Grey's Anatomy - Doctor's Report #4/GA News - News and Information - Page 3

mcdreamylover · 04-27-2006, 10:58 AM

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'Anatomy' has all the right parts By Ann Oldenburg, USA TODAY
Thu Apr 27, 7:03 AM ET

Most of us try to do anything we can to avoid a hospital.

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But not Seattle Grace. Every Sunday night, more than 20 million people visit the fictional hospital in this year's biggest success story in TV dramas: Grey's Anatomy.

The ABC ensemble-cast medical show, which has grown to surpass even last year's soapy hit Desperate Housewives, each week offers some new tangle of relationships among five ambitious medical interns who live, eat and, sometimes, sleep together.

Of course, hospital shows have been popular since TV's early days. From Marcus Welby, M.D. to ER to Fox's current hit House, tan- talizing medical dramas can be a prescription for Nielsen success. But few have combined medicine and melodrama with such a scalpel-sharp edge. Interracial passions. Bad romantic decisions. Ambitious moves in the operating room. The relentless 24/7 juggling of work and life.

Grey's characters are resonating with viewers.

Sunday's episode (ABC, 10 p.m. ET/PT) kicks off the final four episodes of the season, leading up to a two-part, three-hour finale on May 14 and 15. With ratings up 10% this season over last, Grey's has become the top-rated scripted series among younger viewers ages 18-34 and No. 2 among 18-49s (behind Desperate Housewives). A special post-Super Bowl episode drew more than 37 million viewers.

What is it about Grey's? Is it the new Friends? Maybe a Sex and the City with stethoscopes? A thirtysomething for the new millennium? Or just a reminder of ER in its George Clooney glory days?

Five surgical interns - Meredith Grey ( Ellen Pompeo), Cristina Yang ( Sandra Oh), Isobel Stevens ( Katherine Heigl), Alex Karev ( Justin Chambers), and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) - compete for the best operating-room assignments, to work with residents including "McDreamy" Derek Shepherd ( Patrick Dempsey), serious Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) and fearsome Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson).

Throw in McDreamy's beautiful but cheating wife, Dr. Addison Shepherd (Kate Walsh), and the steady surgical chief, Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), and the story line possibilities are endless.

"It's that time in your life when you literally don't know if what you're going to do is going to work or not, what your future is, if you're going to make it," says creator Shonda Rhimes, a Dartmouth English literature graduate who had never written for TV before Grey's.

Adds producer Betsy Beers: "These people are surgeons, so the stakes are higher. At the end of the day, it's life and death."

Dee LaDuke, author of Making Great Television and an executive producer of UPN series Girlfriends, says Grey's "certainly qualifies as great television." She credits Rhimes' ability to nail the characters. "Every episode has a moment that moves me to tears, and I sit there and ask myself, 'Damn, how did she do that again?' I'm a tough audience, but her approach to characters is truly fresh and moving."

Fans dissect 'Anatomy'

And just what exactly is that approach? Here's what (and who) fans say they love, and how the Grey's crew sees things:

•"I love watching Grey's Anatomy because all of the characters are flawed. It's nice to watch a show where you can't even hate the jerks because they still seem human and have feelings."

- Alexis Bramlett, 21, University of Florida student

"We try to keep them human," says Rhimes. "I like to think people love the characters because they feel like a good mixture of someone you might know, a friend of yours. And it's a perfect fantasy; they say the things you'd like to say and act like you'd like to act."

Adds Beers, "They all make mistakes. It's not usual on a television show that you have a group of protagonists who make mistakes on a regular basis and admit to it. That makes it very relatable."

•"To name a favorite character is difficult. I love 'The Nazi' for her straightforward manner and the way everyone assumes she lives and breathes her job."

- Norma Schwanse, 38, Weekhawken, N.J.

Peter Horton, an executive producer of Grey's who also was a star of thirtysomething, says everywhere he goes, viewers want to talk about the show. "They have an emotional connection. It's not just out of curiosity or politeness. People feel passionate."

• "My favorite character is McDreamy, of course. He is just so hot. I love it that the show always has some underlying theme that makes me stop and think about my own life and how it relates."

- Kim Huff, 40, Fort Lauderdale

On the set last November, Horton and Dempsey were joking about Dempsey's inclusion in People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive list. Horton was on that same list during thirtysomething's run.

Horton told Dempsey: "It's amazing how sexy you've gotten once you're on a hit show."

•"I spend each episode hoping that Meredith and Derek might actually end up together or at least kiss again. It's not that I don't like Addison, but I don't like her with Derek. It's funny how much you end up rooting for certain fictional characters. My friends and I used to joke that we talked about the cast of Friends like they were people we knew and hung out with, and this show is along those lines."

