Grey's Anatomy Season 6: March of the guest stars

In list form again, because I'm too lazy for sentences.

1. Hey! Those people from Mercy West look awfully familiar... oh look, that's Lainie, Colin's sister from Everwood. And hey - there's Hannah from Everwood! And Liz Danes is in this episode too. It's like I'm reliving the days of The WB via Shonda Rhimes. When is Keri Russell guest starring?
2. Really, can't they think of something better for Callie and Arizona to do? I can think of a few things. I mean, can't we ever have some lesbians on network TV whose entire storyline isn't about them being lesbians? I've never liked Arizona because I've always felt like she has 3 personality traits: a) she's blonde, b) she's a lesbian, and c) she has a weird name. This episode did not help with that. Also, the coming out to Dad thing? NOBODY CARES. It's been done on every TV show ever. Callie has so many issues in relationships, there are so many other things they could do with this. Like, we could start with the fact that she's gone ahead and fallen in love with someone who has no personality.
3. I know Izzie is not a popular character, but the entire time I've been watching this show, I've really been rooting for Izzie and Alex to make it. Please don't break them up again.
4. Speaking of which, how many times have they fired Izzie already? And now she's going to miraculously come back after Heigl is done with her maternity leave, or filming her movie, or whatever it is she's doing? Yeah, cause that's not obvious.
5. I heart Sarah Drew.
6. I really can't deal with Callie's tranny makeup anymore. She's a dyke, not a drag queen, people.
7. Sorry to be back on this topic again, but as if Callie being a doormat wasn't already annoying, now she has no personality either outside of "I'm a lesbian." I mean, didn't she just lose her job, get a new one, and then get a new one again? How come we barely saw that?
8. Meredith and Cristina were true to form tonight, and I totally love the two of them together. I'm really digging Meredith now that she's not obsessing over Derek anymore.
9. We barely saw Derek this episode! What a nice change of pace.
10. I have nothing else to say on this matter, but I needed a number 10. Hmmm... is saying "I still miss Erica Hahn" just annoying at this point? What, at least she and Callie actually got to have sex.

Grey's Anatomy, Season 6. Yawn.

OK, no beating around the bush here. Here are my thoughts on last night's 2 hour season premiere of my beloved show, in list format. That's right. The show was so boring, and I'm still so deafened by Heigl's scenery chomping, that I can't even be bothered to write in complete paragraphs.

1. I'm so sick of this "Ohh, isn't it ironic when the doctor becomes the patient" bullshit. Enough already. Izzie as a cancer patient is worse than a Tori Spelling Lifetime movie. I just don't care.
2. Hasn't ER done enough with melodramatically killing off its doctors? Brain tumor on a beach, crushed by a helicopter, died saving people in a fire, stabbed in the ER, blown up in Iraq... thrown in front of a bus. Oh wait, wrong show. It's so easy to get confused these days.
3. Really? George was hit by a bus? Right before he joined the army? Come on. And nice use of the passage of time, by the way, so that by the second episode, we can pretend like George never existed. And is checking his freckles and such really the only they have to ID him?
4. RIP, George O'Malley. May you live on in TV heaven among the likes of Mark Greene, Dana Fairbanks, and oh, those are the only ones I can come up with right now, but every other TV character who died before their time.
5. Bad acting. Just plain bad acting, across the board. Poor Justin Chambers did the best he could to keep up with Heigl's scenery chomping, but he was helpless.
6. Note to network drama writers: please don't use curse words when you know you're not allowed to use them. "Freakin'" is really not a word people actually use, unless they're in one of those sitcoms with a token African American character or something. You're writers! Find another word that's more powerful, so that I don't have to listen to Katherine Heigl say "freakin" like a freakin white girl every two seconds.
7. How pregnant was Ellen Pompeo? Sheesh.
8. I'm really confused by the living arrangements on this show now. Does Arizona live with Callie now? Didn't Mark already have an apartment? What happened to the apartment Lexie shared with George? Are Izzie and Alex really going to live in the trailer?
9. OK, OK, I'll talk about actual content. Sorry, I don't remember there being any.
10. All that said, I will continue to watch this show. Because once upon a time, I got attached to these characters, and I want to know what happens to them, for better or worse. I still think Meredith Grey would be excellent as my doctor, and Alex is my broody boyfriend. I would never date Callie, but I wouldn't mind having a drink with her. Don't let her anywhere near me if I'm in the hospital, though. She, and especially her drag queen makeup, would make me cry.
10.5. I know I live in the past, but I still miss Erica Hahn. And Addison.

