Five Unanswered Grey's Anatomy Questions
Five burning questions we've been pondering regarding Grey's Anatomy, which despite of its ups and downs, will start its fifth season in this fall:
1. Will Izzie leave Seattle Grace? Some have speculated that Katherine Heigl's recent comments about Grey's Anatomy were an effort to get out of her contract, which is said to extend through 2009-10. See broader examination of this topic here.
2. Meredith and Derek: What next? Amazingly, Shonda Rhimes was saying well in advance how she wanted to get Meredith and Derek together for good by the Season 4 finale. And she did, with a terrific season ender. But if they really are together for good, and everything's blissful where's the drama? The tension? The entertainment? Can this normal, happy couple really sustain itself on TV, or are we really addicted to watching our two favorite lovers be torn apart by one issue after another?
Will Grey's Anatomy as we know it cease to exist with these two actually together?
3. Will ratings rebound? Grey's Anatomy started its fourth season battling for the best ratings of any scripted show on TV, but after the writers' strike, the show took a hit. Granted, the strike hurt everyone, but Grey's Anatomy seemed to lose its buzz along with the ratings. Was it just a blip, or is this a sign that interest is waning?
4. What's with Erica and Callie? With a passionate kiss in the season four finale, Erica and Callie seemed destined to be the first same-sex pairing on the Grey's Anatomy scene and perhaps the most famous lesbian couple on TV. While some were surprised when Callie went in that direction, it will certainly be interesting to see where a relationship between these two previously underutilized characters may lead.
5. Will Season Five of Grey's Anatomy be it? We know you don't want to even think about it, but it's worth asking - in fact, these days, a show that runs more than five seasons â" much less six or seven â" is a rarity on network television. And in the case of Grey's Anatomy, the story has a natural end: when the core group of doctors wraps up the residency program. Will the fifth season be it, or will it just set in motion plot lines and relationships that will shape the show for years still to come?
June 19th, 2008 6:36 AM
i think with a Meredith and Derek relationship there will always be drama no matter what. Shonda rhimes never said they were going to be blissfully happy together. She just said they will stay together and experience a real relationship together. Personally, i can't wait to see what happens within that relationship. YEY! As for, will grey's anatomy be ending soon. I highly doubt it. As we saw for the end of season 4. The writing is getting better, and the storylines are still great. But, i think because of the writers strike a lot of fans turned to other tv shows to watch... and as a result the ratings were down (true of all shows... but still.) I think we still have great things to come in grey's anatomy and waiting till september will be very hard. But, its worth it. I hope that Katherine Heigl doesn't leave...because i think that her character was just starting to get back to normal in the last couple of episodes. Anywhoo.. all in all i'm still a huge fan of the show and derek and meredith. Unlike most people, meredith is my favorite character. I think she's fantastic. Ellen pompeo and patrick dempsey together are also phenominal. Awh... can't wait til my fav show is back.
June 19th, 2008 6:44 AM
i can't wait too..........
June 19th, 2008 7:27 AM
I can't wait for MerDer happy ending. I hope their true love blossoms and make a family with kids.
I would like Cristina to be healed and find a good guy....
June 19th, 2008 7:33 AM
Grey's Anatomy has been my favorite show since the very beginning. Shonda Rhimes is a great writer and she knows how to keep us on our toes! I'm glad Derek and Meredith will finally get their act together, but we all know it's going to be a rocky road. SO BE IT! I'm just glad they're going to stay together. I was very disappointed when Izzie turned to George for love. That friendship should have stayed the way it was. I don't think I would miss Izzie if she left the series. I was also disappointed when Callie all of a sudden turned into this "bisexual" character who is in love with Dr. Hahn. Doesn't seem right to me, BUT I love this show and I'll stick with it until the very end. I also believe it will last a few more years. The new characters are very ineresting and we are always left wondering how things are going to turn out. I think the positive outweighs the negative about the show so.....................RIGHT ON FOR MORE GREY'S ANATOMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 19th, 2008 7:57 AM
I completely agree with Mariah07. I can't wait till Season 5 begins!
June 19th, 2008 8:38 AM
I was thinking there's no way there won't be tension between mer and der...at least in the very first episode of season 5. Like maybe, Mer gets a page and has to go to the hospital and isn't there when derek gets back, or something small like that.