- Dawn Clark, 26, Glastonbury, Conn.

Says Rhimes of the Friends comparison, "I'll take any compliment I can get."

Grey's "reminds us of high school," wrote Douglas Durden, TV critic for the Richmond Times, in a recent column, explaining that it's filled with "brief, intense crushes, closed cliques, awkward missteps and a lot of avoiding each other in hallways."

•I think the reason I like it so much is that it is not like any other show. It has the drama of ER with the wittiness of The West Wing. Cristina is my favorite, she is so driven and reminds me a lot of myself."

- Elisabeth Clement, 30, Des Moines

The wittiness and drama of the show began with Rhimes' vision and voice. "In the beginning, you try to download your brain," says Rhimes. "Now we've reached a point where the writers get it."

There's a sort of "logic to what each character would do," says Beers. "It comes pretty naturally."

•"What increasingly draws me to the show are its echoes of Sex and the City. It deals with a single, adult cast making single, adult decisions. Meredith's voice-overs often have the same level of insight that Carrie's did. I remember one of my favorite lines (from Sex and the City): 'You always come back to your family, whether it's the one you're born with or the one you make for yourself.' Grey's explores this kind of non-traditional 'family' and offers insights into the nature of relationships, not just with friends and family but also with careers, co-workers, etc."

- Renee Dechert, in her 30s, Powell, Wyo.

"I think the thing about Sex and the City that was so appealing is it portrayed a group of women, strong professional women who were friends," says Beers. That's a facet of Grey's as well.

But Rhimes says the pilot didn't have the Carrie Bradshaw-esque voice-over that Meredith now does in each episode. "In the editing room, it felt like a piece was missing, so we added it."

•"I like the fact that the cast is integrated and shows diversity, unlike Friends and even Seinfeld (my favorite). ... I'm a female minority (Filipino-Spanish), and it's refreshing to see people of color on TV playing professional, interesting roles."

- Marie Lehman, fiftysomething, Hillsborough, Calif.

Rhimes says she had no specific casting intentions. "We were going to cast the best actors for the part. We were going to open the casting to whoever came in. There was no mandate or plan." Beers says the goal was a mixed cast, "more representative of an urban hospital."

•"It has combined the drama of a soap, the intellect of a medical show, and the camaraderie of a sitcom. My favorite character is George. Everyone knows a George in their life. He is the underdog - although a doctor, he still can't seem to rise above it all. He will always be George. Knowing George, he will eventually become a podiatrist for 90-year-old women in Miami. Still, I can't get enough."

- Donna Palermo, 41, Brick, N.J.

"When we sat down in that very first day, I said Meredith and George are going to sleep together," Rhimes says. "I have stuff that has been planned from the inception."

And Rhimes has it plotted to the end. "I always say I know what the last scene of the last episode of Grey's will be." She just hasn't exactly plotted however many seasons might come between. "I might have to do some stretching now."

Rhimes is the reason

Essentially, as Mark Gordon, another Grey's producer, puts it: The "stars aligned" on this show, but it all started with Rhimes. "People in this industry are always trying to replicate success," he says, recalling that during the last pilot season, as new shows were being pitched for development, there were comments like "We want Grey's Anatomy here. We want Grey's Anatomy in that environment." But "the only way to get Grey's Anatomy is to get Shonda Rhimes."

She already is at work on a pilot that will focus on news reporters, called Correspondents.Grey's Anatomy in a newsroom?

"It's not a formula," says Gordon. "It's all about the way she looks at the world and the way her characters speak and feel and act and react. Her voice has captured the imagination of the public. That's not something you can re-create."

Rhimes says the success hasn't sunk in. "It stills feels slightly shocking. Betsy and I started out working on this pilot, and we really liked the show. We felt like my sisters liked it, friends like it. We sort of knew it was a good show. I just never imagined this."

wanderer78 · 04-27-2006, 01:15 PM

Thanks for the article.

Katie in Prevention magazine:

From Jet magazine:

Isaiah Washington was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People. The issue isn't out yet, but he's part of the sneak peek. The picture and article are here.

Behind the scenes pics from Ellen's TV Guide photo shoot.

Robotica · 04-27-2006, 05:38 PM

Love the articles, Pia...commented on Katie's on her thread already...

Nice to see the Jet article, since it's a magazine I probably wouldn't think to look for on my own, but it was a great one...

And figured I'd post the picture that accompanied the article the ZBL posted earlier today...

wanderer78 · 04-27-2006, 06:37 PM

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Originally Posted by Robotica

Nice to see the Jet article, since it's a magazine I probably wouldn't think to look for on my own, but it was a great one...

