Grey’s Anatomy returns tonight with “Where The Wild Things Are.”

To mark the occasion, a woman who needs no introduction - Grey’s Anatomy creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes - has some words for all of you regarding the show’s return tonight in her guest column for TV Guide …

I like to call these five upcoming episodes Grey’s Anatomy, Season 4, Part 2. Because for us, for the stories, it really does feel like a whole separate season. I came back to work after the strike with a whole new purpose, a new dedication. And a sense of hope.

My best friend, Oprah… OK, in my head she’s my best friend, but in reality she barely knows me. But, secretly, I like to pretend I’m Gayle King because Gayle is the person who makes Oprah laugh, and who doesn’t want to be the one to do that?

Also, I secretly wanna be Angelina Jolie. Because of the babies and the Brad and the fabulousness, but I don’t have the legs. I lost my point. My point is that Oprah would say I have renewed my spirit. For me, that means I’m starting to enjoy this again.

Really enjoy this. Feel the rich possibilities.

So this season — Grey’s Anatomy, Season 4, Part 2 — is the season of hope. For Meredith and Derek. For Izzie. For George. For Bailey. For Callie.

Shonda Rhimes previews Grey’s Anatomy “Season 4, Part 2.”

Hopeful things are happening. Meredith and Derek are going to get together for good. That’s right. For good. Now, if you think I’m going to tell you how it will happen, you’re crazy. ’Cause it is yummy stuff. It is special. I spent a lot of nights lying in bed awake thinking about this.

These characters are my friends. They are people I know well who happen to live inside my head. I worry about their shortcomings and I celebrate their victories and I so, so want them to be happy. But more than happy, I want them to be brave. These Grey’s Anatomy episodes are about bravery.

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With the return of Grey’s Anatomy just eight days away, here are some new pieces of news, gossip and spoilers from TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello.

Question: Does your news of a two-hour finale of Grey’s Anatomy mean two new hours of the show, or is it going to be a recap episode and then the finale?

Ausiello: As I understand it, there’ll be about 80 minutes of show, plus 22 minutes of commercials and 18 minutes of ABC promos. Give or take a few here and there.

Question: Grey’s Anatomy casting two gay service members? Sign me up! I am a former service member that was discharged for being gay.

Ausiello: You’re too late — they’ve already found a few good-looking men: Benny Ciaramello (Friday Night Lights‘ Santiago) and Road Rules’ David Giuntoli have been tapped to play the same-gender-lovin’ soldiers who share a “very romantic kiss.”

Question: Wanna tell us who is gonna be involved in the super-secret, special, surprising kiss in the Grey’s Anatomy season finale?

Ausiello: First, let’s explain to the class what you’re referring to, Mandy. In the current issue of TV Guide, guest columnist Shonda Rhimes offers a first-person preview of the show’s final five episodes — and she saves the best for the last paragraph. “A lot happens in these five episodes,” she writes. “And it all ends with a kiss. A good kiss. A great kiss. A kiss so good it makes you lean into your televisions. A kiss we never saw coming. Oh, it’s a major kiss.” Unfortunately, I come bearing no clues since I honestly have no idea whose lips will be smacking. She kind of threw me for a loop with the whole “kiss we never saw coming” bit.

Who’s it gonna be, Grey’s Anatomy fans! Talk to the Insider!

“My goal is to get Meredith [Ellen Pompeo] and Derek [Patrick Dempsey] together for good and let them try to figure out what it is to be in a relationship in the future.” - Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes.

The executive producer’s words may offer welcome relief for fans exhausted by months - years - of Meredith and Derek getting closer, yet always driven apart.

“That is something that time off [during the writers’ strike] really gave me some perspective on — whether or not we could actually do it, how we could do it, that it would be amazing to watch how that works,” Rhimes said.

Will the much-maligned Meredith and Derek love story finally be repaired?

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Shonda Rhimes said she had dinner with Dempsey and “we talked about all of this. As actors, they’re very invested in Derek and Meredith. Ellen and I are getting together Monday.”

Even the Grey’s Anatomy cast itself is excited by this news.

When told of the MerDer development, T.R. Knight exclaimed, “Oh, wow, I didn’t know that! I guess Meredith and Derek are gonna smooch again!”

On a slightly less ecstatic note, Knight said he is busy getting over a bad cold before heading back to work next week: “I got the crud that’s been going around,” he said as he drove home from a doctor’s appointment yesterday. “It was like, Body is crashing, you’ve got a week and a half to be sick before work starts, so go.”

Also coming up when Grey’s Anatomy returns April 24:

• Lauren Stamile, who plays McDreamy’s latest potential love interest, Nurse Rose, will return for all five new spring episodes.
• Elizabeth Reaser, as Jane Doe / Ava / Rebecca, will be back for three.

Laura Saltman of Access Hollywood was one of the lucky few able to get a seat at
UCLA inside Royce Hall Friday as the Private Practice and Grey’s Anatomy cast put on a charity show for crew members dubbed “Good Medicine.”

She dubbed the show a combination of American Idol meets the SAG Awards meets “The Gong Show” meets your local high school’s talent show.

