Grey's Anatomy

Grey’s Anatomy is an American primetime medical drama. It debuted on ABC as a mid-season replacement for Boston Legal on March 27, 2005, immediately following Desperate Housewives. The title of the show is inspired by the classic medical textbook Gray's Anatomy. The series revolves around Dr. Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo, who began the show as a surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle, Washington.

Name

Meredith Grey, a surgical resident, is the title character of the series Grey's Anatomy; her name is a reference to Henry Gray, the original author of the textbook Gray's Anatomy. Printed under the current title, "Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body", as the 40th British edition in September 2008, the textbook on human anatomy has become a classic in medical schools, since first being published in 1858.

Locations

Fisher Plaza, which houses Seattle's ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, is used for some exterior shots of Seattle Grace Hospital, such as air ambulances landing on the KOMO-TV news helicopter helipad.

Rise to prominence

In 2005, ABC gave the show a vote of confidence by announcing that Grey’s Anatomy would receive the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot which aired on February 5, 2006.^[2] The special episode pulled in a record 38.1 million viewers.

Music

In addition to use within the series, certain songs have been become key to promotion of Grey’s Anatomy. Prior to the series debut, The Postal Service's song "Such Great Heights" was used as part of series previews aired on ABC.
Music plays a key role in the creation of Grey’s Anatomy. Each episode of the show is uniquely named after a song. The episode titles usually have something to do with the theme or moral of the episode's storyline and this moral is reproduced by the voice-overs heard at the beginning and end of each episode. Artists featured on Grey’s Anatomy include Jont, Meiko, Gomez, Adele, Beck, Tegan and Sara, The Boy Least Likely To, Nouvelle Vague (band), Kate Havnevik, Róisín Murphy, Gemma Hayes, Snow Patrol, Kanye West, Interpol, Maria Taylor, Mat Kearney, Three Days Grace, Medeski Martin & Wood, Ingrid Michaelson, Joshua Radin, Jem, Brandi Carlile, Anya Marina, Erin McCarley, Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae, Chris Garneau, Devics, KT Tunstall, Sia, Anna Nalick, Taylor Swift, Santigold, Coldplay, and Missy Higgins.

Private Practice

Main article: Private Practice

On February 21, 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that ABC was pursuing a spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy featuring the character Addison Montgomery. On May 3, 2007, a two-hour episode of Grey’s Anatomy doubled as a backdoor pilot for the proposed spinoff. ABC officially picked up Private Practice for its fall 2007 lineup on May 11. The trio of programs had second season premieres on October 1, 2008.