Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy intertitle
Created by	Shonda Rhimes
Starring	Ellen Pompeo Sandra Oh Katherine Heigl Justin Chambers T. R. Knight Chandra Wilson James Pickens Jr. Sara Ramirez Chyler Leigh Eric Dane Patrick Dempsey
Narrated by	Ellen Pompeo (as Meredith), occasionally narrated by other main cast characters
Opening theme	"Cosy in the Rocket" by Psapp
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	61 ([[List of Grey's Anatomy episodes chronology|list of episodes]])
Production
Executive producers	Shonda Rhimes Betsy Beers Krista Vernoff Mark Gordon
Running time	approx. 43 minutes
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	March 27, 2005 – present

Grey's Anatomy is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning American primetime television medical drama. It debuted on ABC as a midseason replacement on March 27, 2005, immediately following Desperate Housewives. The series revolves around Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who began the show as a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle, Washington. She and the other former interns became residents at the end of the third season. The show features an ensemble cast, though Meredith is presented as the central character, providing voice-over narration at the beginning and end of most episodes. The title of the show is an allusion to the anatomy textbook Gray's Anatomy, and a play on the central character's (Meredith Grey's) name. Every episode title comes from the title of a song (like ABC's other dramedy, Desperate Housewives). The show is now in production for its fourth season with the first new episode expected to air on Thursday, September 27, 2007 Chloe Lambros dies in the last episode, causing a complete conundrum.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of characters from Grey's Anatomy

The characters of the series include a group of surgical interns and the various physicians who serve as mentors to the interns in their professional and personal lives. As of the third season finale, the interns have become second-year residents except Dr. George O'Malley who failed his intern exam.

Interns:

Character	Actor	Character information
Dr. George O'Malley	T. R. Knight	Failed Intern exam
Dr. Lexie Grey (Season 4 +, previously recurring)	Chyler Leigh	Graduated from Harvard Medical School

Residents:

Character	Actor	Specialty
Dr. Meredith Grey	Ellen Pompeo	Expressed interest in neurosurgery
Dr. Cristina Yang	Sandra Oh	Expressed interest in cardiothoracics
Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens	Katherine Heigl	Expressed interest in neo-natal surgery
Dr. Alex Karev	Justin Chambers	Expressed interest in plastics and neo-natal surgery
Dr. Callie Torres (Season 3 +, previously recurring)	Sara Ramírez	Chief Resident, Orthopedics
Dr. Miranda Bailey	Chandra Wilson	General surgery

Attendings:

Character	Actor	Specialty
Dr. Richard Webber	James Pickens, Jr.	Chief of Surgery, General Surgery
Dr. Derek Shepherd	Patrick Dempsey	Neurosurgery
Dr. Mark Sloan (Season 3 +, previously recurring)	Eric Dane	Plastic surgery

Former Cast Members:

Character	Actor	Specialty
Dr. Addison Montgomery (Season 2 - 3, previously recurring) (See also: Private Practice)	Kate Walsh	Neonatal surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, maternal fetal medicine and is also a medical genetics fellow specializing in the study of cystic fibrosis
Dr. Preston Burke (Season 1 - 3)	Isaiah Washington	Cardiothoracics

The show's producers pride themselves on the fact that they used a "blind-casting" technique, resulting in a racially diverse cast. The writers carefully chose the specialty of each doctor as an important analogy to their character and foreshadowing of their development, which adds a layer of complexity to the show.

Locations

Fisher Plaza, which houses Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, is used for some exterior shots of Seattle Grace Hospital. This puts Seattle Grace conveniently close to the Space Needle, the Seattle Monorail, and other local landmarks. However, the hospital used for most other exterior and many interior shots is not in Seattle; these scenes are shot at the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, California. While the interior of Meredith's house is a built set, the actual home used for exterior shots is in Seattle.