“I loved you once…”

I know that judging from that one line, one would be tempted to write this week's Grey's Anatomy off as just another of their ill-conceived feats of soap operatic melodrama. However, despite the fact that Izzie has a fatal disease of the "woe is me" variety, which makes her hallucinate sex with her long-dead fiancé; and despite the fact that George never has any lines; and despite the fact that Callie's new love interest is neither loving nor interesting… this episode was actually quite moving. Just in time for the end of sweeps, Grey's was almost back to true form tonight, and this episode served as the payoff for many, many storylines that seemed to be going nowhere this season. The dialogue was (mostly) sharp (we'll get back to that line in the title later), everybody acted in character, and I actually cared about what happened to the gang again.

The best part of this episode was the way that, as contrived as it was, Izzie's debilitating disease served as a jumping off point for emotional explorations and breakthroughs for everybody except Izzie. How ironic and awesome that after all of Katharine Heigl's alleged complaining about not being given juicy material, she finally got some – but it only served to showcase the talents of her frequently underused costars. Izzie's impending brain surgery forced Derek to face his demons and put his medical career back on track, not to mention his long-awaited proposal to Meredith, in the only way befitting of this couple: in the elevator, surrounded by brain scan images. For once, Grey's it couple were able to get past all the phony smarminess disguised as charm, and in result they were, well, charming. It also inspired some much needed soul searching from Callie, who apologized to the universe for wishing Izzie dead.

Perhaps the most moving performances came from Izzie's friends, the original ensemble of this show, which is exactly the way it should be. Meredith, Cristina, George and Alex were all too afraid to go visit Izzie before her surgery, each with their own neurotic hang-ups. This led to some awesome motherly bonding between Izzie and Bailey, reminding the audience who the true adults are at Seattle Grace. Most importantly though, Izzie's condition led to the Karev breakdown we've all been holding our breath for, and fittingly, it was Alex who also provided the weekly "introspective" voice over in this episode.

When the Chief suggested that Karev donate his sperm in order to fertilize Izzie's harvested eggs, we began to see him unravel. After many awkward conversations and fun plays on words with the Chief, it was Meredith who finally got Alex to talk. I've always appreciated the relationship between Meredith and Alex, even though it's usually developed in hardly noticeable subtext. They seem to have an unspoken understanding about the fact that they're both so messed up that they are unwitting kindred spirits. Alex began to break down, tears forming in his eyes, and he uttered one of the best lines of the episode (I'm paraphrasing, because I don't have the advantage of Tivo this week): "She said she was seeing ghosts… I'm so used to all the freaky chicks I date, I didn't even think about it. And I'm a doctor." It was a rare moment of vulnerability for Alex, an inspired performance from Justin Chambers, and a great combination of humor and sadness from the writers. Better yet, the entire incident paid off wonderfully at the end of the episode when Alex finally got over his fear and got into bed with a recovering Izzie, and in true Alex form, said, "I spooged into a cup for you today," to which she replied, "Thanks?"

Meanwhile, over in subplot land, Owen's PTSD finally hit a breaking point for Cristina, when she awoke to Owen's hands around her neck during one of his nightmares. Callie called Meredith in shrieking terror, who dutifully came over and locked herself in the bathroom with Cristina. Imagine Meredith's horror when Cristina let Owen in to the bathroom fortress, and instead of breaking up with him, gave him a hug. Another powerful scene in this episode came when Meredith and Callie spotted Owen approaching Cristina from down the hall, and both of them jumped in front of her as a human shield. We already know that Meredith is Cristina's person, but it's moments like this that shed light on friendships like the one between Callie and Cristina – we know it's there, but thanks to the writers' sly layering, we're not really sure how it happened. Despite the warnings from both Meredith and Callie, Cristina tried her hardest to stay with Owen, until she too hit her breaking point, when she was too afraid to fall asleep with him next to her. And in another serendipitous Grey's moment, Meredith got engaged at the exact same moment as Cristina ended a relationship.