Thanks. I pick Jet up from time to time. Obviously, I was going to nab that one. I've actually waited on the magazines staff/editors a few times. They used to come to the bar I worked at.

Thanks for the pic. It's kind of odd. Some of them are in street clothes and some in coats and scrubs. Cut and pasted pic, perhaps?

Robotica · 04-27-2006, 07:49 PM

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Originally Posted by wanderer78

Thanks for the pic. It's kind of odd. Some of them are in street clothes and some in coats and scrubs. Cut and pasted pic, perhaps?

You know, I never really paid that much attention to it, but on second glance you make a good point. Doesn't quite look like the pic was originally taken that way does it? Eh...

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I've actually waited on the magazines staff/editors a few times. They used to come to the bar I worked at.

That's actually kind of cool...and not something that would happen often in my small city...

wanderer78 · 04-27-2006, 07:57 PM

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That's actually kind of cool...and not something that would happen often in my small city...

Well, it's not like it happens that often to me either.

Robotica · 04-27-2006, 09:59 PM

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Originally Posted by wanderer78

Well, it's not like it happens that often to me either.

Fair enough...

Robotica · 04-28-2006, 04:10 PM

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Measuring the sympathy of Grey's Anatomy
By RODNEY HO
Cox News Service
Friday, April 28, 2006
ATLANTA — ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" has supplanted Sunday night TV mate "Desperate Housewives" as the buzzworthy soap opera of the season. The 10 p.m. show features a wide range of likable — and less likable — characters, focusing on five interns making their way up the ranks at Seattle Grace Hospital. As the show nears the end of Season 2, it's now pulling in 23 million viewers a week. Here's our sympathy thermometer ranking of the major players from most (10) to least (1) sympathetic.

Izzie (Katherine Heigl): Former model who starts out tentative but gains confidence in her abilities. "Feeds the beast" by getting busy with Alex, then becomes doe-eyed for a dying patient. So what if it's unethical? At least she dumped Alex!

Burke (Isaiah Washington): Begins as a difficult, emotionally arrested surgeon. But as his relationship with Cristina blossoms, he's showing a warmer side, even letting George stay in his apartment — for awhile.

George (T.R. Knight): This intern's unrequited puppy-dog love for Meredith is sweet at first, but he becomes bitter and somewhat annoying after she spurns him in bed. He moves out of Meredith's home in the aftermath of the hookup.

Derek (Patrick Dempsey): His wife cheats on him, so he moves to Seattle. There, the doctor known as "McDreamy" falls in love with Meredith but goes back to his wife, Addison, anyway. Currently, he remains "friends" with Meredith.

Bailey (Chandra Wilson): Nicknamed "the Nazi," she's the surgeon who oversees the interns with tough love and mincing words. Having a baby humanizes her, though she's hardly becoming June Cleaver.

Cristina (Sandra Oh): Hyper-competitive and emotionally stunted, she hooks up with Burke and gets pregnant, then loses the baby. The pair end up moving in together. George's presence in their apartment drives her nuts until she starts walking around in the buff. Burke quickly forces George out.

Meredith (Ellen Pompeo): Self-absorbed from the get go, she's the central character of the show and the most frustrating of the bunch. While she can't get McDreamy out of her brain, she gets over the fact a bomb squad guy blew up in her face in record time. Then she sleeps with George.

Alex (Justin Chambers): The egotistical "bad boy" intern hooks up with Izzie, cheats on her, reconciles with her, then gets dumped by her after he gets jealous of her interest in said dying patient. His occasionally nasty outbursts indicate a serious case of insecurity.

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Must Listen TV

Oh Tunes: Sandra Oh of Grey's Anatomy Soapy shows revive the joy of musical discovery.
By Shannon Rupp
Published: April 28, 2006

TheTyee.ca
In an ironic twist, television -- the medium cursed for killing the radio star -- may have just redeemed itself with music fans.

ABC's sleeper hit Grey's Anatomy is the best broadcast source for discovering all those great new bands who never find their way onto radio - or even into local record stores.

Particularly if you're of a certain age and past the point when you have time to visit back-alley clubs. You know, that dreaded point when your pals start discussing housing prices or junior's latest cute declaration in lieu of discussing the latest great band they heard. That horrifying point at which people's musical tastes, along with their dancing muscles, atrophy.

I won't go on. Let's just say that life can be tough for aging ears that still long for new sounds. Especially if they don't want to embarrass themselves by becoming the arrested development cases that New York Magazine writer Adam Sternbergh has dubbed "Grups" - people well over 30 (or, shockingly, 40!) whose jewelry includes earphones.

