Tony Award winner Ben Vereen, who made his New York nightclub debut earlier this year, will guest star on Grey’s Anatomy in the fall.

Vereen, according to his spokesperson, will play a burn victim on the hit ABC series. His appearance is currently scheduled for October 4.

A star of stage and screen, Ben Vereen made his Broadway debut in Jesus Christ Superstar, earning a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He nabbed the Tony for his work in Bob Fosse’s production of Pippin and has also starred on Broadway in Grind, Jelly’s Last Jam and Fosse.

Vereen was nominated for Emmy Awards for “Roots,” “Intruders” and 1976’s “The Bell Telephone Jubilee.” He also received Golden Globe nominations for his work in “Funny Lady” and “Ellis Island.” He was most recently back on Broadway as the Wizard in Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked.

Also today, it was announced that Edward Hermann, perhaps best known for his work on Gilmore Girls, will appear on Season 4 of Grey’s Anatomy.

Hermann was a fixture on The CW’s Gilmore Girls as Richard Gilmore in all seven season of the show. ABC hasn’t released much regarding what Hermann’s character will consist of on Grey’s Anatomy, but it appears that he will play a doctor for at least three episodes.

As for the regular cast, it’s been a tumultuous off-season as we know. The Season 4 lineup will be minus Isaiah Washington, who was not retained by ABC amid a storm of controvery, and Kate Walsh, who left to headline her own spin-off series, Private Practice.

Meanwhile, Chyler Leigh has been added as a series regular in the role of Lexie Grey, younger sister of Meredith and new Seattle Grace intern.

Happy Monday, fans, and happy Caption Contest. It’s time to see who emerged as the champion in this 66th consecutive edition of the contest.

You all did such a great job this week that every one of you deserves an honorable mention. Really, you outdid yourselves and gave us a good laugh up and down the list of entries! Ultimately, we chose LanieCroft.

That one really got to us, because of all the negativity surrounding the Isaiah Washington situation this summer. It was good to finally have a good natured laugh about it.

The full list of replies appears below, with the winning entry right under the photo. Thank you, as always, for making this the top Grey’s Anatomy site on the web, and good luck again this week in the Caption Contest!

This week’s Caption Contest image:

George: “Izzie, tell me again, why are watching this? It sucks.”
Izzie: “I know, but we have to.”
George: “Why.”
Izzie: “It’s Bionic Woman. Burke is in there.”

Ah, young love. Katherine Heigl and fiance Josh Kelley share a hug on their way to the grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday.

Earlier in the day, the couple went house hunting and toured a potential new home for after they tie the knot. Katherine and her musician love will wed December 23, two days before Christmas. The location for the nuptials is rumored to be Utah, where Heigl owns a ranch.

The Grey’s Anatomy star met and fell in love with Josh Kelley after she played his love interest in the music video for his single “Only You.”

Heigl recently received a Best Supporting Actress Emmy nomination for her performance as Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy this season. Hopefully she - or Chandra Wilson or Sandra Oh (both nominated in the same category) - can take home the honors!

Earlier, we brought you Shonda Rhimes‘ admissions of a lackluster Season 3 and promises for a better Season 4. Later at the same event, TV Guide tracked down the Grey’s Anatomy creator and executive producer again, asking her questions about a topic she has thus far avoided.

That being Isaiah Washington. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Rhimes did her best to address the matter with grace and dignity.

TV Guide: How difficult was it for you to let Isaiah Washington go, on a personal level?
Shonda Rhimes: It wasn’t. It was a decision that was a long time coming, and it felt like it was the right decision for all.

TV Guide: Given everything that transpired during the hiatus, did you feel the need to give the cast a pep talk on the first day back?
Shonda Rhimes: No. They’re a group of real professionals who really rose to the occasion last season, and really delivered some amazing performances at a time when we were all having an emotionally hard time. So, I feel like, no, we’re a family. Nobody needed a pep talk.