Despite all of the great moments in this episode, the show does still have some ground to cover before it's completely back on track. There were definitely some moments still reminiscent of the mid-season slump this show seemed to have gone through. I loved the fact that Izzie's near death experience provided some closure for Callie and George, but when their conversation devolved into Callie saying things like, "I loved you once…" I started to cringe. I know that was only a small part of a much larger scene, but it's catch phrases like that, the ones that sound like Celine Dion song titles, which make me tune out and wonder what the heck happened to people like Erica Hahn. Speaking of which, how can the writers/network execs/whomever claim that Erica had to go because she was boring, and then replace her with this other chick whose name I can't even remember that's how boring she is. I get that Callie's relationship with Arizona (really, with that name?) is kind of doing that slow burn in the background thing (as is typical/necessary for most TV lesbians), but the scenes with the two of them dancing in the living room and waxing philosophical in the hospital chapel just did not ring true for me. From the little that we know about Arizona, it seems as though she's meant to be the complete opposite of Erica, personality-wise. Yet Callie seems to have exactly the same type of relationship with her. It's frustrating that in a season which started out with Callie exploring the, um, ins and outs of her feelings towards women, what we're left with at the end of it is that she apparently likes blondes. This show has gone through so many extra characters and guest stars this season, without finding ones that stick, that it just adds to the feeling that the stories are going nowhere. (What was the deal with the bitchy oncologist taking care of Izzie, anyway?)

I would expect nothing less than over-the-top from Shonda and co. to cap off the season, but let's hope that the remaining episodes stay within the realm of "quotable", and don't devolve back into "forgettable" again.

In other medical show news, tonight's episode of ER was completely useless. Why waste that hour when you only have 3 left? This show baffles me. I also still don't understand how Ray is walking, since, to the best of my recollection, the last time we saw him, he had no legs.

And yes, I am capable of watching and writing about TV on days other than Thursday. Stay tuned.

On "Grey's Anatomy" and its disappearing characters

According to Michael Ausiello in his EW column, Katherine Heigl and TR Knight are both trying to get out of their contracts at the end of the season.

This made me think about what has gone wrong over there at Grey's, and this is what I've come up with: stop rotating around the cast members! In it's inception, Grey's was an ensemble drama, and without a doubt, the best part (and the entire point) of the first season was the friendship between the five interns. Addison was a welcome addition, and Callie provided a semi interesting foil for George. Otherwise... stop adding cast members! Once they messed with that ensemble is when the show really started to go downhill and veer off its course. And now, two of the original cast members are so disappointed with the fact that they're being ignored, that they want to quit.

Perhaps the solution to their problem of original cast members leaving and new ones not lasting is that they need to stop trying to add new ones, especially "quirky" ones. Give the show back its heart, and then you can give the characters love interests, if you must.

Bye, network TV lesbians... we'll miss you!

Here's an article from the LA Times which sums up perfectly how I feel about this week's episode of Grey's Anatomy:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-greys8-2008nov08,0,2268544.story

It's so disheartening that on the very same day that California voted to ban gay marriage, a sympathetic, beautiful, and interesting lesbian character was inexplicable written off of a highly rated, beloved network TV show. I'm worried about where our culture is going in terms of pop culture visibility for gays and lesbians, and whether or not we're again going to see the kind of ad-pulling and backlash that happened when Ellen came out.

As the writer of this article says, it seems as though "Will & Grace" had ushered in a new era for television sitcoms and dramas, perhaps opening doors to a television world where gay people actually exist. And though that worked for a while, it only worked in one episode doses, and what we were left with was pay-cable soaps like "Queer as Folk" and "The L Word." I'll venture to say that isn't enough, especially since my idea of a quality television drama doesn't usually involve soft-core porn.

As more and more interviews with Smith herself as well as the producers of the show come in, it seems increasingly clear that this decisions really did come from ABC, and not Rhimes. I was hoping that we'd find out (not that it's really our business, but hey, what the hell) that Smith was indeed fired for forgetting her lines or something, because at least that would give me some hope for the future of TV lesbians, and for the future of Callie on my beloved show.

Rhimes' statement that they still have Callie as the resident lesbian on the show doesn't help, because if ABC won't let them show a realistic sexual relationships between two women, then Callie will just become even more sad than she already is. In further discouraging news, "Ugly Betty"'s resident tranny is gone due to Rebecca Romijn's pregnancy (which isn't really ABC's doing, but we'll see if she comes back), and they also aired an episode of "Brothers and Sisters" with a Prop 8 storyline a week AFTER election day.

I've loved Grey's since the beginning, because I love these characters. I grasped onto it even more this season, because Callie and Erica's relationship not only revived a flailing show, but it also introduced a fun new character, and provided something new for me to relate to. Perhaps Erica wasn't the most popular new character, but for me, she was a refreshing addition to the show, and it was made all the better when she became the woman to bring some honesty to her relationship with Callie.

