October 2006 News Archive (Page 2)

Bill Lawrence (right) is out to rescue NBC.

Okay, maybe not. But the Thursday night TV lineup is about to get even more crowded.

Reeling from the pounding it's taking from Grey's Anatomy and CSI on TV's biggest night, NBC announced this week that Scrubs is moving to the coveted, yet dreaded Thursday night, 9 p.m. slot.

The Emmy-nominated, quirky medical comedy series is being counted on to help the network bring back the glory days of Thursdays on NBC. But since Grey's Anatomy has won the ratings battle thus far, Scrubs' creator, Lawrence, is quick to downplay expectations.

"If NBC is counting on Scrubs then they are sh!t out of luck my friend," Lawrence joked yesterday, before throwing in a reference to Grey's Anatomy.

"First of all, I am a huge TV fan -- Thursday night on NBC should be comedy. Secondly, we're going to think of something to name Zach Braff's character like McSomething -- McWeenie or McCheesy or something."

In addition to Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy will also be going up against The OC, Fox's once-popular teen soap opera, which makes its return Thursday at 9.

A four-way fight may seem daunting, but we have a feeling Meredith & Co. will pull through just fine. We're certainly not going anywhere.

The cast of Grey's Anatomy is not at war. 

That's according to Justin Chambers, who plays the hunky, moody Dr. Alex Karev on the hit medical drama. Chambers was spotted out at the Xbox 360 Gears of War launch in Los Angeles earlier this week and Life & Style Weekly caught up with him briefly.

Chambers was, of course, asked about the recent conflict on set, but was quick to downplay it, calling the fight between co-stars Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey on October 9 nothing but "water under the bridge" by now.

"It happened awhile ago. Like any workplace, we spend a lot of time together. Sometimes we get into arguments and sometimes we don’t," said Chambers, a former model and father of five.

"We’re a pretty close-knit family. Everything’s smooth now. Everything is fine. We’re all getting along fine."

As for another fellow cast member, T.R. Knight, whose decision to come out of the closet sparked even more discussion this past week, Chambers simply says, "It’s all cool."

"T.R. is a great guy. He felt the need to explain that. It’s his personal life, and God bless him."

The list of interesting, diverse artists to be featured as part of the Grey's Anatomy music catalog continues to grow.

When the show returns next week after its terrible one-week layoff, it will once again showcase an up-and-coming band as part of the episode. "Life Is Beautiful," the new single from Vega 4, will make its premiere on the November 2 episode, entitled, "Let the Angels Commit."

Audiences will get to listen to four full minutes of the song (which is over six minutes long). The track appears on their album, You and Others, which was released October 6.

If you're desperate to hear "Life is Beautiful" before Thursday, it will be available for download on iTunes October 31 (Tuesday). Or you can check out the group's official site for a sneak preview.

If you're not familiar with this multicultural ensemble, whose four members hail from Ireland, England, Canada and New Zealand, and bring with them not only different backgrounds but unique musical influences, we recommend you give them a listen. And watch next week's Grey's Anatomy, of course.

A Grey's Anatomy Insider reader sent us this article about how well Grey's Anatomy is doing in Australia -- particularly for the Seven network that carries it. It's interesting to read about the ratings and popularity of the show so far away. With 1.8 million viewers last week -- in a nation of only 21 million -- it's safe to call the show a bona fide smash. Here's the story:

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Once again on a Monday night the Nine Network has gone from leading to second place in the space of an hour on Monday nights: it just can't match Grey's Anatomy on Seven, which is now the most successful U.S. import of the year.

So much so that Seven will keep it going for four episodes of the new U.S. series (Season 3) when the present series ends in a week or two. Seven wants to make sure it continues to win Monday nights and give itself a chance at the week: who says bragging rights in ratings battle don’t matter?

Not Seven, nah!

More than 1.8 million people watched Grey's Anatomy last night and it took Seven from third place from 7.30 to 8.30 pm, to first place for the rest of the night and a clear win overall, especially as Nine and Ten fell sharply after What A Year and Idol respectively.

Seven was running third at 7.30 pm with the Great Outdoors continuing its listless passage through the latter weeks of the 2006 ratings year.
It averaged 1.020 million, well behind Nine's What's Good For You (which added 240,000 viewers to average 1.318 million) and Ten's Idol, which was way out in front averaging 1.450 million.

But when Grey's Anatomy started, the night changed.
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The source of the "mystery" Ellen Pompeo photo shoot we came across earlier this month has been revealed, thanks to a loyal Grey's Anatomy Insider reader (who we'll refer to simply by her username, McMeredith).

It's from Ageleno Magazine, with photographs taken by Craig de Cristo. The magazine cover says, beneath the pictures, "Catch Her If You Can," which leads us to believe these must have been taken around the release of the film Catch Me If You Can, which came out in December 2002 and featured a then less-famous Ellen Pompeo.

It's also the spring fashion issue of the magazine, which, according to our source, is usually released during the fall/winter season. So our guess is these pictures were taken around December 2002 or January 2003.

Some have commented to us that they aren't big fans of these shots, but we think Ellen Pompeo looks great in them. You can follow the link above to our first post about this photo shoot, which includes a number of images. Here are two more that our source was kind enough to send.