Seasons

See also: List of Grey's Anatomy episodes

Season One: 2005

See also: Grey's Anatomy episodes (Season 1)

Nielsen Ranking (2004-05 U.S. TV season; based on average total viewers per episode): #9 (18.5 million viewers)

Season one began airing March 27, 2005 and ended on May 22, 2005. The first season was shortened by the network to nine episodes instead of 14. (The original season finale was "Bring the Pain.").

Meredith Grey, daughter of the once-renowned surgeon Ellis Grey, becomes an intern at the Seattle Grace Hospital. She meets fellow interns Cristina Yang, Isobel "Izzie" Stevens, and George O'Malley 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 renowned surgeons Dr. Derek Shepherd and Dr. Preston Burke. The chief of surgery is Richard Webber, who was once more than close friends with Meredith's mother. 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 in the hospital. The season's end introduces Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, Derek's estranged wife.

Season Two: 2005-2006

See also: Grey's Anatomy episodes (Season 2)

Nielsen Ranking (2005-06 U.S. TV season; based on average total viewers per episode): #5 (19.9 million viewers)

File:Fullcast-s2a.jpg

The season 2 cast of Grey's Anatomy

The second season began airing September 25, 2005, and ended on May 14 and May 15, 2006 with a three-hour finale spanning both nights. The first season originally contained 14 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. Episodes 10-14 were then held and broadcast as the first five episodes of Season 2. ABC ordered 22 episodes in addition to the five being carried over, bringing the total number of episodes for the second season to 27. 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.

The second season focuses on Meredith and Derek's relationship, which came to an abrupt halt when it was revealed that Dr. Shepherd is married to surgeon Addison Montgomery-Shepherd. Izzie and Alex embark on a relationship of their own (although cut short when Izzie falls for heart patient Denny Duquette), as do Cristina Yang and Burke. Dr. Bailey becomes pregnant and more about Meredith's perrenial tragedy is revealed. On some of the weeks airing after its highly-watched February 5, 2006 post-Super Bowl episode, the program attracted more viewers than its lead-in, Desperate Housewives.

Once the second season ended on May 15, 2006, the show had two previously recurring actors, Sara Ramirez (Callie Torres) and Eric Dane (Mark Sloan), join the regular cast. The series' opening credit sequence was also dropped. Beginning the third season with a title card displayed at the end of the first act and credits displayed over the opening of the second act of each episode.

Season Three: 2006-2007

See also: Grey's Anatomy episodes (Season 3)

Nielsen Ranking (2006-07 U.S. TV season; based on average total viewers per episode): #6 (19.5 million viewers)

File:Cast 13.jpg

The season 3 cast of Grey's Anatomy

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, set to air at 9 p.m. ET. 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. ET, and thus positioned Grey's Anatomy against CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Without a Trace, Fox Network's The OC, and NBC's long-running 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 move to Thursdays was viewed as a vote of confidence in the series from ABC, as well as a bid to attract more advertising dollars, since movie studios heavily advertise movies on Thursday evenings for that weekend's box office. The move was cited as one 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. ET. ABC announced on July 18, 2006, that the third season would premiere on September 21, 2006.

The series 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 aired twice weekly — once in the new Thursday time period, and once in its previous Sunday time period. Grey's Anatomy performed strongly in the show's new timeslot in its season premiere. It was able to snatch away the #1 position from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation during the 9 p.m. hour, bringing in an impressive 25.14 million viewers throughout the hour and a strong 10.9 rating in the vital 18-49 demographic. In comparison, CSI's season premiere earned a competitive 22.04 million total viewership and a 7.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

The third season ended on May 17, 2007. As the season came to a close, Burke called off his wedding to Cristina at the church, Chief Webber stayed on as the Chief of Surgery, Callie was appointed Chief Resident, and George learned he failed the final intern exam. The relationship between Derek and Meredith, as well as the triangle between Callie, George, and Izzie were left unresolved. Addison decides to start a new life in Los Angeles in the spin-off Private Practice.