Sounds like a ton of fun to us. Here’s her review …

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The show started with a funny taped message from the one and only McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey, who said he was in Japan promoting Enchanted. With a wink, he couldn’t miss a chance to plug the film, “Soon to be released on DVD.”

Patrick Dempsey acknowledged how important the writers were to his show by joking, “Without them I’d still be known as that teen from Can’t Buy Me Love.”

Next to the stage was Dr. Izzie Stevens, Katherine Heigl, looking beautiful in a red knee length dress. Heigl, who is rumored to be leaving the show, revealed that all proceeds from the event would go to the Solidarity Fund started by the WGA.

True Grey’s Anatomy fans know that Sara Ramirez, who plays Callie Torres, won the 2005 Tony for her role as ‘The Lady of the Lake’ in Monty Python’s “Spamalot.” I knew this, but I still had no idea how well this chick can really sing! Her voice brought the house to its feet with a performance of the song “Meadowlark.”

Ellen Pompeo took to the stage next to briefly thank everyone for coming and to introduce the next singer, T.R. Knight. We know him as George O’Malley but T.R. got his start in theater and has appeared on Broadway.

Just before he tackled the song “Losing My Mind/You Could Drive A Person Crazy” from Sondheim’s “Follies” T.R. Knight begged for a little understanding:

“It’s been 13 years since I’ve done this and I’m following Sara Ramirez.”

While T.R. Knight didn’t have the pipes that Sara Ramirez did, he still did a great job with the song and had fun doing it.

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Just a quick note to let you know that the Grey’s Anatomy official Writers’ Blog has been updated - mostly talking about the “Good Medicine” special show at UCLA February 29. Here are excerpts of what executive producer / creator Shonda Rhimes writes … follow the link to the official blog for the unabridged version.

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Oh my God, WE ARE BACK!

We are. Really. SERIOUSLY. Writers are writing away and we’re all very excited about getting back to our Mer and Der and our Izz and our…  well, EVERYBODY.

Here’s the thing: We have to write the episodes and the actors and crew have to shoot the episodes and the editors have to edit the episodes.

My point is, it’s going to take a while to get from my typing fingers to your TV screen. Our first new episode will air at the end of April.

What will you do until then to get your Grey’s Anatomy on? If only you could see the actors in person. If only you could go see them on stage, in person, talking and laughing and yes, SINGING for charity …

YOU CAN!!!

For one night only, the casts of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice are coming together for a live performance! An unforgettable evening of laughter and song to benefit crew members affected by the strike.

February 29, 2008 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, CA we are presenting “Good Medicine.” A little singing, a little funny, a lot of raising money.

Come on out and join the casts of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. See T.R. Knight SING! Hear Tony Winners Audra MacDonald and Sara Ramirez! See Katie and Kate! See Ellen and Sandra!

SEE THEM ALL! CAUSE THEY WANNA SEE YOU! And help raise some money to help others! Tickets are $85. You can buy them on Ticketmaster.com or call the UCLA Central Ticket Office at 310-825-2101. I hope to see you there!

I’ll be the one in the too-sparkly dress (I love sparkly to the point of tacky), looking pleased and proud of my kickass casts as they work to entertain you…

Shonda Rhimes created and has been writing for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy since it began in 2005, but due to the WGA strike, she, along with the rest of the writing staff, has found herself out of the office and out marching in the streets.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that her absence immediately put a stop to production, which is why one upcoming Grey’s Anatomy episode - Episode 11 - was completed after the strike and without the acclaimed creator’s input.

Shonda Rhimes, seen here with Sara Ramirez and Kate Walsh, said that she has “never not been in the editing room,” and that “it’s been a very weird transition.”

Since the strike began on November 5, Rhimes has not written anything for Grey’s Anatomy, although she is constantly thinking of its great characters.

Rhimes hasn’t been the only one on the picket lines in recent weeks, as much of the Grey’s Anatomy cast has also shown support for the writers.

They too have started to feel the effects of being out of work.

Katherine Heigl, who plays Izzie Stevens, is in the middle of wedding planning, but with no guarantee of a paycheck, has grown more conscious of her finances.

“It’s starting to get stressful. I’m just try to be as smart [financially] as I can,” she said. “I’m just trying to save as much as I can.”

Sara Ramirez, who portrays Callie on Grey’s Anatomy, told the New York Post about how she relocated to Los Angeles after living in New York for 14 years in order to appear on the smash hit show. Now it’s a struggle for her.

“I moved out here to play this role and now I’m not playing her,” Ramirez said. “[The strike] kind of forces you to take matters into your own hands.”

The New York Times tells the story of how a silly-sounding word reached the ear of a powerful TV producer, and in only seconds of air time 18 months ago, expanded the vocabularies — for better or worse — of legions of Americans.

Vajayjay.

On February 12, 2006, viewers of Grey’s Anatomy heard the character, Miranda Bailey, a pregnant doctor who had gone in labor, admonish one of her young interns, stating emphatically “O’Malley… stop looking at my vajayjay!”