Personally, I'd much rather see the show go out with a big strong finish in season 5, and the end of residency does seem like a really natural ending, with the series finale showing where they all go off to do their fellowships (and derek and meredith's wedding Of Course). That being said, if Greys could transform to 13 season a la ER, I'd complain a lot, but probably be there until the bitter end. Heh
June 19th, 2008 9:24 AM
Isn't everyone signed for 7 seasons? o.O I already find it sad to know there won't be more than 7, because Ellen already said she wouldn't do more (because she doesn't think she'll have anything else to give to a character after such a long time) but I NEED those 3 seasons. ahhh i don't want it to end that soon!
As for Izzie, I'm probably the only person who couldn't care less. As long as they don't kill her (not another death pleaaaaase) I'm fine with it. I'm sick of Katherine Heigl. She hasn't been acting very well and she just annoys me for no particular reason whatsoever. But I guess she has a lot of fans, so it wouldn't be a good idea if the writers decided to kick her out... because even if she wants out earlier, she's signed for 7 seasons like everyone else so she can't quit just like that!
And Mer and Der.. Shonda only said they'd stay together for good now but she did not say that they'd just be happy happy happy all the time.
June 19th, 2008 9:30 AM
I am from Greece and a big fan of the show...Of course I love Mer-Der and started crying when I downloaded the episode and saw these two kissing in the season finale...I missed that so much...This is the first time I write here, so I just want to say these:
1)I think that I wouldn't miss Izzie if she left the show.Her character really confusses me as if she doesn't know what she wants...First Alex then George then Alex again...I only liked her when she was with Danny...I think that is the Izzie character we all miss...
2)MerDer for ever!I hope they never break up again...Of course I don't want to see these too as an ordinary married couple...I want to see them them as the couple we all know and we all love...Being together,facing their problems together,fighting sometimes but always being the one there for the other...I hope Mer is the one getting pregnant during the next season just for one main reason:To see Derek as the most handsome crazy sexy dad on TV!!!
3)The ratings will be where they sould be because I believe that whoever likes the show will watch it either way or another...
4)Honestly I'm not a big fan of Callie and Hann but I want be disappointed if the writer decides to put these two together...
5)Finally,although I would really miss the show and I don't want to think about the day when there won't be any more Derek scenes (OMG!) I will accept the desicion to stop the show in season 5...But I think there could be a season 6 too...
Thank you a lot...keep up the great job!
June 19th, 2008 10:07 AM
i dont care if KH will leave the show...but i hope she will always remember that without GA she's nothing....her name started to be knowned because of her charecter in GA...shonda given her a good materials in season 1 and 2.
anyway, im huge fan of merder...and i started to watch to greys since day one...
more power !
June 19th, 2008 10:39 AM
Just about every "normal, happy couple" has their share of drama, but it doesn't have to tear them apart; it could and should make them stronger. That's a tv relationship worth watching; a couple with a real, abiding love that face life's challenges TOGETHER. The writers should have no problem keeping MerDer happy, together and still give them plenty of drama. DO IT!
June 19th, 2008 1:49 PM
But I think we should also consider that the residents are in their 2nd year of the residency program. Seasons 1-3 covered the first year... their internship.
June 19th, 2008 2:24 PM
Mer-Der are definitely a couple worth watching together. Ellen and Patrick are definitely the actors to make a solid, permanent relationship work. I am so excited to see what's in store for our favorite couple TOGETHER!
And Izzy and KH can go.
June 19th, 2008 3:21 PM
Normal, happy couples don't exist :-P
I think I'm the only viewer that isn't so hyped up over MerDer... Personally, the only two characters I really care about is George and Lexie (whether they'll be a couple or not...). I hope to see a bigger story line for Lexie in season 5 and finally something to work out for George.
And, of course, NO MORE STRIKES!
June 19th, 2008 4:23 PM
yeah, happy couple don't exist- well not for a long period anyway.
Merder will get together eventually but it's gonna take a while for them two to really trust and love each other. and i HOPE the rating would rebound cuz i reckon the show's gettin' bigger and better!! Woooooo~~~
and PLEASE dont end at seaons 5, I WANT MORE!! but then again dont go for too long cuz it's gonna get worse and get like too soap-opera ish~~
June 19th, 2008 4:44 PM
hopefully meredith and derek stay together for good and do everything they said they were gonna do. they just need to end grey's anatomy that way. i cant wait till season 5!!!!
