Why You Should Watch Grey's Anatomy

You know those annoying types of people who, when you ask them, "you know that such-and-such commercial?" Or, "Have you seen that show such-and-such?"

And they respond, "No. I don't watch much TV." Or, "I wish I had that kind of time to watch TV!" Like they are running the country from their living rooms? Well I am among those types.

I find television to be indulgent, like eating two big slices of triple chocolate cake. Normally, I stay away from it as I find it to be incredibly distracting outside of the news and America's Most Wanted. However, within the last six to eight months, I found my favorite television indulgence located at the fictitious Seattle Grace Hospital on the Emmy award winning Grey's Anatomy.

"Whoever said winning wasn't everything…never held a scalpel."

Like many shows people become absorbed in, I stumbled upon it by accident. Home, one late Sunday night, I finished up work I was doing on one of my many projects, wanting to just relax a bit, I began mindlessly flipping through channels until something caught my attention. I stopped at a show I saw maybe 45 seconds of before (my patience is extremely short when it comes to film and television). This time, though, I immediately noticed how culturally integrated the cast was.

Honestly, I was in awe that the hospital's director, Dr. Richard Webber (played by James Pickens Jr.); and head neurosurgeon, Dr. Preston Burke (played by Isaiah Washington), are both African American. As I became engrossed in the show I noticed that the most competitive and quirky hospital intern is an Asian woman, Dr. Christina Yang (played by Sandra Oh). The lead character, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), from which the show is named and whose voice we hear narrating the story, is a Caucasian woman. Later on, we meet Dr. Callie Torres, a Hispanic doctor whom I, at first, couldn't make up mind whether I liked or not. I like her.

Although it is what first snagged my attention, it is far more than cultural diversity that keeps me watching every week. The characters are so well developed and engaging that the show, for me, has become equivalent to a phone call from a friend.

You just can't help but find the no nonsense, Dr. Miranda Bailey (played by Chandra Wilson) both funny and endearing. Even my own mother says emphatically, "I like her. She's like, 'You guys are being silly, and we're in a hospital saving lives! This is serious business!'"

Dr. Bailey is not just the hard nose doctor supervising the developing interns but has compassion for both the hospital staff and her patience that helps you to understand her better as a complete woman rather than a caricature.

For example, Dr. Bailey exposes her loving human beating heart as she desperately tries to console a sick man in quarantine through a small glass window after she has to break the news to him that his wife just past away.

Looking at the interns themselves, you notice that they are close like family - maybe even closer, as each grapple with their individual crises, knowing or soon realizing that they have the support of each other. These characters are quite unlike any other hospital characters I've ever known.

"…So all of a sudden I am the president of people with crappy lives?"

The Meredith Grey character is one of the most relatable women on television. In one scene she displays to you her charming awkwardness, like her silent tension and avoidance in an elevator with the attending doctor she is love with, Dr. Derek Shepherd referred to as McDreamy (played by Patrick Dempsey) - who is McMarried. In another scene she gracefully attempts to comfort a patient, also a doctor, who accidentally took the life of a pregnant woman in a car accident.

You get angry with Meredith for making dumb decisions when it comes to matters of her heart, but you just can't stay that way with her. Looking at how life really is, Meredith is just a reflection of the rest of us, doing some of the wrong things because of love and destructive things trying to heal. You eventually recognize that you, in essence, are no different than she is.

Everyone would benefit to have friends like these interns. Sure, they get mad at each other just as real friends do - George O'Malley (played by T.R. Knight) with Meredith for bruising his ego with rejection and Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (played by Katherine Heigl) with George for not being open with his personal life as a friend. In the end, they always have each others backs and support each other even when one has done terribly wrong.

Grey's Anatomy neutralizes the testosterone of medical television drama. If you stand the show against another medical television drama like House (another very well written and intriguing show, but the way), the feel is completely different as Grey's deals with the heart, life and emotion, House deals with ego, life and philosophy. Both Grey's and House seem to be competing to fill the void that the award winning show ER left.

Thanks to the talented, long under estimated female African American creator, producer, and writer, Shonda Rhimes, Grey's Anatomy is the pancakes eggs and sausage of night time television drama. It satisfies you with some protein for a helpful healing element, but also supplies you with some sugar to help you feel good. I may not be a big television watcher, but I've penciled this new season into my Thursday night schedule, finding myself choked up in almost every episode. And I feel good about that.

Grey's Anatomy
Third Season
New Day - Thursdays
New Time - 9/8c