It was another good Caption Contest, inspired by this image from "I am a Tree." It was hard to choose from among our 41 replies, but all in all, we had to go with the caption submitted by Caroline. It just stood out. An honorable mention goes out to the McDreamer, Robin and Jennifer. Nice effort!

Thanks to all who participated in this fun weekly feature, and good luck again this week. The winning reply appears below!

This Week's Caption Contest Image:

“So you guys really think you’re that good? Taking my patients, taking the sick people of Seattle Grace, and going behind your resident’s back to open a heart transplant center in Meredith Grey's house. Unbelievable.”

No new episodes to comment on from last night, but we were given another chance to see the Season 3 premiere, "Time Has Come Today" along with "I Am a Tree." In our opinion, they were just as good, if not better, the second time around -- so that's good at least.

In case you missed our post about them yesterday, you can check out our guides to both by following the links above. For the best Grey's Anatomy quotes and pictures from "Time Has Come Today," as well as the music featured during the episode, check out our comprehensive directories devoted to each.

For some memorable quotes, pictures and music featured during "I Am a Tree," follow the corresponding links and enjoy. You can also find quotes, pics and for any episode by using the menu on the right-hand side.

Much as we enjoyed two hours of Grey's Anatomy, especially seeing Addison drink all day and make a transcontinental booty call, we're looking forward to new episodes returning next week!

The fiancee of Katherine Heigl was involved in a major tour bus crash over the weekend, but survived. Sources say Josh Kelley, 25, suffered minor injuries, the extent of which are unconfirmed.

The singer/songwriter is currently on tour with Five for Fighting, and is scheduled to perform in St. Louis, Missouri, Friday night. No word yet on whether that concert has been cancelled.

Kelley released his third album, Just Say The Word, in July 2006, and has toured with artists such as Third Eye Blind and Counting Crows.

Katherine Heigl and Kelley have been together since last year and announced their engagement June 2006. No wedding date has been set. Here's hoping Josh is fine and his tour resumes soon.

Okay, so there's no new episode on tonight. After we stopped crying, we pulled it together and took the time to reflect on the five episodes of Season 3 that we've been treated to thus far.

Then we found three burning Grey's Anatomy questions in People magazine and thought we'd share them with you. Let us know what you think -- and pose ongoing questions of your own by clicking on "comments" below and sharing your thoughts!

1. Is Izzie milking it? Or losing it?

The thing about Izzie (Katherine Heigl) is that you're expected to always be worrying about her, and that gets exhausting. It's an Izzie tizzy!

She's almost literally paralyzed by grief over the death of Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) -- understandable, since they made a great romantic team. Now she's worth $8.7 million and dreamily wondering how to use it.

As of last week, though, no one could quite persuade her to deposit the check. "I'm fine," she kept saying, with a smile, but also with a faraway look in her eyes. She's probably seeing Denny's spirit somewhere on the horizon. Feel like going back to work at some point?

2. Has Dr. Bailey gone soft?

The staff still refers to Miranda as The Nazi, but since she had her baby, has she become too much of a softie? And is that a bad thing?

In the season premiere, "Time Has Come Today," she actually wept along with a patient. In "What I Am," she had an inspiring talk with a salesman whose face had been burned severely. This shows us a different side of Miranda, but is it the kind we want to see?

Chandra Wilson is too clever an actress not to suggest that Dr. Bailey must have been bluffing, to some degree, when she told the salesman how love and respect were what mattered in his career, and not his face. It's just that Bailey used to boast such conviction and bluntness.

She hasn't done a complete 180, but at times, she's close.

3. Can we move past Washingtongate?

It's unfortunate (not to mention frustrating and annoying) that reports of Isaiah Washington's real-life fight with Patrick Dempsey disrupted the show's free-floating romance. Grey's Anatomy is more about the invisible chemistry of love and friendship than the clinical practice of medicine.

T.R. Knight is a very good actor in a very good cast, and his character, Dr. George O'Malley, was always more of an underdog -- an unsung everyman, rather than a McDreamy-style hunk.

There's no reason any true fan won't be behind Knight 100 percent of the way, and pulling for O'Malley sort out his feelings for Drs. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), as usual.

But it may take a few episodes to get past all the distraction, especially if some members of the media keep beating it to death.

All the controversy surrounding Isaiah Washington and T.R. Knight hasn't damaged Grey's Anatomy in its ratings assault, that's for sure.

Five episodes into Season 3, ABC's hit medical series has been defeating CSI in the coveted Thursday, 9 p.m. time slot. Grey's Anatomy is averaging 24 million viewers this season, up 31 percent from last fall.

Meanwhile, CSI, now behind with 22.6 million, is down 21 percent. Grey's Anatomy also leads by 3 million young-adult viewers, the highly coveted demographic by advertisers. It should be noted, however, that CSI remains one of prime time's most popular series in terms of total viewers.

The show's success since moving over to Thursday has exceeded expectations and even surprised the talented cast. Here, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) is seen giving props to newcomer Mark (Eric Dane) for his role in the ratings climb. Just kidding.