I'll keep watching Grey's Anatomy, because once I'm loyal to a show, I don't give up so easily. I loved the show before they had lesbian characters, and I will love it after - it doesn't make or break the show, in all honesty. But I may just be a little sadder every time I see Callie the lonely, confused, newly out bisexual.

"Grey's Anatomy" is back... with lesbians!

It seems as though Ms. Rhimes and her cohorts have finally run out of combinations of people who can sleep together on "Grey's Anatomy", leaving themselves with no choice but to resort to – gasp – lesbianism! For those of you out of the loop, or even those of you who prefer to watch Tina Fey over Patrick Dempsey on Thursday nights, I’ll fill you in. It seems our girl Callie, who is recently divorced from George (after he cheated on her with Izzie), has unwittingly fallen for her new colleague – heart surgeon extraordinaire and Cristina’s alias nemesis, Erica Hahn. The two have been seen gal-paling around the hospital, sharing drinks at Joe’s, and polishing off intimate bottles of wine in Cristina's living room. The catch is Callie doesn’t seem to know she’s fallen for Erica, and doesn’t want to know. Addison, in all of her special guest star wisdom, points this out to us by asking Callie about Hahn, which causes her to collapse in a fit of giggles and to continually stammer the word “penis.” Later, Callie attempts to further prove her heterosexuality by going home from Joe’s with Sloane, which unfailingly makes Erica jealous. You got all that? Good, now we can talk about it.

Undoubtedly, this episode will raise many questions among fans, critics, and many others who overanalyze television. If some of the forum posters on Television Without Pity are to be believed, Grey’s does indeed have a political agenda, and is using this storyline as a soapbox to preach about gay rights. Others on the forums are convinced that the writers are turning Hahn into a manipulative bitch, because she is seducing a woman who claims to be heterosexual. Critics for publications such as Entertainment Weekly are a bit disgruntled about the fact that Grey’s is following a trend started by many other TV shows and movies, by using “late on set lesbianism” as a “plot device.”

However, I’m going to go out on a limb here and presume that the crafty folks over in the Grey’s Anatomy writers’ room are doing none of the above. Grey’s has always included its share of gay, lesbian and transgendered characters, mostly in the form of patients at the hospital. It’s perfectly plausible that a character like Callie could find herself falling for a close friend like Erica – especially on a show where romantic entanglements are the name of the game. Remember, this is the same girl who rushed into a shotgun marriage with George, and then fought like hell to keep him around, even though she knew deep down that they weren’t right for each other. She even managed to completely mess up her job as chief resident in the process. She doesn’t strike me as someone who is completely sure what she wants in life OR love. As for Hahn, well, all we know about her is that she does heart surgeries and likes to torture Cristina.

It seems as though this storyline may be just what this show needs to get back to the top of its game. Let’s face it – recent plot developments, as well as all of the rotating cast members have rendered Grey’s downright lame in the past few months. Addison’s departure, the death of Meredith’s mother, Joe’s mysterious disappearance, and the addition of Meredith’s boring sister have certainly not helped things. A new romance between two characters who have never tried to date before (as opposed to Derek and Meredith getting back together for the 47th time) is just what this show needs. It certainly helps, too, that Sara Ramirez and Brooke Smith have more chemistry in one scene together than Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo have had in four years of scenes together.


Besides all of the giggly, squee-worthiness of a developing lesbian relationship with good chemistry (and hot women), what is most remarkable about this storyline is how unremarkable it is – at least in its own fictional world. In the grand scheme of television, including a happy lesbian couple formed out of two regular, semi-lead characters on a prime time, network, top ten drama is HUGE. Sure, thanks to the legacy of Will & Grace, gay men are popping up in more places than ever before (at least, they are on ABC) - places like Brothers and Sisters, Ugly Betty, and Desperate Housewives. The only place we usually see lesbians are in the form of guest stars during sweeps, and on cable reality shows. However, in the fictional world of Seattle Grace, one more new romance, whatever form it’s going to take, is just a part of everyday life. Nobody even gave it a second thought when Joe introduced us to his boyfriend, and I suspect that if Callie and Erica become an item, the only person who will think it’s extraordinary is Callie herself – which is exactly the way it should be.

I can only hope that I’m right in my predictions, and that the writers actually are leading us to the climax (no pun intended) this developing story arc suggests. Hopefully, this time will be different from all of the other times network television has attempted to realistically portray lesbian characters, and they won’t drop this storyline once all of the sweeps dust settles. Despite my recent apathy towards this show, I’m once again putting my faith in Shonda and co., and I hope they come up with something great.