Well, forgive me my iPod, but where is it written that music is only for the under 30 set?

Although, I suppose that, in practical terms, it is true that music is for the young. They're the only ones with the time to track it down.

Access to the new

For all that we keep hearing that this is the information age, without anyone to "set the agenda" as we used to say - meaning separate the Beatles from the Britney- getting to the good stuff has become a lot of work. Giving busy citizens the heads-up on everything from politics to pop culture used to be the job of broadsheet newspapers. But they've abdicated that role; replacing coverage of the new with the stuff everyone already knew.

Internet publications like The Tyee and the folks at Red Cat Records are helping fill the gap with their weekly music pix, as are websites like Pandora or last.fm.com that can offer music-seekers some new names with their taste-matching programs.

But, as my former DJ pal Christopher points out, programs like this lack the quality of surprise that is essential to good radio. People interested in music want the insight that comes with a playlist composed by a music lover with broad tastes and unlimited access to the new.

In short, what mature music aficionados need is an old-fashioned, independent, pre-corporate, music-loving disc jockey -- preferably one with access to a mass medium.

And that's exactly what we get in people like Alexandra Patsavas, the music supervisor who picks songs for Grey's Anatomy. Not only does she select surprising cuts to accent the storylines, she lists the songs and chats about her choices in a blog.

O.C. iPod

Pop music underscoring TV plots is nothing new, particularly on shows aimed at teens. The WB started the CDs spinning with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Felicity and Dawson's Creek. Fox's The O.C. has spawned a series of CD collections from the show and boosted one band's profile, in particular. The once-obscure Death Cab for Cutie (playing Vancouver's Coliseum tonight) was probably grateful for its new-found fame as the favourite band of geek-chic hero Seth Cohen.

But there tends to be blatant cross-promotion in a lot of these pairings. The bands are often trendy enough to give the show cachet and successful enough to pay for the CD ads tagging episodes. Although UPN's Veronica Mars, in keeping with its innovative writing, offers an unpredictable roster that includes artists like Ivy and Adrienne Pierce from Vancouver's Nettwerk label.

What makes the Grey's playlist so appealing is that it is obviously chosen for artistic rather than commercial appeal. Lots of the musicians listed on the website are self-produced. They landed on the soundtrack because they caught Patsavas' discerning ear and helped tell the story. Apparently, she's a music junkie who listens to all comers and is inundated with samplers from indie artists.

As Patsavas notes in one of her blog entries, the crucial skill for any music supervisor is to love music in a "'my life would be a big dark room without it' kind of way." In short, she's the ideal advance scout for interesting tunes.

'I hate everyone'

Delightful as this is, Grey's playlist also exposes the failure of the corporate-dominated marketplace. I discovered one of my current faves, Get Set Go via the show last year, but I was met with blank stares when I asked for them in CD stores.

"They're not even on our distributor's list," one shop clerk told me, as if his computer database was the last word on all things musical.

Now, this band's bop-de-bop pop tunes coupled with vicious lyrics are a favourite with the producers of the darkly comic drama and a must-hear for anyone who grew up on Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and smart-ass British bands like the Undertones. Cheerful, bouncy melodies provide the foundation for Get Set Go's heartfelt choruses such as "I Hate Everyone." How could these guys go by virtually unnoticed by local pop shops for two albums?

Ditto Rilo Kiley, once a well-kept secret with the download crowd. When its catchy "Portions for Foxes" was broadcast via the mid-season replacement last spring, their three CDs were unheard of locally. But when a song kicks off with a line like "there's blood in my mouth 'cuz I've been biting my tongue all week" you know finding them will be worth the effort.

Eventually, I found the CDs on the Internet, and Get Set Go, which was hardest to track, was recently added to iTunes. Thanks to rigorous touring and solid Internet presence, Rilo Kiley has since gone on to open for Coldplay's 2005 tour. Lead singer Jenny Lewis's recent solo debut, "Rabbit Fur Coat," is picking up some well-deserved kudos, which makes it easier to lay hands on.

McSeedy's playlist

But why should tracking down good music be such work? Isn't retail's raison d'etre to make its money by doing that work for us?

That's what surprised me most about the musical safari kicked-off by Grey's Anatomy - just how passive we cultural consumers have become. Even record store clerks, who might be expected to track down new music for fun, were content to wait for the distributor to deliver the tunes.

They're leaving our listening options to the distributors; who carry the albums pushed by the record producers who promote their products via "pay for play" deals with radio stations?

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that system akin to ordering a hit on originality?