June 19th, 2008 6:34 PM
I love that Meredith and Derek are back together..but am I the only one who felt that it was rushed? I mean one minute he is saying he never wants to see her again, and the next minute he is kissing her! Like Ricky Ricardo would say...Shonda..You got some 'splainin to do!
I would miss Izzie if she left. Her part has sucked for a whole season because the writers gave her crap. I know it, you know it, and she knows it. I know she didn't handle the whole Emmy thing with as much tact as she should have, but everything you see on the show is what the writers want you to see. The actors.actresses just impersonated the writers' ideas. The writers developed the Denny storyline, the George storyline (which I thought was just GROSS!) and now basically NO storyline for her. I wouldn't miss any character who the writers didn't give a storyline!
I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see a Grey's wedding that actually HAPPENED! And then maybe a McBaby(ies)....
June 19th, 2008 6:50 PM
um yalls comments are too long for me to read BUT here's my opinion:
1. I like Izzie but she has recently been ungreatful and doesnt deserve to be part of a show as great as Grey's.
2. Meredith and Derek are extraordinary together... not so extraordinary apart. I would like them to build their house and have their kids. They are definately TVs most popular couple when they're actually a couple.
3. I believe ratings will rebound. Grey's went through a rough patch during the strike and during that time, the episodes weren't nearly as good as they usually are... I almost lost hope during that time.
4. Um... I;m not too sure about Erica and Callie right now. All I know is that they're one of TVs first lesbian romances and it's againt the Bible. I don't believe in it, but whatever the writers want... I can't change their minds.
5. I hope to goodness season 5 won't be the end. to back that up, you have to remember that everyone signed for at least 7 seasons... so I believe it will go on for at least 7 season, hopefully many many more! I will be there until the VERY end
June 19th, 2008 7:33 PM
of course 5 won't be IT!!!! why even ask that.
as long as meredith or lexie is there...its still grey's anatomy.
hell if mer and der get married she wont be the grey in greys anatomy. even though mer and der are the best parrt of the show it will still go on after her
June 19th, 2008 8:00 PM
I loved Izzie but seriously...I am so over hearing about KH and how she wants out-see ya! Mer/Der have pleanty to go thru like everyone else has mentioned (Love Them!!!) I think all shows go thru ups & downs in the ratings, the tricky thing for GA is that the highs were SO high....its always going to be hard to make it that high again. Calica is a mystery to me, are they lesbians, is Callie Bisexual, did anyone ever say Erica is gay? It does make for interesting TV. Season 5 is not the end, I wont even think that for a second! I need all 7 seasons please :)
June 19th, 2008 10:04 PM
I really think that this time they will stay togeather Mer/Der but Shonda will need to make the relationship as real as possible, think about it she can not make them super happy and nothing every comes between them, they will have to have the same issues as norma people and i hope that Shonda keeps her promise and keeps them togeather, and i want greys to go as long as possible, i am so addicted to greys it is so funny. Izzie can jump ship for all i care, as long as we get a mcdreamy wedding and mchildren, that would make our world a better place. Love Der/Mer
June 19th, 2008 11:10 PM
Even if MerDer are together...they are always gonna be drama in their life. As Shonda said they are together for good but they won't get their happy ending. I don't like seeing them all sad and mopey, I want them to be happy even just once like truly happy.
June 20th, 2008 12:57 AM
Wow, that's funny -- I read almost this exact same story over at BuzzSugar.com the other day. Hmmmmmm.
June 20th, 2008 6:55 AM
I always love G.A. I hope till 7 or more seasons I 'll watch till the end as long as merder on the show. that the reason keep it hot!
June 21st, 2008 10:48 AM
meredith and derek for ever. THEY HAVE TO BE TOGETHER. They are the best couple and the series must go on with the storie of them. I HOPE Meredith and DEREK waiting for babies while they work and share life together. PLEASE, DON ' T END this lovers couple in the series.
