Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Too many bad doctors in the house

Today's in the paper I put a bunch of my recent "Grey's Anatomy" complaints into column form (albeit not marble column form, which I'm still working on):
IN THE FINAL scene of last week's "Grey's Anatomy," chief of surgery Robert Weber (James Pickens Jr.) visited a local bar, trying to rebuild his dating muscles after the end of his long marriage. Horrified to realize he was flirting with a college student, and embarrassed that he let smarmy Dr. McSteamy (Eric Dane) talk him into this plan, the chief was on the verge of bailing when Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) sat down next to him and suggested he ask her to dance. Told by the chief that the bar had no dance floor, she gave him an insouciant grin and said, "So? Ask me anyway," and the pair ended the episode sharing a funky, silly, completely charming two-step, surrounded by oblivious drinkers.

That was Kate Walsh's only real screen time last week, but in that minute-plus, she demonstrated why she was the right choice to be the star of the upcoming "Grey's" spin-off -- and why the original show is going to suffer badly with the loss of one of the few likable characters it has left.

The backdoor pilot for the spin-off, which will also feature Tim Daly, Taye Diggs and Amy Brenneman in its cast, airs next week. While I'm naturally skeptical of spin-offs, I hope this one is good, and that Addison can bring the chief, Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Karev (Justin Chambers) with her, so I no longer have any reason to watch "Grey's" proper.
To read the full thing, click here.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well said, Alan. The self-congratulatory tone of that writers' blog indicates they have no awareness of what they've done to a once enjoyable show. I stopped watching early this season, but I do plan to tune into the 2 hour spinoff episode. I like Addison, and I hope the spinoff captures what we liked about the original show in the first place.
-Katie V. (can't get Blogger to sign me in)

Anonymous said...

Amen! I have nothing else to add because you said it all.

Anonymous said...

Excellent article. At first I was confused because I didn't remember the Addison/Chief scene, but then I realized that my phone rang towards the end of the episode, I forgot to pause my DVR, and deleted the show later in the evening figuring I had finished it already. If that's not the perfect description of how I now feel about this show, I don't know one.

Anonymous said...

How is it that the producers of this show still think they are reinventing television or doing something which has not been done before?

Anonymous said...

If you think the Grey's blog is bad, try listening to the podcasts. You can tell the writer's are too in love with their show to have any objectivity towards their characters.

Anonymous said...

I just figured out how to describe the podcasts: it's like listening to fangirls squee about their favorite show. They don't sound like professional writers, more like 14-year-olds in love with McDreamy.

Anonymous said...

AMEN! Someone said it. Saying something bad about Greys is akin to saying something bad about the Bush administration. People look at you like youre crazy. The show is awful, annoying and juvenile and the writers blog is perhaps the craziest forum for self love I've ever seen. Shonda Rhimes talent is debatable but her fangril love for herself isn't.

Anonymous said...

100% on the money. I think the primary reason that many people keep watching this show is because they feel the need to belong to the tribe of Grey's Anatomy. I only see it because the girlfriend insists, but even she's coming around to my opinion.

The idiotic, plagiaristic and completely misleading "Meredith is going to die" arc is what lost me for good. Of course Alan, some of your TV-watching colleagues (Kristin Veitch most notably) were more than willing to over-hype that storyline on Sondra's behalf (it's like tv critic payola: hype my show now and I'll feed you scoops later).

Anonymous said...

and despite a couple of seasons' worth of evidence that neither thinks of the other in That Way, we're now being sold the idea that they're meant to be a couple,

I don't know, Alan, I've been watching Grey's for three years now, and I've said all along that George and Izzie were going to end up together.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Katie, I remember several occasions early on where George barely even seemed aware of Izzie's woman-hood, so obsessed was he with Meredith. Now we're being told that he just thought she was too far out of his league, but George is somebody who's pining is pretty hard to miss. If he was ever attracted to Izzie before they had their drunken sex night, they've never shown it.

Anonymous said...

Well I'm sure you could probably have predicted George and Izzie would end up together at some point. But that's only because the bed hopping on this show means that everyone will have slept with everyone else by the time it goes off the air.

I agree with Alan that this development is totally out of left field. Not only have we not seen any pining by George, but wasn't there an episode in a past season where Izzie went to brush her teeth while George was in the shower because she thought of him as one of the girls?

I also find the idea that George has become the hospital stud ridiculous. He's slept with Meredith, Callie, Izzie, and Nurse Olivia. Even manwhore McSteamy has slept with fewer of the hospital's women.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it is THAT George and Izzie ended up together that is so obnoxious. It is that they both behave so poorly about it under the circumstances, and the writers have amped it up so that we are supposed to WANT them to be together. Shonda and company obviously fancy their main characters as the cool kids and Callie and the supporting cast as hangers-on. That's the only way to believe that they are supposed to end up together.

Anonymous said...

Great article, Alan, and sadly, I have to agree. Once Addison leaves I will be hard-pressed to find a reason for watching Grey's. I want to see what happens with Alex and "Ava", but that's the only storyline I really care about right now.

Anonymous said...

This article really perfectly put into words everything that is wrong not only with this show, but also with the forces behind it.

I wish someone would email it to Shonda Rhimes.

Anonymous said...

Your column said everything I currently feel about Grey's. I hate the writers' blog about that show. It makes me nuts to think that the writers believe they are so fabulous. ...it means they won't try to solve anything.

Anonymous said...

Great article, unfortunately for the show you hit the nail on the head as the problem lies with Shonda and her inability to separate herself from the show and be able to look at the show objectively and properly manage it.

I urge you to check out the greys wrtiers blog thread on twop where quite an interesting argument is currently going on over your article.

Anonymous said...

question for every poster complaining how bad the show is, how bad the writers come across via blog & podcast: why are you spending 2 hours plus a week on BAD TV & bad TV production. As William Shatner said, GET A LIFE! In NY/NJ, it was 75 degrees the past few days so stop commenting on bad TV and meet a girl, smell the springtime and focus on good TV.

Anonymous said...

Karev has been the most consistent character of the whole show, and bar Addison, the most interesting to watch.
Grey's has jumped the shark.
And as much as we look forward to the spinoff ... its in the same hands.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for perfectly articulating my thoughts of late, regarding this show. What was once my fluffy guilty pleasure, has become almost a chore to watch. I'm glad Addison is leaving and like you, I wish she was taking Alex and poor Callie with her!