TV Guide: So the decision to fire Isaiah was not something that was imposed on you?
Shonda Rhimes: The great thing about [ABC Studios head] Mark Pedowitz and [ABC president] Steve McPherson is they never imposed anything on me.

TV Guide: So you agreed with the decision?
Shonda Rhimes: Of course I did.

TV Guide: Would you have written the season finale differently if that stuff hadn’t happened during the season?
Shonda Rhimes: I wrote the season-ender exactly as I planned to write the season-ender. What’s kind of amazing is the season-ender finished the story of Preston Burke and truly paid tribute to that character and to the talent of Isaiah Washington in a way that made sense. But it also went exactly where our show was planning to go anyway.

TV Guide: You were quoted as saying that it was disturbing to think that one black actor could be replaced with another. Do you have any second thoughts about saying that in light of the recent re-casting on Private Practice?
Shonda Rhimes: No, I think there’s a point there. I think that with Preston Burke, the character that audiences have come to know and love for three seasons, it’s very different. And at a time there was some talk of, ‘Let’s cast this actor or that actor… ” sort of naming a bunch of black actors… as if the only thing that was important about the character of Preston Burke was his race. That was disturbing to me. It’s a very different situation from the enhanced [two-hour episode of Grey’s Anatomy], which was our version of a pilot for Private Practice. Pilots get recast all the time. Ours just happened to air. It wasn’t a matter of needing to find another black actor. It was a matter of, “Audra McDonald is the person we want.”

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Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes said she is confident fans will put last year’s unsettling season in perspective and remain loyal to the ABC drama.

“It’s a thing that happens in any show,” she said. “People love you, then there has to be a moment … in which people disagree with where you’re going creatively. But if you’re telling your stories well they’ll stick with you, hopefully, and watch us grow and change.”

The series will get back to having fun next season, Rhimes promised in an interview with the Associated Press Thursday.

Shonda Rhimes acknowledged that story lines including death and infidelity represented a “darker journey,” one that provoked some critics and fans.

The series was also hit by the real-life drama involving Isaiah Washington, who was ultimately not re-signed to the show after Season 3.

Shonda Rhimes said the show rose above that crisis.

“It was a difficult season for [Grey’s Anatomy] behind the scenes. But, creatively, we moved in the direction we planned to move,” Rhimes told a meeting of the Television Critics Association.

Isaiah Washington moved on quickly, hired by NBC to appear in five episodes of NBC’s new fall drama, Bionic Woman. Last week, NBC exec Ben Silverman said he had spoke to Isaiah about coming to the network even before the actor was released by ABC in June.

Rhimes, who had called Washington with the network’s decision, was asked if she was aware he had talked to NBC and what her reaction was to his hiring.

“No, I wasn’t aware of any conversation that may have happened before I had a conversation with him,” she said. “I guess I don’t have a reaction. He’s a very talented actor. I hope he does really well with Bionic Woman. I hope that show does well.”

“Not as well as Private Practice,” she added, a reference to the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off debuting this fall. The series stars Kate Walsh as her Grey’s Anatomy character, Dr. Addison Montgomery Shepherd, and co-stars include Amy Brenneman, Tim Daly and Taye Diggs.

Some kind of miracle, indeed. Again.

Last night’s encore presentation of the finale of the three-part story arc in which Meredith nearly meets her end was almost as thrilling as the first time. Well, not really. But that Jeffrey Dean Morgan sure is great.

For our full recap, of “Some Kind of Miracle,” just follow this link. You’ll see a menu on the left with all of the other episode-specific features you can use.

Or you can just use the links below.

To learn what songs were played - and at what point in the episode - scroll down through our complete song listing. Click here for lyrics as well.

We’ve got some quality pictures from the episode in our gallery as well, along with a list of memorable quotes. For our staff’s take on the episode, you can check out our Round Table question and answer session from February.

As usual, you can discuss “Some Kind of Miracle” - and all things Grey’s Anatomy - in our forum. Share your thoughts with other Grey’s Anatomy fans and hear what they have to say. Start your own thread about whatever you want or join existing discussions. If you haven’t joined yet, register here to receive a password in your email, then log in!

