100 Episodes: Grey's Anatomy DVD Preview

Here is another preview from the Grey's Anatomy season 5 DVD.

This is an outtake from one of the special features on the DVD. Here the cast talks about the 100th episode:

The Cast Of 'Grey's' On The 100th Episode

Interview with Sandra and some of her other co-stars of Grey's Anatomy as they celebrate the 100th episode of the show.

Related links:

• How 'Grey's Anatomy' Reached Its 100th Episode
• 100 Episodes Of Grey's Anatomy

Source

How 'Grey's Anatomy' Reached Its 100th Episode

Those unfamiliar with ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" might be under the impression that it's a squishy hospital soap opera where wacky incidents are interspersed with necking in the locker room.

They might not be entirely wrong. But that's not the whole story, according to creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes. The show, which reaches its 100th episode today, was designed with a sharp scalpel edge to it.

"I loved the idea of a world in which competition wasn't just accepted, but fully expected of people," she says of the inception for "Grey's." "For me, it was about finding a world in which being cutthroat was rewarded."

In just four years, "Grey's," like Rhimes, has become a dominating force in TV. With ratings averaging in the 8s during the past five seasons among adults 18-49, the drama -- which focuses on a close-knit set of interns and doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital -- has become a zeitgeist phenomenon at a time when dwindling audiences and fragmented viewership have all but declared that impossible.

"Our show was really on the cusp of a lot of new global things, like how it's marketed, how it's distributed and how it reaches a global audience immediately," co-star Sandra Oh says.

Not that getting it off the ground was so easy.

Executive producers Betsy Beers and Mark Gordon had met Rhimes as an up-and-coming writer and helped her develop a pilot for a series about war correspondents. But in the early 2000s, that idea was an especially tough sell, so they started over.

"I was a serious medical junkie," Rhimes says. "I love to watch the surgeries on the Learning Channel."

The turning point, Beers says, was when Rhimes came up with the idea to use interns as a viewer entree to the jargon-heavy medical world. "If you took the point of view of people who also didn't know what was going on, that was the way to let the audience in on the process in an understandable fashion."

In the end, "Grey's" became not "a hospital drama, but a human drama," says Mike Benson, executive vp marketing for ABC.

But it was different from just any other new show -- medical or otherwise -- on TV. One reason was the emphasis on diversity in casting: Nearly every character was cast without a previously established ethnic description, in order to hire a wide range of potential players.

"There are plenty of times when I'm watching television and I think, 'Not one of these people looks like me,' and that's ridiculous in this day and age -- and honestly a little shameful," says Rhimes, one of Hollywood's few black showrunners. "It was important to have the cast reflect what I think the world looks like."

The rest of the world responded. The show got a strong lead-in from "Desperate Housewives" and immediately took off. Catch phrases like "McDreamy," and later "va-jay-jay," began peppering the national conversation, a ripple effect that proved TV shows could still have a wide reach.

ABC jumped on the marketing bandwagon, creating "Grey's"-branded product that included games for Wii, a book "written" by fictional character Dr. Sydney Heron ("Grey's Anatomy Guide to Healing With Love"), and three soundtracks. There were even greeting cards for Valentine's Day.

"Those elements have contributed significantly to the revenue of the franchise," Benson says.

That wasn't ABC's only response: Success with "Grey's" meant Rhimes earned the right to create a spinoff, and "Private Practice" premiered in 2007. She also is working on a pilot, "Inside the Box," which the Alphabet is considering.

"People who can deliver from whole cloth shows that have legs and life and success are few and far between," ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson says. "It's not surprising to me that she could do that.

" 'Grey's' has been one of the cornerstones of (the network's) turnaround," he adds.

The show hasn't been without its challenges. Original co-star Isaiah Washington was dropped after making an antigay slur and co-star Katherine Heigl has at times been vocal about her desire to leave the show to focus on her film career.

To questions about those issues, Oh simply says, "Go watch (the 1950 film) 'Rashomon.' It's been blown out of proportion, but it's about economics -- selling magazines, selling gossip."

While "Grey's" is the highest-rated scripted series this season among adults 18-49, its ratings dropped to 5.9/14 in the same demographic this season, a fall from a series' high of 8.9/21 during its second season. That has led some to suggest Rhimes has spread herself too thinly over all three projects.

"I think we went through those growing pains last year when she was frankly doing too much on both shows ('Grey's' and 'Private') and trying to put all the weight on her shoulders," McPherson says. "I think she's figured out a way to be a good manager, preserve her vision, be there hands-on when she needs to be, but allow herself to empower the right people."

Rhimes' vision continues to draw millions of viewers each week, which causes producers to take a long-term view of the show.

"The possibilities are endless," Beers says of the next seasons. "There's no end to the amazing surgeries and medical issues that occur in a hospital."

Perhaps most heartening for the long-term future of any show is when its creator can step back and let it fly, which is what Rhimes says she can do while focusing on "Private" and "Box."

" 'Grey's' is a very well-oiled machine at this point," Rhimes says. "There's an ease for us now. It's all about how to make the engine work."