The line sprang from a producer’s need to mollify standards and executives who wanted the script to include fewer mentions of the word vagina.

The scene, however, had the unintended effect of catapulting vajayjay (also written va-jay-jay) into mainstream speech. Grey’s Anatomy fans expressed their approval of the word on message boards, forums and blogs.

Perhaps the show’s most notable fan, Oprah Winfrey, began using it, effectively legitimizing it for some 46 million American viewers each week.

“I think vajayjay is a nice word, don’t you?” she asked her audience.

• Vajayjay found its way into electronic dictionaries like Urban Dictionary, Word Spy and Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary.
• It was uttered on the television series 30 Rock.
• It was used on the Web site of The Tyra Banks Show.
• Jimmy Kimmel said it in a monologue.
• It has appeared in the Web publications Salon and the Huffington Post and on the blog Wonkette.

The swift adoption of vajayjay is not simply about pop culture’s ability to embrace slang. Neologisms are always percolating. What it really demonstrates, say some linguists, is a vacuum in popular discourse, a need for a word for female genitalia that is not clinical, crude, misogynistic or descriptive from a man’s point of view.

Shonda Rhimes, creator and executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy, brought the word into full view, but never intended to promote a euphemism or slang for the female anatomy. Rather, she fought to use vagina in the script.

“I had written an episode during the second season of Grey’s in which we used the word vagina a great many times (perhaps 11),” Rhimes wrote to the Times. “Now, we’d used the word penis 17 times in a single episode and no one blinked. But with vagina, the good folks at broadcast standards and practices blinked over and over and over. I think no one is comfortable experiencing the female anatomy out loud — which is a shame considering our anatomy is half the population.”

Continue reading about va-jay-jays in the New York Times …

You’ve heard from our staff members in the Insider’s weekly round table, and you’ve heard each other’s views in our forum. But what does producer - and writer of the season premiere - Shonda Rhimes have to say about this memorable episode?

On her official blog, Rhimes has posted her thoughts regarding “A Change is Gonna Come.” Follow the link below for the full version. Excerpts below.

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So… change. Change is good. Change is everything.

Change is also what’s in the stomach of that guy who can’t stop eating weird crap.

Welcome to Season Four. SEASON FOUR. I can’t believe we made it this far. We’re proud to have made it this far. Let me tell you, Season Three was not easy for anybody and we’re glad to have it behind us. It’s all new dawn, new day over here and people are happy as freaking pie about it.

The interns are residents now, with interns of their own. Except for George, poor George.

He’s stuck repeating his intern year. He’s a repeater. And it’s not easy being a repeater. It pretty much sucks being a repeater. He’s the only who hasn’t gone through any change when we begin the episode. But by the end, he has.

He tells Izzie that he loves her too. Which takes guts. Because he knows what he is getting into. He’s a married man, he’s a married man with a great wife, and he never intended to be a married man who loved another woman.

Man, is he in for some change. I’ve been reading the boards. I know how a lot of y’all feel about the George-Izzie of it all. But stay tuned because it gets really interesting. And funny. And sad. And I’m pretty sure what comes is unexpected.

Meredith and Derek are “broken up” by the end of this first episode. But what does that really mean? Especially when break up means break up sex?

Are they really apart? Poor Meredith can’t quite deal with all that is expected of her in this relationship but they love each other, they really truly love each other and so… how much can they really be broken up?

I gotta say, I’m really rooting for the two of them to make it. For Mer to get her act together and learn to trust someone. Someone other than Cristina. Whom she honeymooned with. That was my favorite detail.

Follow the link to continue reading Shonda’s blog …

After Shonda Rhimes and TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello exchanged words about the critic’s review of Private Practice, the producer of both shows gave him some hot scoop concerning the Grey’s Anatomy embattled supercouple.

If you don’t mind Grey’s Anatomy spoilers, follow the jump to read her comments on Meredith and Derek, as well as another couple we know …

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Technically, actor Isaiah Washington isn’t Shonda Rhimes’ problem anymore, and yet the hypocrisy over the controversial star continues, according to an opinion piece in Utah’s Deseret News.

Washington’s contract on Grey’s Anatomy was not renewed; he has a deal at NBC that begins with a five-episode arc on the new Bionic Woman.

Shonda Rhimes, the creator/executive producer of Grey’s Anatomy, and its forthcoming spinoff, Private Practice, is moving on.

But some of her own words are coming back to haunt her.

In the midst of the controversy over Isaiah Washington’s slur - which, regardless of its true intentions, was widely understood as being aimed at gay castmate T.R. Knight - Shonda Rhimes kept her mouth shut. For the most part.

Except when she then tried to turn an incident of homophobia (or, at the very least, great political incorrectness and insensitivity) into an incident of racism aimed at Isaiah Washington.

Responding to rumors almost no one had heard until she refuted them, Rhimes came out swinging at reports that Washington would be dumped from his role as Dr. Preston Burke and replaced with former ER co-star Eriq LaSalle.

She called the rumors “not only ridiculous but offensive that we would consider replacing a member of our family.”

“And also the (idea) that one black man was interchangeable with another seemed disturbing to me.”

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