Season Four: 2007-2008

See also: Grey's Anatomy episodes (Season 4)

The show was renewed for a fourth season, which will air in September 2007. For the first time in the show's history, series regulars will not be returning. Kate Walsh's character will be transferring to the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice. On June 7, 2007, it was announced that Isaiah Washington's contract had not been renewed.

Former Reunion star, Chyler Leigh, guest starred in the final two episodes of season three as Lexie Grey, a new intern and Meredith Grey's younger half-sister. On June 11, 2007, it was announced that Leigh would become a series regular, instead of a 13 episode story arc as previously planned.

It was also reported that a new male character would be introduced. This character would somehow be in "competition" with Dr. Derek Shepherd.

In the official blog, creator Shonda Rhimes gave a few clues as to plotlines for season four, indicating that Mark Sloan will be given a bigger role and that the aftermath of the finale events for Derek Shepherd and Cristina Yang will be "interesting to watch."

On June 16, 2007, contrary to rumors that Isaiah Washington's character (Dr. Preston Burke) would be played by another actor (possibly Denzel Washington), Shonda Rhimes confirmed that there would be no replacement for Dr. Burke.

Due to her producing responsibilities on both Grey's and the spin-off, Rhimes appointed day-to-day showrunning duties to writer and executive producer Krista Vernoff.

The season premiere episode is tentatively titled A Change Is Gonna Come. It is scheduled to premiere on September 27, 2007.

Also, according to US Weekly magazine online on August 24, 2007, executive producer Krista Vernoff provides the following spoilers: Cristina ends up leaving for her honeymoon anyway, with Meredith joining her. She returns to find ex-fiance Burke is gone for good.

Behind the scenes

Rise to prominence

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. The special episode pulled in a record 38.1 million viewers. The network's faith in the show was proven further when it removed it from its comfortable post-Desperate Housewives berth and scheduled it opposite the CBS ratings blockbuster CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in fall 2006. The gamble paid off, with the season premiere drawing 3 million more viewers than CSI.

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.

Grey's Anatomy is one of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's three favorite shows.

Isaiah Washington controversy

In October 2006 as season 3 began, the show's actors attracted media attention when Washington was alleged to have referred to another cast member as a "faggot" during an on-set altercation with Patrick Dempsey. This cast member transpired to be T.R. Knight who came out about his sexual orientation following media speculation. While Washington denied using the word, he issued a public statement apologizing for his "unfortunate use of words." The controversy later reignited at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards. After the show won for Best Drama Series, the cast and crew appeared in the pressroom to answer reporters' questions. While creator Shonda Rhimes was being asked about the incident, Washington unexpectedly stepped in front of the microphone and stated: "No, I did not call T.R. a faggot." (The Hollywood Foreign Press Association placed the footage on their website) Afterwards, in an interview with Access Hollywood, Katherine Heigl criticised Washington for revisiting the incident publicly and using the slur in the pressroom, and said "he needs to just not speak in public. Period." Later that week, Knight appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' daytime talkshow and said he and others had heard Washington use the slur during the October incident. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation then called on Washington to apologize. Network executives went on to reprimand Washington, who then agreed to undergo counseling and issued a statement saying: "I can neither defend nor explain my behavior...I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help." In an effort to try to come clean with the viewers, Washington surprisingly checked into a residential treatment facility to undergo a psychological assessment for the slur.

However, on June 7 2007 ABC announced they had decided not to renew Washington's contract, and that he would be dropped from the show. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," Washington said in a statement released by his publicist.

He has also spoken out about the controversy and said that "I have to clear my name. I'll start from the beginning. I'm telling everything. So here's the truth ... I used the word during a disagreement with Patrick Dempsey. I apologized for that. We shook hands and went back to work." He has also stated that it was Knight who spun the slur into a personal attack, alleging it may have been to increase his salary or storylines and is considering legal action. He has stated that Patrick Dempsey will support him in saying the previous statement.

Since then Isaiah Washington has spoken about the firing and has said that he was not mad but "saddened" by his firing. He also said that if he was asked to make a cameo on the show, he would not hesitate to say "yes".