As for the TV show itself, it's not bad. But I'm inclined to listen to the soapy Grey's Anatomy more than watch the antics of the doctors. Not that I don't relish the delicious comic timing of Ottawa native Sandra Oh as a socially retarded surgical intern and Isaiah Washington, the actor who plays her exasperated amour. But I'm just as irritated by the pathetic whining of the self-involved central character Meredith, and the machinations of her creepy married boyfriend whom she christened Dr. McDreamy. McSeedy would be more like it. Or maybe McNeedy? Or McGreedy? How about McSmarmy?

Still, their eeeuuuwww-inspiring encounters are easier to take if you tune out the disturbing dialogue ("Pick me! Love me!" she begs him) and listen to the music echoing the storyline.

All of which reminds me of my friend Harlan who used to edit TV news and has been muttering (darkly) for 25 years that bad TV writing is little more than radio with wallpaper. He'll hate me for saying this, but for music lovers failed by commercial radio, that turned out to be a good thing.

wanderer78 · 04-28-2006, 10:15 PM

That sympathy thermometer was pretty funny.

Don't necessarily agree, but it's funny.

Just a little info on the new DVD. From usatoday.com

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If you can't just get enough of the hysteria on Wisteria Lane, the housewives hit DVD shelves with The Complete Second Season - Extra Juicy Edition. Aaran Neville's familiar croon also comes to stores.
Television

DVD ABC hits get 'extra juice'

Teri Hatcher gets more family time in the upcoming Desperate Housewives: The Complete Second Season — Extra Juicy Edition DVD. The six-disc set (in stores July 29, $60) includes an unaired story line starring Hatcher's character Susan Mayer, her mom (Lesley Ann Warren) and stepdad (Bob Newhart), as well as other deleted scenes and extras.

More box sets devoted to ABC's prime-time series are on the way. Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Second Season — Uncut (Sept. 12, $60) has three extended episodes with footage deemed too steamy for TV. In addition to "lost," unaired flashbacks, the seven-disc Lost: The Complete Second Season — The Extended Edition (Oct. 3, $60) promises an interactive matrix for exploring the connections between various characters and numbers.

•Mike Snider

Robotica · 04-29-2006, 06:00 PM

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‘Anatomy’of a blog
‘Grey’s’ writers connect with show’s fans via Internet sites

By Rachel Kipp
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

While debating the fates of Meredith, McDreamy and other employees of the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, setting of ABC’s hit drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” the woman in line behind Stacy McKee at the checkout line advised her friend to “check the blog.”

“The blog” in question was Grey Matter, created by the drama’s creative team to give the audience an insider’s view of the happenings behind the scenes at Seattle Grace. What the women in the checkout line didn’t know is they could have just consulted McKee, one of “Grey’s” writers.

“I was like ‘Oh My God’ that’s me!’ “ says McKee, who is also the show’s story editor. “ ‘I’m really weirded out now and I have to check out of this line and get out.’ “

Since they began the blog, McKee and the other “Grey’s” writers are becoming a little more familiar, at least by name, to fans. In posting their thoughts on writing and filming each of the medical drama’s episodes, they’re also getting a clearer idea of the show’s popularity.

“The response to the blogs I think has surprised us all in a wonderful way,” McKee says. “We wrote the entire (first) season before it ever aired and we were working in such a bubble that it certainly didn’t occur to me. I thought, ‘Oh like a handful of people will stumble online.’ It never occurred to me that I could write a writer’s blog and get 800 comments in two days.”

The blog was born after a brainstorming session on ways to beef up the Web site for “Grey’s Anatomy,” which airs its next new episode on Sunday, April 30.

“At that point, we didn’t know if other shows were doing it or even if they are now,” writer and co-executive producer Mark Wilding says. “That sort of appealed to us and that way, you sort of talked to your audience a little bit and let them know where the ideas sort of sprung from.”

Following each episode, a writer or show creator Shonda Rhimes will post about the inspiration behind that week’s stories and how they fit into the overall vision for the show. For example, in the blog entry for the episode “Superstitions,” which aired on March 19, Rhimes writes about the revelation that Dr. Richard Webber is an alcoholic, an idea to which she was initially opposed.

“They wouldn’t shut up about it,” Rhimes writes of her staff. “ ‘He’s totally an alcoholic and here’s why.’ I hate them sometimes. Especially when they are right. Because Richard is totally an alcoholic and now I see why. Damn them.”

Writing entries for the blog was the first time writer and co-executive producer Krista Vernoff had ever heard of a blog. Eventually, she fell in love with it and it fell to Vernoff to explain one of the season’s most controversial plot twists — Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey deciding to sleep with, and ultimately break the heart of, smitten roommate and friend George O’Malley (T.R. Knight.)

