Let's talk about GREY'S in this post. I have been meaning to do that for quite a while. I hear GA fans frequently say that the show was excellent for the first three seasons and then it went off the rails. They are right and wrong. Keeping George an intern was right because it was another connection for Meredith's sister, Lexie. Giving all of the new residents interns was WRONG. 1st year residents have no business training interns. Plus, it was way too many new people for the show to track. Bailey should have had George, Lexie, and two other interns who would have become major characters on the show. When she and Callie switched jobs that would have just gotten more interesting because she and George have divorce issues.
All of those new people were too much diversion. The cast member that ultimately suffered the most for it was George. That suffering became obvious in Season 5. However, it likely would not have happened had there been two more interns that became major players instead of a horde of new people distracting the focus from everyone. The other problem that the show had a really hard time overcoming was replacing Burke. Not sure what was up with that, but Seattle Grace had a really tough time finding a head of cardio thoracic surgery. WTF??? Dr. Hahn pulled a Houdini. Now you see her, now you don't. There never was any explanation. And no one ever replaced Addison when she left. She built the best neo-natal unit on the West Coast and then Richard just let it die.... You find the next best neo-natal surgeon and lure them to your hospital. Don't ya? In my opinion, that is who Arizona Robins should be -Addison's replacement. Don't give me another doctor from a totally new department. Replace the doctor that left.
I think T.R. Knight (George) would still be on the show if they had given him any kind of storyline. They didn't. He left. All because of too many interns in Season 4. Huge mistake. One would think that Shonda Rimes would have learned from that mistake. She did not learn from that mistake.
I get the idea of having a large cast so that your cast members can leave to do movies, etc. You are giving them freedom. Excellent. That means bringing in more people. I am down with that. Talented actors and actresses with layered backgrounds. Good stuff. Kim Raver. Kevin McKidd. Two excellent choices. Finally there is someone to head up cardio thoracics and someone to handle the ER.
The dumbass decision was to merge Mercy West and Seattle Grace. Once again, we are over-run with a bunch of residents and interns that we do not know and do not care about. It is another case of too many people. Our favorites are getting pushed onto the backburner for a bunch of people that we don't give a tinker's damn about. Haven't we done this already? Yes. How well did it go the first time? Not well. George died. Then Izzie left. Oh no. This is giving me a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Apparently, it occurred to Shonda that she was covering old ground, too, and this was a problem that needed solving. What will we do? I know. Let's bring in a crazy man with a gun to shoot off all of the extraneous people from Mercy West. He can maim some of our favorites, traumatize some of the others, and we will have a gameplan to start next season off with a *bang* so to speak. And that is just how last season ended and this season began. We now have TWO Mercy West people (I do believe that was my suggestion for Season 4 - 2 new people) and one very traumatized Christina. Some of our other faves are also experiencing PTSD, but they are rolling that out slowly. I loved Alex taking the stairs everywhere. He is seriously one of the best characters on the show.
Grey's does so many things well. It makes us care about the interpersonal relationships between the people. We care about the patients. I like the way that the problems of the patients often highlight the problems of the doctors in a bizarre way. The way that this show has fallen down twice now is by bringing on too many new people at once, to the detriment of the existing characters. I am not sure that the show can survive a third lesson in this department. So, Shonda, just don't do it again! That's all there is to it. Never more than two new people at once! Make it a rule. That said, I have high hopes for this season. I have already seen Christina Yang not want in on a surgery. That is something I thought I would never see. So, truly anything could happen!
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