Private Practice

Main article: Private Practice

On February 21, 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that ABC was pursuing a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy featuring the character Addison Montgomery. On May 3, 2007, a two-hour episode of Grey's Anatomy doubled as a backdoor pilot for the proposed spinoff. ABC officially picked up Private Practice for its fall 2007 lineup on May 11. It is currently scheduled to air on Wednesday nights on 9:00/8:00c, premiering on September 26 2007 on ABC, following Pushing Daisies whilst leading out Dirty Sexy Money.

In popular culture

Other shows have referenced Grey's Anatomy, or its characters and setting, as the show grew in fame and popularity.

• The fifth season episode of Scrubs, "My Buddy's Booty", featured Drs. Reid (Sarah Chalke) and J.D. (Zach Braff) discussing their plans for the evening and agreeing to watch Grey's Anatomy, saying "It's like they've been watching our lives and putting it on TV!". In the sixth season a reference is made to the vague closing statements at the end of the episodes.
• In the second season of The Office on NBC, character Kelly tells co-worker Kevin "I was watching Grey's Anatomy and there was a life guard on it. And he had skin cancer too."
• In the third episode of season 4 on The O.C., Dr. Neil Roberts is offered a new job at Seattle Grace Hospital, which he describes to his daughter as "wonderfully quirky." On the following episode, Kaitlin Cooper asks her mother Julie Cooper if Neil is still being bossed around by a short, sassy lady, presumably a reference to Dr. Miranda Bailey. In the tenth episode of season 4 on The O.C., Seth Cohen goes to visit Dr. Neil Roberts at Seattle Grace Hospital. Seth asks him, "So, you likin' it up here?" to which Neil asks, "Seriously?" and Seth responds, "Seriously"--a phrase which is often repeated by the interns on Grey's Anatomy. One scene between Seth and Neil take place in an outdoor dining hall very similar to the one featured on Grey's Anatomy.
• In the TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation Emma asks Manny to come over and watch TV saying it will just be: "you, me, and McDreamy" - referring the nickname established for Dr. Shepherd.
• In a 2007 episode of Family Guy, mayor of Quahog Adam West reads an excerpt of a kid's book entitled "The Pet Goat" to a class of schoolchildren. The dialogue of the first page of the book says that the pet goat thinks that he would probably enjoy Grey's Anatomy if he had the time to watch it, to which the farmer replies "You should make the time."
• In the season 5 Family Guy episode "No Meals on Wheels" Peter's neighbor Joe asks Peter if he'd like to come into his house and watch Grey's Anatomy, Peter responds: "Oh boy Joe, I gotta tell ya… that ah... that sounds awful."
• In the third episode of the first season of Short Circuitz, there is a parody of Grey's Anatomy known as Jay's Anatomy.
• In an episode of the new ABC series Notes from the Underbelly, the main character says "Get me an epidural, stat! I'm pretending to be a character on Grey's Anatomy."
• An episode of ER contains a surgeon who is caught masturbating in a janitor's closet, and he is then referred to as "Dr. McCreamy."

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Grey's Anatomy.

Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
1	Sunday 10:00PM	March 27, 2005	May 22, 2005	2005	#9	18.8
2	Sunday 10:00PM	September 25, 2005	May 15, 2006	2005–2006	#5	19.9
3	Thursday 9:00PM	September 21, 2006	May 17, 2007	2006–2007	#6	19.5
4	Thursday 9:00PM	September 27, 2007	Spring 2008	2007–2008	N/A	N/A

Awards

Main article: List of Grey's Anatomy awards and nominations

DVD releases

Buena Vista Home Entertainment has released the first two seasons of Grey's Anatomy on DVD in Region 1 & Region 2.

