Oh, Grey's...Really?

So...I have a confession about Grey's Anatomy. It frequently makes me cry.

It's made me cry during deaths of random patients, moments of relationship strength and weakness. It's made me cry when I see how loyal those friends are to one another. It's made me cry when a character's parent dies. It's made me cry when a random bomb-squad member becomes 'pink mist'. It's made me cry when the interns lay beneath the glowing lights of a Christmas tree and looked up at them.

I have another confession. Tonight...I didn't cry.

I KNOW! I was supposed to cry. I was supposed to weep when we realized that John Doe who'd darted in front of a bus and was an anonymous hero was revealed to be....George O'Malley. I was supposed to cry when he died at the end. I know this. I WANTED to cry but, in the spirit of honesty, I was so annoyed that his death was so contrived, I just wanted to turn off the TV. Seriously. SERIOUSLY!

This is it? This is the end for George? George O'Malley? The same "Heart in the Elevator" guy? The same George who was everyone's pillar of strength? The same George who we loved because despite his great bedside manner, was still always learning? The very same George who managed to get Bailey to deliver her baby in the midst of crisis and trauma?

I'm annoyed. Not sad. Poor George. We didn't even get to mourn him until the last few seconds. We were supposed to be SO shocked that it was him that...that's it? He gets hit by a bus...AND DIES? REALLY SHONDA? REALLY?

Nope. Not going to cry for him. I can't. It's not right. We deserve more. HE deserves more. I think I'm supposed to be reeling now. I'm not. I'm furious. It was a cheap, cheap trick. Maybe others would have figured it out...I didn't. When I did figure it out...there was no overwhelming cloud of dread there was just...incredulation. Really? This was it? This was the way you're going to let T. R. Knight leave the show? You're not even going to let him have the heroic- if predictable- dignity of leaving to join the army? I hate to ask what T.R. did behind the scenes but, clearly, it wasn't anything forgiveable.

And then there was Izzie Stevens. I have to confess...I was furious when she came out of the surgery and seemed to be ok and then I became very content when she showed signs of brain damage. Given her odds, given all of the dramatic build-up, if she'd have come out of the surgery with no ill-effects, I would have thrown my remote at the TV and contemplated walking away.

Did she die? We don't know. That's the point, I suppose. We're supposed to wonder until next season. I think she died. Whether she stays dead...we're supposed to tune in in September to find out. At this point in time, I'm not truly sure I will.

To be fair, I've mentioned I'm a Lost fan. I watched that show's finale last night. It gave me a headache because it made me think but it also left me gasping and wanting to find Carlton and Damon, the creators, grab them by their throats (in a very pleasant way, of course) and say "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT????".

Tonight, on Grey's Anatomy, I didn't feel that way. I felt cheated. Mostly, until the last five minutes, I was bored. I was actually texting a friend who was also watching and she, too, conveyed her boredom. Then we found out it was George O'Malley who was John Doe. It got interesting. Then my brain caught up with the show and I realized what a contrived, cheap plot device that was and I was irritated. They did that on ER. YEARS AGO. Remember Dr. Gant? You probably don't. He was a patient that came in as a John Doe. No one knew who he was until they tried to call his pager. Then they realized. Now that? Was dramatic tension. This? Was a cheap plot device.

I've not been the strongest advocate of Grey's this season. I started out with a heart full of hope that it would pick up from the irritating George/Izzie pairing and move back to the good medical drama I'd loved once. It had some good moments. Mostly, it just made me feel like I was doing ABC a favour by watching each week. If you've read my previous blogs, you'll know I'm not an advocate for Dead Denny. He was on tonight. When I saw him, I actually stifled a scream of "NO! I THOUGHT HE WAS GONE!" I stifled my cry because I live in an apartment building and I didn't want my neighbours to think I was nuts. Just because I can hear them spanking one another through the floor doesn't mean I want them to hear me overracting to TV. Also, the spankee is the CEO of my company and even if it's ok for me to hear her having her sado-masochism adventures through the ceiling, it's not ok that she hears me shout at the TV. Yes, I know there's something wrong with that but...there you have it.

I was angry that Dead Denny was back...again. Yes, we KNOW Izzie had a tumour but...can't we just politely imagine her talking to Denny? Do we have to see him dressed in his beach linen whites, giving her the stupid moon face that says he loves her, even though she married Alex?