June 21st, 2008 1:44 PM
The worst mistake Shonda Rhymes ever made was to break Meredith & Derek up again after they finally reunited after the camping trip. She had already strung the audience along for two years,
and then, after letting Derek say "I've loved you forever, I chose wrong", stringing us along again for 6 more episodes of Fin/Derek/Derek/Fin.Then, the whole drowning incident was handled so bizarrely, considering it was supposed to be Mer's "re"birth from her Mother's control. They had her tell Denny that she didn't want to settle for a life of "what if", and then she comes back to life and is messed up further than before. Therefore, they made that entire thing a lesson NOT learned for anyone, and shameful wasted airtime for us. You have Derek a broken man when she almost dies, yet just weeks later, when faced with a choice of being Chief or having a life with her, he wobbles? Then after Susan's death and her father slaps her, he stands by and lets him do it, not coming over there to help her? (The Chief & Bailey, too, for that matter!). He goes back to her house and looks in the window, sees her drinking and leaves? How about going in and saying "You are not going to drink tonight, we are going to talk about what happened". Nope, he walks away, pouting, as if it was about him. Her step Mother just died, and her low life, absentee of a Father blamed & slapped her...but yes, it's all about Derek! The audience would have loved to see him help her recover, let his love finally help her heal. They had been waiting for three long years! The chemistry those two had was something television hadn't seen in years.....middle age women everywhere were hooked on TV again. But the writers decided to milk it for big bucks, and blew it BIG TIME!The people kept telling them it wasn't working, ratings started slipping, and then, they respond by them just having meaningless sex in the supply closet?This is the most "out of touch with their audience" bunch of writers in history! That wasn't what we wanted, and in fact, it made us not even care about them as a couple anymore. Now, they are back together, but it may be too little, too late....time will tell. My guess is, the writers will not know what to do with them or how to write it, as they don't seem to know these characters or what the audience has always wanted from the minute Derek Shepard jumped over Meredith Grey's couch on episode one. There are many new ways to keep this couple together and still have interesting drama, but my guess is that it will be off the air by year six.
That is based on the history of putting George with Izzy (there was NEVER, EVER, that kind of feeling between those two...NEVER!), wasting the very talented & handsome Eric Dane by not have any worthy storyline, and turning him into a lame and weak man character, silencing Christina for an entire season, making Bailey whine instead of being a Nazi, killing Susan Grey who could have been a turning point in Meredith's life, spinning Addison off the show, and now, the ridiculous storyline of Callie & Erica being Lesbians. My brother is gay, so it has nothing to do with me being a prude, it's just that those two do not have that kind of chemistry and don't even fit together in a romantic way. It just shows, once again, that the writers don't know the characters or audience. Erica said she never had any female friends, so the first one she gets has to be a lover? Why not let us see her grow as a woman and develop those friendship skills? Anyone can have sex, but talking is a skill! One of the things that gave women hope was that Callie wasn't a size two, yet she was successful, beautiful, and could have men interested in her. Now Erica comes along, and not only is she not a size two, but she's not a beautiful woman either, a double bonus! She's pretty, but not "OMG" she's beautiful! Yet, she has sexy Doctor Sloan pursuing her.....oh, the stories that could have been told, the chance and growth we could have seen in Mark, the ones we could all relate to as women. You want a gay story? Make George gay, his character was written such that in the first season, the other characters openly thought he was and it was mentioned on the show more than once. How about when the whole hunting thing happened with his brothers, he could have come out and told his family! T.R Knight could have played that so well because he knows the pain in real life of being rebuked for being "different". They could have gone a long way in paving the road for my brother! But instead, George beds Olivia, and three of the hottest women in the hospital.....Meredith, Callie, & Izzy in the three years of the show, COME ON and GET REAL!
I love Grey's Anatomy, and I have continued to watch when all of my friends had stopped, because I kept hoping the writers would wake up. Maybe they have, maybe they haven't.....we will see in Sept. I hope they keep it real, fix what is broken, and do it right out of the gate, because I'm telling any of them that are reading this....their remaining "adult" viewers will only give them a few episodes before switching the channel for good. They have lost faith, and hope will not keep them glued to the show anymore. I'm 50 years old, have a successful job, and grown children....some in college, some, HS. The show desperately needs our age bracket, and it used to be the topic at work..a HUGE topic, especially Meredith & Derek. But now, no one cares but our teenage children....carefully let that sink in GA writers, and be very careful!
Here's to hope.....