Season releases

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Discs	Additional Information
Season 1 [Region 1]	February 14 2006	9	2	Alternate title sequence, audio commentaries, an extended pilot episode and a making-of featurette, Easter Egg (disc 2).
Season 1 [Region 2]	February 14 2006	14	3	Alternate title sequence, audio commentaries, an extended pilot episode and a making-of featurette.
Season 2 [Region 1]	September 12 2006	27	6	The Doctors Are In and The Softer Side of Dr. Bailey featurette, Exclusive set tour, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, Extended episodes for Thanks for the Memories, It's The End of the World, What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Losing My Religion.
Season 2 [Region 2]	May 28 2007	22	7	The Doctors Are In and The Softer Side of Dr. Bailey featurette, Exclusive set tour, deleted scenes, audio commentaries for Into You Like a Train, It's the End of the World (As We Know It), and Losing My Religion, Extended episodes for Thanks for the Memories, It's The End of the World and As We Know It, What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Losing My Religion.
Season 2 [Region 4]	January 8 2007	27	8	The Doctors Are In and The Softer Side of Dr. Bailey featurette, Exclusive set tour, deleted scenes, audio commentaries for Into You Like a Train, It's the End of the World (As We Know It), and Losing My Religion, Extended episodes for Thanks for the Memories, It's The End of the World and As We Know It, What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Losing My Religion.
Season 3 [Region 1]	September 11 2007	25	7	Seriously Extended edition: 4 extended episodes, a "one-on-one with Ellen Pompeo", a visit to the race track with star Patrick Dempsey, Cast and Crew favorite scenes featurette, and a cast commentary on selected episodes.

Other releases

The producers of Grey's Anatomy recently released a novel depicting the lives and minglings of two bit-part characters; Joe the Bartender and Nurse Debbie. The book is double sided written in blog and IM form, while gossiping on the actions of the Grey's characters. The events discussed give background information for Joe and Debbie themselves and give insight on the events and cases the doctors deal with in the show.

A bi-monthly magazine has also been produced and is currently being sold in stores across Canada and the United States. The title of the magazine is GREY'S ANATOMY and it is a published work through Titan Magazines, and ExpressMag (for subscriptions). The first issue was released in March 2007

The Season 3 box-set is set to be released in stores on September 11th, 2007.

Music

See also: Grey's Anatomy (soundtrack)

For a list of songs from each episode, see Music of Grey's Anatomy

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. [2]

Grey's Anatomy has been instrumental to the success of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" and The Fray's "How to Save a Life", both of which became top 5 hits after appearing in the show. "How to Save a Life" was the song used for all Grey's Anatomy previews, as well as being the music for the show's Season 3 promotional music video. While the popularity of "How to Save a Life" was largely credited to its use in Grey's Anatomy, the song had already been used during a cliffhanger episode of NBC's Scrubs titled "My Lunch." There was also a Season Two video with Chasing Cars as its track.

However, in another instance of "borrowing" from NBC's Scrubs, the show has used two artists who made their breakthrough on the comedy, Joshua Radin and Cary Brothers. The two artists feature quite prominently on Scrubs due to their connection with actor Zach Braff.

The Greenskeepers' song "Lotion" was featured prominently in the season 2 episode "Much Too Much". As the song plays in the background, George tells Meredith that if she does not curb her recent promiscuity, she will end up in a well with a killer ordering her to rub the lotion on her skin; a reference to the movie Silence of the Lambs which "Lotion" also pays homage to. "You Don't Know Me" and French band Los Chicros' "Back in the Wild" remixed by the same band have also been featured on Grey's Anatomy.

A second soundtrack, featuring songs from Season Two, was released September 12, 2006.

Music plays a key role in the creation of Grey's Anatomy. Each episode of the show is uniquely named after a song. The episode titles usually have something to do with the theme or moral of the episode's storyline and this moral is reproduced by the voice-overs heard at the beginning and end of each episode.

Many artists are featured in several episodes on Grey's Anatomy. Among those are Tegan and Sara, Kate Havnevik, Roisin Murphy, Snow Patrol, Maria Taylor, Mat Kearney, Ingrid Michaelson, Jem, Brandi Carlile Anya Marina, and KT Tunstall.