Obviously...I didn't enjoy the Grey's finale. Shonda Rhimes? Seriously- don't write another episode without rewatching season 1-3.5. You started out brilliantly. You progressed brilliantly. But, like so many before you, like so many Stephanie Meyer's, you're moving forward in a way that suggests you're writing for you and that you don't care that you've got an audience who feels invested in what happens.

Tonight, I felt robbed. I was actually CHEERING that Izzie died. Yes, I know...I've never been a big fan of hers to the point where I've been slightly cruel but even so...I wanted to be sad that she was (possibly) dead but...I wasn't. I was merely glad that the writers didn't give in completely to self-indulgence and let her have the miracle-recovery that they'd threatened in the last moments of the show. I just hope, on this, they follow through.

I know. This makes me seem heartless and cruel but...I have high expectations. If you engage me, I expect you to keep me engaged. Grey's Anatomy once more evoked Dead Denny. They didn't give George a dignified death but went for the cheap shock and awe value. All rules and expectations are off, as far as I'm concerned. Until this season, Grey's Anatomy was my Thursday night best friend, the reliable comfort for which I could pour myself a glass of wine and curl up in my pajamas. Now, as I feared, it's become that friend that I almost wish I'd never invited, the friend that comes in second to the notion of a warm bath, good book and glass of wine.

I have a few months to process this cheap finale. I may give it another shot but, honestly, I'm not sure at the moment. I miss my Thursday night friend in Grey's...it's become an obligation, not a treat. That's never a good sign. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a break-up but at least I have time to think about it. They killed George. I knew they would but...really...Grey's? Like that? You're really going for the "Titanic" ending where Izzie goes to join George? What, no little chorus of former patients who'd died under their care to greet them both at their death?

Of course we don't know they're dead. That's one of the reasons I'm so irked. They're going for the cliffhanger. But when George is that mangled, you KNOW he's dead because he'll never be our George again. Izzie on the other hand...well, she's still not above a miracle. Which means, yay, next season we'll have more Steven's Anatomy and when things get dull, they can bring back Denny which means the ugly, vicious pattern will be repeated.

Question is, do I want to be there to see that?

Dancing it Out with Grey's Anatomy

I haven't done a TV blog for a while. It's hard in the holiday season- mostly because shows are all in repeats and there's not much to complain about. One of these days, I'm going to do a House drinking game; I need to consult a friend on that but it's not exactly going to be hard. I watched a couple of House marathons over the break and, let me tell you, that show, back-to-back...is WAY boring and predictable.

Today though, I'm going to do a brief blog about Grey's Anatomy. When I started this blog, I didn't mean for it to turn into all Grey's, all the time. Except that's what it seems to be. That may be because despite it's flaws and terribly plot twists this season, it's still my favourite show. Grey's is my security blanket, my way to lose an hour, guilt-free, glass of wine in hand on a Thursday night. It's the perfect night for it: Close enough to the weekend that I can relax but still a workday so I'm still home.

Tonight, I have to say, I enjoyed the show. I still don't enjoy the fact that Denny's STILL around. I already posted about that though, a couple of times. I'm fed up with Jeffrey Dean Morgan now. I think the writer's might be too- he's been reduced to a wisecracking shadow- a blip on the radar of the show. I'm hoping that means he's on his way out, even if he takes Izzie with him. I liked him when he was a live character and I'm sure the writers have the best of intentions now but, honestly, I no longer care about him. I can't even go back to my DVD's and view him the same way- that's a bad thing to do to a formerly beloved character. Sorry, Shonda and co. but I now, officially, hate Denny.

I know there are people that think Denny shouldn't have died in the first place; I disagree with those people. His death was poignant. The "Chasing Cars" montage in which the interns gather around Izzie was one of the most powerful moments on the show. As a writer, I know that sometimes you have to kill a character to make their life mean something. That's what Denny used to be for me.

Moving on from Denny, I'm still bitterly disappointed that Meredith and Christina aren't speaking. I've mentioned that they were my favourite relationship on the show. I know that, in real life, friend's fight. Yet I think it's time someone gave a little. I can't stand to see them not speaking. Mostly, I can't stand to see Sadie being the voice of wisdom. Actually, I just can't stand Sadie.

Yet tonight did have some redeeming moments for the first time in a couple of weeks. I'm intrigued by Dr. Hunt's ability to summarize the world around him yet do little about it. He's astute but he's not doing much about those observations. He's proved he's a doer- our very first introduction to him had him stapling up his own injuries. So why can't he be the one to bash Meredith and Christina's heads together?