Just a few pictures of Ellen Pompeo showing her support for actor pal Matt Damon at the Los Angeles premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum held at the ArcLight Hollywood Wednesday night in Hollywood.

The Grey’s Anatomy star seems to love to wear long, black dresses. No complaints, though, as it certainly works for her!

Addison Sewell’s friends jokingly call her “the future Mrs. McDreamy.”

This past weekend, the teenage Addison got to meet the real McDreamy - or at least the actor who plays him on Grey’s Anatomy.

Patrick Dempsey - who stars as the hunky Dr. Derek Shepherd, or “McDreamy,” as he is more affectionately known to many female fans - took a half-hour out of his Saturday afternoon to visit Addison at Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital, where she has been undergoing treatments for leukemia.

“How’s it going?” Patrick Dempsey said as he entered Addison’s room bearing a plastic bag filled with t-shirts, a handbag and other souvenirs from the Barber Motorsports Park, where the actor raced in Sunday’s KONI Challenge Series GS event.

“Can I sit on your bed, is that all right?” Dempsey then asked a giggling and nearly speechless Addison, who fittingly happens to have the same name as Patrick’s one-time on-screen wife (played by Kate Walsh).

“You’re talkative, aren’t you,” he later teased.

In April, three days after her 14th birthday, Addison - or “Addie,” as friends and family call her - was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

Dempsey’s visit came about with the help of Randy Stephens, Addison’s track coach at Mountain Brook Junior High School, and “team mom” Julia Holt, who stayed after the staff at Zoom Motorsports.

Once Patrick Dempsey found out about Addison and how much she loved Grey’s Anatomy, he took the time to see her in spite of all of his other racing-related events.

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With a wedding to plan and her new Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, Kate Walsh has a lot on her plate. Us Weekly caught up with Walsh and chatted with her about departing Seattle Grace for a new, different and Private Practice.

Us: Was it difficult to leave Grey’s Anatomy?
Kate Walsh: It was. But at the same time, it’s such an amazing opportunity. I definitely miss my pals, but I see them socially. And I’m so excited that Grey’s Anatomy got nominated for an Emmy again this year… it’s just amazing. But it felt like a natural time for Addison to move on. What else could she do at Seattle Grace, really?

Us: Are you still in touch with Grey’s Anatomy cast members?
Kate Walsh: I just saw them. Sara Ramirez, T.R. Knight, Katherine Heigl and Justin Chambers. I had a nice little drink the other night to celebrate the Emmy nominations. It was great to see them.

Us: Any chance we’ll see their characters on Private Practice?
Kate Walsh: I don’t know. We haven’t had any indication of that. I’m sure they’ll do some kind of crossover at some point and have somebody visit. Right now, it’s so new it’s all about getting the show on the air and established, and getting people invested in these new characters.

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Another edition of our Caption Contest (the 65th) proved to be a good one. With over 100 responses to choose from, we had out hands full.

There were many worthy contenders. Kim (like the Harry Potter reference) Grey’s Addict, kdborg and Dinofigg all made us laugh. In the end, though, we went with Caity. Congratulations! We love the imagery of Mark Sloan, official hospital gossip. The winning reply appears beneath the picture. Scroll down to read all the ones sent in!

Thank you to all for participating and for making the Insider the #1 Grey’s Anatomy site on the web. Good luck this week! Visit us for news, videos, pics, quotes, forums and much more!

This week’s Caption Contest image:

Mark: “I hear we have another intern to induct into the dirty ex-mistresses club.”

Meredith: “What? Who?“

Mark: “Izzie Stevens. She slept with George and then told him she loved him the day of the wedding. But George doesn’t know what to do because Callie wants kids and told him that same day. And to top it all off, he failed his boards.”

Meredith: “Hmm… she does need to join the club. How do you always know all the good gossip by the way?“

Mark: “It pays to have all of the nurses think you’re gorgeous.”