Catchphrases

The characters on Grey's Anatomy speak in a very contemporary way, resulting in unique dialogue. As a result, the show has spawned several catchphrases, a few of which are only used once or a few times. The use is noted in the following form (Season it was first coined, Episode # of that season).

• A trend began of "McLabeling" characters or adding "Mc" to other terms, such as "McDreamy" (1.02) as a nickname for Derek Shepherd. While "McDreamy" is the most prominent moniker, many other instances have occurred throughout the show such as "McSteamy" for Mark Sloan (2.18) and "McVet" for Finn Dandridge. The characters often mock their own tendency for "McLabeling", leading to phrases like "McGuilty", (3.01) "McSex", (3.08), and "McFricking Code of Silence" (3.08). In addition, in episode 3.06 Meredith spills on Derek's supposed infidelity, prompting George (while channelling Cristina) to say "McDreamy was doing the McNasty with McHottie? That McBastard."

• Meredith often uses well-known phrases but trails off at the end and replaces the last word with "whatever": "There's too much water under the thing or whatever" (3.07), "You are not my knight in shining whatever" (3.15), and "I had a near-death whatever" (3.18).

• 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 and the audio commentaries, 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.

• As mentioned in podcasts, network censors make it difficult for writers to use the word "vagina", which has led to several euphemisms for female genitalia or other sexually-related terms. These include "va-jay-jay" (2.17), "good girl" (2.24), and "hoo-hoo" (3.21). In addition, in episode 2.26, the phrase "cashing in [her] V-card" was used as a euphemism for losing one's virginity.

• The phrase, "that's all I'm saying" is often used by characters looking to persuade other characters of their point of view in reference to a situation.

Networks

Australia

Grey's Anatomy originally aired at 9.30 on Mondays, following Desperate Housewives, and soon after took its Monday 8.30 timeslot once DH had completed its run. Grey's re-claimed this spot again in 2006 with its second season. Season 1 was screened with the first 5 episodes of Season 2, as had been originally planned by Grey's producers. Season 3 premiered on February 18 at a new Sunday 8.30 timeslot against ratings-killer CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, its same rival on US television. Grey's Anatomy in its new Sunday timeslot managed to sustain its popularity (now aired after Ugly Betty). It has an average audience of 1.65 million viewers for its 3rd season, beating its main opposition CSI

Ireland

Grey's Anatomy was first aired on RTÉ One in may of 2005. It was used to replace popular US drama ER. The first season was launched using the slogan "My so called Mclife". It performed well in the cut throat 9:00-10:00PM Sunday night slot and got positive feed-back from critics. Despite this RTÉ felt the show could do better, due to the phenomenal success of Desperate Housewives on RTÉ One's sister network RTÉ Two.

Grey's Anatomy ended in August of 2006 and went off air for nine months. In this period RTE Television was restructured. Part of this restructuring included the moving of all foreign imports (with some exceptions, including Eastenders and ER) to RTÉ Two. This meant that Grey's Anatomy was moved to RTÉ Two. In April of 2007 RTÉ announced that Greys Anatomy was to return for its second season on May 15th at 9.50pm on RTÉ Two after Desperate Housewives. For the week starting on the 14th of May, Grey's Anatomy made the front cover of three of Ireland's most popular magazines, HOTPRESS, TVNOW and RTÉ Guide.

Strangely, RTÉ ended season one with episode 2x06, 'In to You Like a Train', and then skipped episodes 2x07 and 2x08, making the season 2 premier 'Thanks for the Memories'.

Results show that viewership was up 92% for season 2.

Greys Anatomy season 3 began straight after season 2, and enjoyed the same high viewer ratings.

United Kingdom

The show is aired on Living in the United Kingdom.

Syndication

Grey's Anatomy began airing in syndication in the United States on Lifetime Television on January 7, 2007 at 11 pm.

External links

• ABC.com: Grey's Anatomy
• Grey Matter Writers' Blog

Preceded by American Dad! 2005

Super Bowl lead-out program 2006

Succeeded by Criminal Minds 2007