Yes...wishful thinking, I know. I will say that Derek redeemed himself tonight. I was a little confused by his coldness towards the death row inmate. Yet his explanation to Meredith was honest, short and to the point. I love the evolution of Meredith and Derek as a couple. They really have grown and it's a wonderful thing.

My favourite moment though was Derek's dancing. I'm a sucker for a bad dancing sequence. One of my favourite TV moments ever is the episode of Angel in season 1 in which Angel goes to a party, acts like a wallflower and imagines what would happen if he danced. It's pure comedy when you see how bad his dancing really is. I laugh aloud every time I see it.

Derek's dancing tonight was like that. But it was wonderful because he didn't care. He did it for Meredith because her usual 'dance it out' partner- Christina- wasn't there with her. It was the best moment on the show in months.

So I'm not giving up on Grey's. I can't. I thought that the break between the last episode in December and this new one would make me realize I didn't like the show anymore. It didn't. Instead, it made me realize that like a true friend, I have to give it a chance. I have to be willing to forgive. That's what I expect Meredith and Christina to do for one another so it's only fair I try the same outlook.

It doesn't mean I'm forgiving the Denny stuff but I'm trying. Don't let me down, Shonda and co. Please.

Private Practice: No more TiVo for you!

I find there's a slow progression to breaking up with a TV show. If you're a TV junkie like me, TV shows are a little like a good relationship. When it's good, it's good and when it's bad, it's like a beatrayal. I've broken up with a few long-term-relationship shows before. I was with ER for almost 8 years before the African episodes with Benton and Carter made me realize I was too bored and unfulfilled to keep watching it. I broke up with Lost once because it irritated me and made me angry. I gave it another chance after hearing so many people tell me how amazing the finale of Season 2 was. Right now, I'm back on with Lost- I hope it's a lasting relationship this time.

At the moment, I'm going through a breakup with Private Practice. I gave it two seasons. Mostly, I watched it because I liked Addison Montgomery, who'd brought a spark into the walls of Seattle Grace on Grey's Anatomy. I also watched it because I love Taye Diggs. He's nice to look at, his voice is like velvet and I find him dynamically interesting. Usually. The final icing on the cake was Paul Adelstein who I had LOVED as Agent Kellerman on Prison Break. Agent Kellerman was awesome. He would have worked really well with Jack Bauer. If Jack Bauer was slightly evil. I'm hoping that he comes back to Prison Break. It would add to the ludicrously fun silliness of the show.

I've been trying to have faith in Shonda Rhimes.Greys had me a little worried last year but I trusted and believed and it got better again. Lately, Grey's is frightening me with it's potential-shark-jumping silliness (Read my previous blog for my take on that). But I believed in Shonda. She'd given me one show that I devoured weekly, loving the soapy-steam of Seattle Grace. I followed her to Private Practice. It was slower than Grey's, the doctors more grown-up, the slightly-cliche California hippy-chic setting cleaner and less messy than Grey's.

The thing was it wasn't really the Addison I'd loved on Grey's. She lost a lot of her steel and fire, she whined. She'd always been a grown-up on Grey's, her skill, expertise and no-nonsense attitude making her into a great doctor who cared but not too much. She started mooning over a man immediately as soon as she left Seattle Grace. She didn't fit. Kate Walsh didn't fit. The private practice itself, Oceanside Wellness, was annoying and filled with characters who were supposed to be quirky but turned out to be irritating. Most of the time I found myself wondering exactly how Violet the psychiatrist managed to get a license to practice because she's crazier and more unbalanced than most of her patients. Paul Adelstein's character was formerly addicted to internet chat rooms where he set up dates with women because he was supposed to be pathetically lovelorn. He's the pediatrician. I don't know if I'd want my kid to see him.

The first season was somewhat entertaining if a little uneven. I didn't really like any of the doctors much but I wanted to be as addicted as I was to Grey's.