“We had graduated from college and we were living in New York and I was in a constant state of ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ terror and he was there,” Vernoff wrote in her blog entry, describing a similar experience she had years ago with a friend. “And he was safe and familiar and so incredibly kind. And I wanted that kindness in my life very badly.”

“I had not wanted George and Meredith to hook up,” explains Vernoff, who got more than 1,000 responses to that post. “I understood the fans outcry from my perspective. Usually that’s the case; none of the major decisions on the show happen without a debate. I sat down to say, ‘Here’s what sold it for me.”’

“Grey’s” blogosphere also includes The Emerald City Bar and The Nurse’s Station, which the staff ghostwrite on behalf of minor characters Nurse Debbie and Joe the Bartender.

Chris Van Dusen, who stands in for Joe, and McKee, who is Debbie’s alter ego, created a back-story for Joe and Debbie that’s yet to be seen on the show: The two gossips are friends who keep each other informed about the dirt that happens in the other’s workplace.

The duo say the Joe/Debbie relationship will be explored further in a book the two are penning that’s due out in the fall. They also try to reward fans of the two blogs by slipping in hints at future episodes.

“It’s a gesture to the true hard-core fans,” says Van Dusen, Rhimes’ assistant. “And it gives them a forum to discuss their thoughts and theories and try to predict what the writers’ are hinting at, what Joe’s hinting at.”

Robotica · 04-29-2006, 10:02 PM

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'Anatomy' of a cliffhanger

By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret Morning News

The hit ABC series "Grey's Anatomy" is building toward its second consecutive season-ending cliffhanger . . . only this time what viewers see will be planned as a season-ending cliffhanger.
You see, the season-ending cliffhanger that aired a year ago was sort of an accident.
"Grey's Anatomy" (Sunday, 9 p.m., Ch. 4) was a midseason-replacement show that debuted in March 2005 and was only supposed to replace "Boston Legal" for a few weeks. But it did so well in the ratings that ABC bumped "Legal" off the schedule (temporarily) and kept running episodes of "Anatomy."
Frank Ockenfels, ABCPatrick Dempsey stars as Dr. Derek Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy." Suddenly, it was May, ABC was airing the season finale of "Desperate Housewives" and pairing it with an episode of "Grey's Anatomy." And, coincidentally, it was the episode in which Derek's (Patrick Dempsey) estranged wife, Addison (Kate Walsh), made an unexpected appearance, leaving Derek's girlfriend Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) stunned.
"What was great about that is that we had a ninth episode that basically ended with a cliffhanger," said creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes. "Frankly, it was a cliffhanger that was supposed to only last a week, but it turned out to be a really good cliffhanger, and it sort of kept people worried over the summer."
Great for the show, great for ABC but not necessarily great for Dempsey because it left the impression that he was a philandering husband fooling around with Meredith while still married.
"Oh, I was despised," Dempsey said. "Old ladies at the airport would yell at me, 'You are awful! How dare you do that to Meredith?' "
An added bonus was that because there were four unaired episodes from that first season, plus the 22 produced for the second season, "Anatomy" could air more originals and fewer repeats.
"It worked out extremely well," Rhimes said. "The 10th episode was an incredibly strong episode to start out the season. So it was really easy for us to end the season on that ninth episode and start up again on that tenth without missing a beat."
And the inadvertent cliffhanger didn't hurt, Rhimes said. "That Meredith found out that Derek's wife cheated on him . . . was only supposed to be something you found out a week later as opposed to three months later."

mcdreamylover · 05-01-2006, 09:03 AM

From mediaweek:

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Grey’s Anatomy (Overnights: 14.5/22; Viewers: 20.71 million; A18-49: 9.7/22)

Robotica · 05-01-2006, 11:13 AM

Good to know the show is continuing to do so well...

mcdreamylover · 05-01-2006, 08:00 PM

Amazon has the season 2 dvd listed at $41.99. Not bad as I thought it would be. I figured it would be over $50.00.

Robotica · 05-01-2006, 08:23 PM

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Amazon has the season 2 dvd listed at $41.99. Not bad as I thought it would be. I figured it would be over $50.00.

Hmmm...well this is a reasonably good sign for me...probably will run somewhere between $50-60 Canadian...

A little more than I'd like, but workable...

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Love Is in the Air on 'Grey's Anatomy'
By MELISSA RAYWORTH, For The Associated Press

Monday, May 1, 2006

Meredith Grey really is trying to stay celibate. But with the sexy McVet pursuing her, it just doesn't seem possible.