Source

100 Episodes Of Grey's Anatomy

Katherine Heigl, Sandra Oh and the rest of Grey’s Anatomy share the excitement of their 100th episode, to be broadcast May 7, by sharing what it means to turn 100 and to approach another season finale.

"We’ve been talking about it for about a month now," Katherine Heigl says. "Every episode, we tick down -- 100’s almost here. It’s 98, 98-and-a-half! We’ve all been very prepared for our 100th.”

100 and season five finale

For Sandra Oh and others, working on Grey's Anatomy for the last 100 episodes has been rewarding, but taxing. The hit television show often requires 15-hour days – every day.

“We’re really excited. It’s funny: We got a memo and it said, ‘We’ve done 6,000 episodes! No, it’s really 100. It just feels like 6,000!' It’s a bit of both,” Oh says. “It feels like it’s gone by really, really quickly. And we’re very tired. In a way, that still makes us happy. One-hundred episodes is very much a milestone.” (click here for the soundbite)

Chandra Wilson appreciates the master work of creator Shonda Rhimes. “It’s hard to have a vision for 100 because it seems so unattainable. But, this season, knowing that number was coming, I started thinking about it. I know the rest of the cast started thinking about it. So, it was really nice to get here," Wilson says. "TV comes and goes so much now. As someone who likes TV, I like to be able to turn on certain nights and see my shows. It’s nice that we’ve been on this long because it’s a piece of TV consistency for the audience. We want to stick around and be a part of that."

Mom to Grey's mastermind

Creator Shonda Rhimes is proud of joining a select group of television programs who have broached the 100-episode mark. “It’s history. It feels really amazing to me that 115 other shows have done this, and we’re doing it. I’m a huge fan of television,” Rhimes says.

Even fewer series have scored successful spin-offs, as Rhimes has done with Private Practice.

“To feel I was somebody who went from sitting on my couch watching [TV] one day with my baby on my lap to somebody who’s writing for it is amazing," she says. "To get to 100 episodes is crazy.”

Ellen Pompeo believes much of the credit for the show’s success lays squarely on the shoulders of the Grey’s Anatomy nation of die-hard fanatics.

“It’s a testament to the fans and how loyal they are. We’re so grateful to them that they’ve stuck with us through 100 episodes. Because we all know, none of us would be here without the huge fan base that we have,” Pompeo says. “They’re the reason we’re here for 100 episodes.”

Here’s to 100 more.

Source

'Grey's' Cast Celebrates 100th Episode; Rhimes Remains Mum

LOS ANGELES — Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) will get their wedding day in Grey's Anatomy's 100th episode and a wedding will take place on the ABC drama. However, Shonda Rhimes, the famously tight-lipped creator and executive producer, won't reveal if it will be Meredith and Derek tying the knot.

Rhimes and her cast, writers and crew took a break from filming the episode to gather on Grey's Los Angeles set Friday to cut a cake celebrating the 100th, which will run May 7. She says she hadn't been focusing on the milestone, when "suddenly we were hitting 100, which feels kind of amazing and very fast." She says she thinks she could do 100 more.

"We're really excited, especially the way it's finishing the season, both creative and in the ratings," says Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment Group. "Some of the questions people had mid-season about storylines are being answered and people who perhaps haven't been as fond of what we were doing are actually coming around and understand what we had in mind."

Rhimes promises viewers will see Izzie (Katherine Heigl), who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive melanoma, fight for her life and Cristina (Sandra Oh) and Owen (Kevin McKidd), work on their intense relationship, which has been sidetracked by his post-traumatic stress disorder. Oh says viewers will see more of Cristina's sensitive side and Dempsey says Derek will have "some great resolve with Sloan (Eric Dane)."

As for rumors that Heigl and colleague T.R. Knight, who plays George, could be leaving the show, Rhimes says, "As far as I know, when we go out this season, everybody's still going to be around."

And Heigl, asked if she wanted to leave or would leave, says, "No. I signed the same contract everybody else" did. She says she loves Izzie's cancer storyline and doesn't know if the character will live or die. "It's very weird. I keep trying to get it out of them and they kind of shrug their shoulders and shake their heads at me and I don't know: Is that good or bad? Am I dead or am I alive? Where is this going?"

As for the story of Izzie's illness, she says:"When I'm challenged like this … I just feel a deep sense of gratitude."

Pompeo acknowledged that the Izzie-Denny story "went on a little too long with no explanation. Now that we're seeing why that happened, people are, 'Oh, Ok. There's a reason for it.' " She says Grey's has come back around after some "not-so-great episodes," which can't be avoided with so many episodes per season. She thanks fans for sticking with it. "Without the fans, we wouldn't be anywhere."


Source

Celebrate Good Times

Here is a photo of the cast of Grey's Anatomy as they celebrate the series' 100th episode on the set of the show on Friday, March 27, 2009 in Los Angeles.

They are, top row from left, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Justin Chambers; third row from left, Betsy Beers, Kevin McKidd, Patrick Dempsey; second row from left, Chyler Leigh, Sara Ramirez, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Shonda Rhimes; bottom row from left, Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl. (AP Photo/ABC, Scott Gargield)