2007 Fall TV Preview: Grey's Anatomy On ABC

By Kona Gallagher: 2007-09-10 11:06:43

Grey’s Anatomy - Season 4

Premieres: Thursday, September 27th at 9:00 p.m. EST
Network: ABC
Creator(s): Shonda Rhimes
Starring: Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson, Patrick Dempsey
Website: ABC.com

When Grey’s Anatomy started, it followed the professional and personal lives of five surgical interns: Meredith (Pompeo), Cristina (Oh), Izzie (Heigl), George (Knight) and Alex (Chambers). Leading the group was Dr. Bailey (Wilson), called “The Nazi” for her rigid rules and no-nonsense attitude toward her charges. The interns worked long hours, slept with inappropriate people and basically tried to make it through the day without killing anyone. As the show went on, the characters experienced marriage, pregnancy, death and infidelity, and grew as doctors.

At the end of season three, the Grey’s gang was a mess. Burke left Cristina at the altar, Meredith and Derek were probably breaking up again and George cheated on his wife with his best friend, Izzie. Unfortunately for George, who also dealt with the death of his father, that wasn’t the end of his problems. The end of last season also brought the intern exam. Passing this test meant that they would no longer be grunts and would move up the ladder and become residents. Unfortunately, not all of the little birdies were able to leave the nest. George failed his intern exam, leaving his fate at Seattle Grace up in the air.

When we start season four, things are a lot different at Seattle Grace. Spoiler Warning: The original group of interns have become little Bailey’s, with their own groups of interns to order around. On the medical side of the story, the drama is still high—a man comes back to life and a pregnant woman loses an arm. The personal drama is just as intense with George is starting his internship from the very beginning. And who just happens to be in his group? Why it’s Lexie Grey, Meredith’s half-sister, whom she’s never met. This is the same Lexie who we saw trying to get some action from Derek at the end of last season. Awkward.

I love this show, but like many fans, last season made me mad. While it did have its good parts (anything with Addison and allowing Alex to develop more as a character), they were overshadowed by both the ridiculous plotlines and the off-screen drama.

I hate the Izzie/George storyline. It came out of nowhere and makes absolutely no sense. It’s insulting to the viewers who have become invested in these characters, not to mention the entire Denny/Izzie relationship from season two. Also, I cannot even express how entirely over the whole Meredith/Derek relationship I am. They are both horrible people who deserve each other and should go off in the woods and never be seen again. All I’m saying is that with the addition of Meredith’s sister, you could get Ellen Pompeo off the show and still have it be called Grey’s Anatomy.

Although, from the twenty seconds or so I’ve seen of the Lexie character, she seems to have inherited the mopey, “me, me, me, but what about my problems” gene that makes Meredith so unbearable. On her first day as an intern, she stops Meredith in the middle of a medical emergency to tell her that she’s her sister. Hope the patient doesn’t die from delayed medical treatment, Captain Self-Centered.

Grey’s Anatomy really fell off a great deal in the third season. I’m excited about it coming back, but they have a lot of work to do in order to undo all of the damage that they did last year. The firing of Isaiah Washington left a hole in the cast that could end up being a creative blessing by getting some new relationship configurations thrown into the mix. That coupled with the fact that Shonda Rhimes pretty much admitted that Grey’s went off the rails makes me cautiously optimistic for a triumphant return.

Be sure to check out the Season 4 promo below. Additional previews can be seen on the ABC website.