(Spoiler alert: Stop reading now if you've saved this week's episode of "Grey's Anatomy" for later viewing.)

And Derek Shepherd is trying equally hard to forget Meredith, but the unexpected sight of her — fresh from the shower — at McVet's apartment seriously threw him. He raced home and propositioned his wife, but it seemed more like revenge sex than romance.

Things also heated up this week between Izzy and Denny: Against her wishes, he opted to have a portable device installed in his damaged heart, which allowed him to leave his hospital bed. Izzy was worried that Denny's heart might fail, but the machine seemed to be working. And there's a major upside: Denny and Izzy finally were able to put their arms around each other.

Trouble was, Dr. Bailey was just outside the door when they embraced. Bailey, who's been concerned that Izzy is crossing a line with Denny, didn't like what she saw. (Izzy's love life, however, wasn't Bailey's biggest worry this week: The Chief doesn't believe that Bailey's back on her game yet, so she's stuck earning back his confidence.)

But Izzy didn't notice Bailey's scrutiny — she was too busy dogging George to find out where he's been living and why he's stopped confiding in her. They argued, and George admitted he blames Izzy for not preventing his disastrous hookup with Meredith. But he finally relented and moved back into the house, bringing Dr. Callie home to spend the night.

In two intense subplots, both Burke and Addison faced difficult moments in the OR:

Addison was faced with a complicated request from a mother of seven who wanted her tubes tied without her husband's knowledge. Alex was furious that Addison feigned a "complication" on the operating table that rendered the woman sterile, and he suggested that the patient's husband sue the hospital.

Burke performed unsuccessful heart surgery on his hero, a concert violinist whose timing was being wrecked by the artificial beat of his pacemaker. After the musician died in surgery, Burke opened up to Cristina, explaining that a quote from the musician had changed his life: He wasn't the best or the brightest — he simply practiced.

That's the code Burke lives by.

Quote:

Dissecting Grey's Anatomy: McVet is the New George Edition

If the last new episode christened George as the new McDreamy (we know, kids—you're gonna have to dig deep to recollect it...or, you know, go here) then this week by virtue of the transitive property, or whatever whim fits our capricious mood, McVet is the new George. Or wait, would that be McVet is the new McDreamy? Well, forget the transitive property then. McVet is the new bedfellow, which, when you take into account the whole George-Meredith-McDreamy triangle (now nearing dangerous and exponentially more confusing pentagonal—hexagonal?—proportions), the bedfellow thing makes sense too.

Oh, voice-over, what life-lesson gems hath thou forced upon...er, "gifted" us with today? Sacrifice? Alright, we can apply that to ourselves. Apparently the key to being a successful intern (us: journalist) is what you give up—a normal life (us: money). Okay, we don't like that game anymore. Meredith, though, continues to wax on about how you sacrifice it all for that moment when you can officially call yourself a surgeon, and how there are days when everything seems like a sacrifice, and days when there are sacrifices you can't even figure out why you're making.

Like us, writing this, knowing it will only result in this being stuck in our heads. Damn you, Elton.

The episode kicks off with a little boot knocking from all the usual suspects: George & Callie, Cristina & Burke—in theory, anyway, cause this one we don't see—and Addison & McDreamy, who's between-the-sheets session has the distinction of being "the most boring sex ever," a description the missus unknowingly tells Meredith over the phone. Not something a wife wants to broadcast to her hubby's ex-mistress.

Meredith is with her joint custody dog, Doc, at McVet's office. She does a little awkward flirting at which time she tells McVet that she and McDreamy are not together and that she's abstinent. He asks her out anyway. She says she'll think it over.

She heads to Seattle Grace at which time she pairs up with the mommy-tracked Nazi to tend to Denny, Izzie's patient paramour (see? We do single entendre, or, if you prefer, we double that up for you—cause he's a patient, see, but he also ain't gettin' any—there's your twofer right there!). Anyway, Nazi gives him her medical opinion which happens to differ from Izzie's. He's hesitant to take Nazi's, despite her greater breadth of experience cause, you know, he hasn't made out with her. (Has he made out with Izzie? We can't remember, that's what happens when you're forced to wait nearly a month in between new episodes, but if it hasn't happened yet, it's bound to.) Nazi no likey the line-crossing and tells Meredith to relay the no-macking-on-patients rule to her blonde roomie.

Regardless, Denny takes Nazi's advice and, despite being touch and go for a moment, is no longer bed-ridden. He also chooses not to heed Meredith's cautionary tale of not getting involved with Dr. Model and heads over to Izzie as part of his victory lap. Unfortunately, they're spotted mid-embrace by Nazi.