So I started watching the second season and, well, frankly, I'm bored. I'm so bored with the routine of sex-scenes-in-the-beginning, bickering in the middle, sappy at the end. I hate the doctors, even Addison at times. I don't care about them. I've given it five episodes now and I'm done. The show is boring. Nothing happens. I don't care about any of those people. In fact, part of me sort of wants an earthquake episode in which Oceanside Wellness gets swept into the murky grey of the Pacific Ocean. They're terrible doctors. They come and go as they please. They have sex a lot. I have no problem with sex but I at least want to care about the characters so I'm happy for them. I like Addison's boyfriend, not as a character but because he's played by David Sutcliffe who was Christopher from Gilmore Girls.

At this point, I feel as though should be pointing out tips for improving it, finding ways to make it more enjoyable. But I can't. It's the type of TV viewing situation in which it's better to just put it out of it's misery. However, I would like to propose the following:

• Paul Adelstein goes back to Prison Break and has a spin off with William Fichner as "Mahone and Kellerman: Agents of Doom" (or something to that effect).


• Addison goes back to Seattle Grace, exorcises Denny and gets rid of all the new interns except Lexi. She sits Lexi down, lectures her on how pathetic and whiny she is and how she needs to grow a backbone. Lexi, in turn, gives Meredith a few pointers and the two sisters actually get along as well as co-existing. She also develops a specialty in Cardiothorasics so we can stop having heart surgeons who leave or have Aspergers.


• Taye Diggs and David Sutcliffe should get a new script that is funny and suits them both. They should invite Jeffrey Dean Morgan to join them. As a living character. Who does not die. And then comes back again. Several times.


• Chris Lowell should go back to Veronica Mars. Which would mean reviving the show. Which would be fantastic.

Everyone else can find their own projects. I like Audra McDonald so I'd be ok with her going elsewhere. Amy Brenneman has never been my favourite and Tim Daly is too smarmy for my tastes, no matter what role he's in.

But in the immediate future, it's time for me to break up with the show. I find that if you record a show and then make excuses for not watching it, it's time to face reality and give it up. That's how I feel about Private Practice. Maybe if Shonda lets it go with whatever dignity it can gather (though it's low on that in the first place), she can turn her attention back to Grey's and stop the gathering storm of mystical silliness that is gathering there. What I don't get is that this show gets to stay on the air and Pushing Daisies is in jeopardy. There's something not quite right about that.

But then, if TV executives listend to the fans, we'd have a lot more good TV and a lot less crap. And we can't have that now, can we?

[Ghost] Whispery Worries about Grey's Anatomy

Last week, I was a little hard on Izzie Stephens. It doesn't change the fact that I find her to be an annoying character and that Katherine Heigl just isn't my favourite actress but I was hard on her.

This week, I'm going to be a little hard on Grey's Anatomy. Call it tough love. To be fair, I usually read the recaps on Entertainment Weekly's TV watch as well as the Grey Matter blog by the writers of each episode. I haven't done that yet and so my opinion is based purely on what I'm seeing on the show, rather on where they're trying to take it.

The thing with Grey's is that it's always been one of those shows that never quite stayed on the line of reality and often ventured into rather silly territory yet because of the writing and the acting, I never minded. I know it has a lot of soap-opera moments. I know that no hospital would really permit residents and interns to go at it like rabbits in the on-call room. I know that most hospitals have a lot more doctors and that their love lives are not nearly as interesting as those on Grey's.

But some of my favourite episodes have been the ones that have been a little unrealistic but still excellently done. The End of the World...As We Know It are two of the best episodes of TV ever. The bomb, the tension, the drumbeats...all executed brilliantly.

Ok, so last year with the ferry boat crash and Meredith's dying-and-seeing-ghosts worried me a little but I trusted Shonda Rhimes and her staff to bring it back to reality and, to be fair, they did. The show came back down to earth and though there were still some not-so-great-storylines, they weren't enough to worry me.

Until now. Last night's episode has me worried. Izzie's seeing Denny again. I won't go into a tirade of why they can't just let Denny be gone. I liked him as a character but I'd actually much rather see Kyle Chandler as a ghost because I liked his snarky-yet-sensible attitude a lot. But then that wouldn't mean that Kyle Chandler had time to make Grey's episodes which would mean Friday Night Lights wasn't in production...which would be a very, very bad thing. Friday Night Lights is fantastic TV, worth all of the praise that's heaped on it. If you haven't watch it, run out and rent it. Now. It's that good.

