high ratings, which carried over into its follow-up episode and propelled it into a new level of popularity and exposure.
  4. ^ [4] "Lifetime snatches "Grey's Anatomy" reruns", July 24, 2006, Reuters
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