Izzie, meanwhile, has paired up with George and McDreamy, whose ill-fated sex romp has quickly become the stuff of legend, to treat Seattle's top divorce lawyer who just so happens to have seizures. They decide to do some brain mapping so as to know which part of the brain to operate on, which leaves Izzie and George to figure out a way to induce seizing. Fifty-three level video game? Check. Peer-pressured succession of espresso shots? She kicked that crema's ass. Still, what induces her seize is the sight of Izzie and George bickering over where Georgie-boy currently resides. Cause it sure ain't at Casa Grey.

After all that, the lawyer, after insulting McDreamy's bedtime prowess a few more times, decides not to go through with the operation and instead is simply gonna quit her job.

Addison, though, has much bigger fish to fry. She's teamed up with Alex, lord help her, on a c-section for a woman who's on baby number seven. Her hubby's über-religious, doesn't believe in birth control, so she asks Mrs. McDreamy to tie her tubes during the surgery without her husband knowing and without writing down the reason why on her notes—the bill will show the procedure, she reckons, and her husband will see the bill.

After hemming and hawing on ethics and the like, Addison does in fact tie the woman's tubes, a decision which back-talking Alex heartily disagrees with. During the operation, Addison voices concern over some abnormal bleeding and uses that as a cover-up to do the covert deed. After the fact, Alex's disdain is so strong—and his attitude such that of an ass—that he advises the disconcerted religious hubby to get a lawyer and that the "blessing" of not being able to have more kids may not be that at all. Needless to say, Addison is in big trouble. Lawsuits, investigations, career-wreckage to come, particularly since the now-infertile mama refuses to admit that she requested the procedure.

Alex's punishment? He's being assigned to va-jay-jay patrol full-time.

Burke meanwhile is facing problems of his own. First of all, he's suffering from empty nest syndrome on account of his new BFF Georgie has been unceremoniously kicked out of the apartment. He forsakes Cristina's latte for George's cappuccino. He invites his little buddy into a surgery before his lady love. He's in all sorts of despondent messes. And it only gets worse.

His hero, a San Francisco genius violinist, has been admitted to the hospital to get his pacemaker, installed by Burke himself, removed on account of it throwing off his natural rhythm. It just ain't jivin' with his string playing, and if he can't express himself properly on his instrument, he'd just as soon risk the heart failure. Burke doesn't know if he can do it, but eventually acquiesces after a bit of a pep talk from Cristina. See? Girlfriends are good for something after all.

He tells her that he was never like she was in school—he wasn't the smartest or the bearer of the most natural talent but he was the best because he worked at it. Just like his hero. He performs the surgery, but unfortunately it does not go well. The violinist dies on the operating table.

George, who has been shacking up at Callie's hospital abode, decides to move back in to the Grey manor. He is, after all, paying rent. And Izzie clearly misses him, a point brought to his attention by the divorce lawyer. So he comes back home and brings Callie with him (though just for the night) much to the delight of his bestest friend. Who, as an aside, he apparently blames for his falling out with Meredith.

Speaking of whom (you want transitions, we'll give you transitions), decides to take McVet up on his offer of a date. She shows up just as he's running out to do an errand, so she accompanies him only to find out that said errand entails him birthing a horse. Luckily, it's something Meredith is very much into. Not in that way, though. Dirty. Once the deed is done (again, not that one—dirty) there's much talk about getting that date underway, something which Meredith is suddenly very averse to seeing as how it was suggested they go back to McVet's apartment so he can cook for them.

Meredith is anti-apartment because she doesn't trust herself, a message she gets across by telling McVet she's a knitter about six times (hmmm...knitting is the new celibacy?) and telling him she absolutely won't sleep with him. He retaliates by saying he won't even try and sleep with her if she comes over, so she does.

Of course, what's a love quadrangle (is that what it's up to now?) without a little contrivance. As she's showering off the horse, um, fluids, who should arrive at Casa McVet but McDreamy himself? Doc has not stopped getting sick and needs immediate tending to, and just as he's being ushered in the door, who should come down the stairs all freshly-showered and donning a McVet t-shirt? That's right.

McDreamy goes home and finally—for whatever reason—makes some good shower loving to the missus.

The paraphrased last words (by request and out of fear of copyright): As someone once said, you can have anything in life if you sacrifice everything else for it. Nothing comes without a price, so before you go into battle you should decide how much you're willing to lose. Going after what feels good sometimes means letting go of what's right. And when we choose to go into battle, we can handle the sacrifice. When the battle chooses us, the sacrifice is often more than we can bear.


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