But Denny's not gone. He's back. He's a ghost. I don't like that because Grey's while a little far-fetched, has never gone into that weird ghost-whispery territory aside from the Ferry Faux Pas episodes. Now it's going there. I don't know if it means Izzie has a brain tumour that's giving her visions, he's really there or she's going nuts but I don't like that Denny is walking the walls of Seattle Grace again because it just doesn't fit the show. I also don't want some contrived plot line in which we discover Denny isn't dead. But since no one else seems to see Denny, I don't think that's likely. Worst of all would be if Shonda was trying to go for a 'it's really happening because sometimes magical things happen' because that isn't the Grey's we love either.

The show is about our motley crew of residents, flawed and imperfect and yet still fun and interesting to watch. The show is about the relationships of those people. It's not a show about ghosts. I haven't bothered to read the spoilers about future episodes but I'm sure there's a reason Izzie is seeing Denny. And it's going to bother no matter what it is because I already don't like Izzie. She always gets the silly story lines. That's not her fault but she never reacts well to them and I end up not liking her. Don't give me another reason to not like her. Let's just let her concentrate on being a decent doctor. She's definitely not that at the moment. She's too busy crying all over her patients to actually practice medicine.

And then there's the interns. I get that they're not getting the hands-on experience they want. But what I don't get is that no one has done anything realistic about it. Lexi and her band of newbie doctors are angry and upset that Christina and their residents aren't letting them do anything, aren't teaching them anything. So instead of the sensible route, perhaps going to Bailey, the beacon of all things Reasonable and Sensible at Seattle Grace and telling her that they really want to learn but their residents are being selfish bastards, they decide to cut themselves and give themselves I.V.'s.

Ok, so there's always been a lack of common sense at Seattle Grace Hospital. I get that. I get that's why it always takes characters so long to find out things that we, the viewers, know. Like George and Meredith, George and Izzie, Meredith and Derek. Like why Mark Sloan doesn't lock the door while having sex with Callie. Things like that.

But I don't like to throw that common sense out of the window completely and that's what I'm having to do. Next week, they supposedly take out an intern's appendix because he doesn't need it. In the classic words of Grey's Anatomy, Seriously? Seriously? Why. Doesn't. Anyone. Just. Tell. The. Truth.

I get it. It wouldn't make for good TV if those interns just confessed their frustration and, perhaps, got the residents into trouble. I get that they're terrified of Dr. Yang but they are mutiliating themselves. Last week, Lexi stole corpses so they could practice medicine. The residents, Alex, Izzie and Christina stole them from the interns so they could hone their skills. Bailey found the residents and yet Lexi didn't speak up. She didn't say WHY they wanted to use the corpses.

I know there's drama and then I know there's TV drama. But there's also the phenomenom of jumping the shark in TV drama. And while I was willing to be patient last year, it was because I had no reason to not trust Grey's to get back on track. This season it was on track and suddenly, it looks as though the train that is Grey's Anatomy is about to jump the track and find a new way to move. The trouble is that the track keeps things going and without it, there's a crash in store.

The last straw is Sadie, "Die" to Meredith's "Death". I hate her. I know she's supposed to give us information about Meredith's past. I know she's supposed to be a plot device to show us another more jealous side of Christina. I know she's supposed to shake things up. But she's like an anvil. She walks in, so cool, so irritating and so extraneously. She's a wild one. We get it. The scene in which she slices her own back was ridiculous. Ok, so she's a tough cookie but we have one of those. Our new Dr. Hunt already stapled his own leg, he's enough of a tough-guy for the show. We don't need a tough chick. I think dark and twisty is fine enough. Let's learn more about the characters we have without introducing even more plot-devices, uh, I mean characters. Please, Oh Great Writers of Grey's, please. Reign it in now. Please don't fall for the mistaken belief that you can bring in even more viewers by 'taking it up a notch.' Remember us loyal and faithful viewers who love the show as it is.

I want to be wrong. Oh, how I want to be wrong. But as soon as Izzie reached out and touched Denny and then kissed him, I felt a strange, gnawing dread grow within me. I've felt it before and it's never good. It usually leads to Entertainment Weekly covers in which they say things like "What Happened to [This Show]" and "Can [This Show] be saved. I know I have to intrinsicly trust Shonda and her gang and that's what I'd like to do.

It's just this isn't Ghost Whisperer and it's not a J.J. Abrams show. I don't want any more Denny no matter how likeable he is. He's gone. Let him be gone. Please, show, don't jump the shark. Let my suddenly wavering trust in the show be wrong.

I really hope I'm wrong.