Grey's Anatomy rewatch

[theconfidenceofwho]

Will have spoilers below!

Have loved GA since it was first broadcast although don't think it's anywhere near as good as it used to be, so have been re-watching since the start.

I now can pinpoint its demise - season 6!

Starts with George's funeral, then the merger with the horrible people from Mercy West, Izzy leaving, the Chief drinking, Teddy arriving and all the angst with the Owen & Teddy! Too much change and too many new characters in a short period!

Before this, it was practically perfect & then season 6 onward is downhill all the way (with a few amazing bursts - the shooting episode; the musical episode - can't remember others right now but no doubt there will have been a few more to keep me watching).

Anyone else agree or think otherwise?

I wouldn't say she gets less annoying, she does become less central though, as other characters get more stories.

It starts going downhill with Christina leaving. Alex going was the death blow. Especially the way he went.The last few seasons are just kinda meh, it could be any medical tv show, there's no investment. The last season is absolutely dire bar the roe vs wade storyline.

I think the biggest failing is that they're trying to push the attachment we used to have for the older characters, without the time it actually takes.

I used to like Amelia, but she's just a whiney mess at the moment.

Alex going was the death blow. Especially the way he went.

I agree. But I do feel like they (the writers) were hard pushed for options there. They couldn't write any scenes with him in, so he either had to die completely off screen, or just leave. Death might have been better for his story, but maybe they didn't want to do a storyline with Jo where he'd died.

I've seen some people say it would be better for him to have just moved hospitals and just be off screen, but that would affect Jo's storylines as well, so I can see why they didn't do that.

So you find her annoying too? I thought it was just me being a cow!

The thing I can’t stand about Owen is that he really, really wants kids - and then he marries Cristina, who never wants kids and Amelia, who has her doubts. And he tries to push them both. Whyyyyyy??

Agree with @CrispsandCheeseSandwich - either they killed Alex off screen, or both he and Jo left (but Camilla L was presumably still under contract) or they had to do what they did.

Any storyline of “Alex moves to look after his mum” or whatever would have needed Jo to go too. The writers were really stuck.

And killing Alex as Meredith’s person off screen after she had lost Derek, Lexi, her mum, her dad, Lexi’s mum, George… no. I can see why they didn’t want to!

Because he exists in the kind of world where women can't possibly know what they want unless a man tells them

He does it with his sister, his mother, Teddy, Christina, Amelia

I am astounded that the actor playing Karev wasn’t under contract to give enough notice for them to plan his exit. Maybe he just broke contract though, I suppose you can’t force someone to come to work.

I'm surprised that he wouldn't come back for one episode to give a character he spent 15years with a proper ending. Surely there's some attachment there. Never mind the fans, cast and crew. Come on. One episode a few days. Surely. Even the same exit but with him in some scenes would have been better.

One assumes a medical or mental health reason prevented him returning.

They all seemed chummy at the golden globes last month

He provided the voice over for the episode where he left didn't he (Karev) so I would imagine it was a production decision not to have him on screen as opposed to him not being willing to be in it?

I'm pleased Arizona is back for the new season.

Gosh, you are absolutely right. I hadn’t looked at it quite that way before.

Once you seeing you can't unsee it unfortunately 🤣

Yes… but if he had been, say, in a MH facility or by the bedside of a seriously ill child, spending a couple of hours recording a voiceover wherever he was would be much easier than coming on set, having to interact with others etc.

Plus clearly they didn’t have access to Katharine Heigl, so they couldn’t have done a family scene.

I totally agree about Owen @JustanotherMNSlapperTwat

I would sincerely hope that if he was in a MH facility or at the bedside of a sick child that they wouldn't have expected him to have spent hours recording voice over but who knows?

But yes your second point is what I was trying to say. That there possibly was a production decision that he wasnt needed on screen

Agreed - long monologs about Maggie being expected to travel economy and not business/first on planes - lecturing/preaching

When we had such genius writing on the Bailey explaining to Tucker how he has to act differently from his white friends - it felt real, and as a white middle aged woman, I had not really considered it from a young black males pov - that was fucking brilliant writing

Yeah - I am not sure what the reasons were that he left (it was so sudden that I wondered if he was fired for eg harassment or discrimination on set, like when they got rid of Preston) but nothing came out about that, so probably not.

He wasn’t in it for a few episodes, excused as being at his mom’s (but secretly at Izzy’s, apparently!) so I wonder if they were using that time for the worst of a health crisis to pass whilst keeping the door open, then the voiceover was a compromise (say he had a badly broken leg or whatever, that might have worked for timings).

But it’s all speculation! I think the writers did the best that they could, really.

Ah yes I had forgotten he was missing for a few episodes before so that would make sense it was a mental health issue/physical health issue rather than a production decision in that case

Aw, that's how I'd describe it too. No, I will be avoiding the singing one on my rewatch.

Andy does get better but is still the same character so you may not warm. It took me a whole season to get into the characters.

Why did he leave so suddenly?

Justin Chambers has talked about having a sleep disorder and has previously been hospitalised under psychiatric care after periods of sleeping for one hour a week.
Don't know if that was related to his sudden exit.

I didn’t hear that about Preston, what happened.

Doesn’t Justin Chambers also have 5 or so children? I imagine he thought it might be time to spend more time with them (albeit that doesn’t explain the abrupt exit). The articles I have read about his exit have all been quite low on detail. Seems like some watertight NDAs in play. I was pleased to see him at the golden globes.