Grey's Anatomy 3/27 *Spoilers*

[DavidTigerFan]

Wow, recorded this and was pleasantly surprised. The lead character is a great actresss and very cute too. She could use some meat on her bones though. Love the green eyes... :)

Reminds me of the newness I felt when I watched ER for the first time. I certainly hope it does well. Wiht luck the lead in from DH does it well.

-D

[NoCleverUsername]

I figured that the guy she slept with would turn out to be somebody at the hospital.

For a while during the morning after scene I thought the lead was Erica Durance (Lois Lane on Smallville).

I didn't see the little "twist" coming at the end, although the hints were there in hindsight. I was thinking maybe her voice over narration was a letter she had been writing to her mom. :o

[firerose818]

I thought this was pretty good. I knew as soon as George promised the wife of the heart patient guy that he would be fine that he would die. It was an interesting show, and I think it will do well.

-Rose

[sneagle]

I watched the first half, but the medicine is so bad and ridiculous that I couldn't watch any more.

[zync]

I really enoyed this show. I'm not sure which part of medicine sneagle felt was "so bad". If this show does welll, ABC is going to have one heck of a line up.

NBC - are you paying attention? Hello? Anyone?

[jwjody]

The ad's for this looked interesting so I set TiVo to record this episode. And I wasn't disappointed. I knew Patrick Dempsey worked at the hospital because in one of the promo's they showed him in scrubs.

But like Firerose said, as soon as 007 promised the family he would be ok, you KNEW he was dying. But the scene with 007 doing the operation, I really didn't know what would happen. I was hoping he would pull it off and was disappointed when he didn't.

J

[Squeak]

I watched the first half, but the medicine is so bad and ridiculous that I couldn't watch any more.

Explain yourself. What was so bad?

[sneagle]

I stopped watching after the interns took copies of the chart, but here is what I recall...

1. They are supposed to be surgical residents...why did they respond to the girl having seizures in the ER. The ER should have handled that and contacted PEDIATRICS not surgery

2. The surgical attending asked the interns for help for the seizures. Why not a Neurologist and ideally a Pediatric Neurologist.

3. The Nazi resident is still just a resident...she should not have an atittude about being woken up by an intern in the middle of the night.

4. Having a intern perform a surgery on Day 1 (July 1st?) is silly. He would have no idea what to do and the attending would not just be standing there and watching. More realistic would be the intern being at the table and holding a retractor.

5. The interpersonal relations are so far from reality that it is absurd. Particularly the ideas that interns are slaves in wrong. It may make good TV, but it paints a poor and inaccurate picture of physicians in training.

6. The same attending does an appendectomy and open heart surgery?

7. If informed consent before open heart surgery consists of 'well, it's surgery, there are risks' then we are all in trouble.

I am sure there is more, but I think that should be enough. I agree that some of the 'soap opera' was okay, but the poor medical stuff is a distraction and makes the show unwatchable (IMHO) I wonder who their medical advisors are.

[sneagle]

One more thing...surgical training is FIVE years post medical school.

So, how is an intern supposed to perform an appendectomy day one out of medical school?

[Snowman]

Okay, I only watched it because of the name. My ex-wife is an Occupational Therapist (remedial physical therapy). We were together during her med school years and well, one of the books was Gray's Anatomy. It was the hardest book she had. I was curious what the show would even be about. But yes, it's kinda Scrubs meets Chicago Hope.

[omnibus]

I guess I'm going to have to be hooked on this show. All the staff are walking around with my initials on their white coats SGH......

[IJustLikeTivo]

Two words:

Katherine Heigl

I'd watch her read the phone book.

[LoadStar]

I'm willing to give the show some more time... it's a pilot, and pilots tend to be universally fairly weak. The writing had a little flavor of Aaron Sorkin, and the editing seemed very J.J. Abrams (the parts with the musical accompaniment especially).

It's a refreshing change of pace from what ER has become. I still watch ER, but it's not the same as it once was.

[The Spud]

I have never been one to let technical errors ruin a story for me. I'm not in the medical field (although my wife is an RN), so I wouldn't know what was right or not. I recently watched the making of Top Gun and the technical advisor was talking about some of the inaccuracies and he mentioned that it took him a while to accept the fact that they were making a movie and not a documentary.

Bottom line, I liked the show and will continue to watch.

[omnibus]

I'm a little freaked out by Sandra Oh! The long face tiny eyes and high eyebrows, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[jwjody]

Two words:

Katherine Heigl

I'd watch her read the phone book.

Isn't her character's name in this show the same name as her character in Roswell? Well first name at least, not sure about the last name.

J

[MitchO]

Yes, my wife pointed her out (she watched Roswell, not me) and indicated that she was also Isabelle on Roswell .. but didn't ask people to call her Izzy there.

She's tall.

Overall, the show was "OK" ... some of the character and plot predictability (you know Meredith was going to be better than the rest, that 007 would promise everything would be OK [and it wouldn't], Dempsey's eventual position in the hospital [and of course, he's also really good]). The dialogue was pretty good, especially considering i felt the plot writing was weak. And the 'twist' of the mother at the end was extraneous. But as others have said, pilot episodes are forced into corners sometimes. I'd rather have Boston Legal back, but I'll watch this for now.

[IJustLikeTivo]

Yes, my wife pointed her out (she watched Roswell, not me) and indicated that she was also Isabelle on Roswell .. but didn't ask people to call her Izzy there.

She's tall.


But worth the climb as we used to say.

[ADG]

Cute show - watchable if predictable. Reminded me very much - almost character for character - of St. Elsewhere.

[TheDewAddict]

Two words:

Katherine Heigl

I'd watch her read the phone book.

I second that :) :) :) :) :)

[Rob Helmerichs]

It hasn't hooked me, and it hasn't lost me. The cast is very good. The situation seems generic. It'll depend on how the characters develop, I guess, unless something surprising happens. But I'll be there for at least another week--and since it's replacing Boston Law and Carnivale just ended, I won't have anything else to do in that timeslot, anyway!

[Royster]

I'll only say this once. I watched and my first ereaction was:

Oh!

/must rent Sideways

[holee]

Seen up to the first 15 minutes or so. Seems okay, but I do agree that they're over-dramatizing things. I couldn't believe they'd have someone do surgery on their first day. And the hostile attitude is getting tiresome.

[mick66]

Yes, my wife pointed her out (she watched Roswell, not me) and indicated that she was also Isabelle on Roswell .. but didn't ask people to call her Izzy there.
.


On Roswell she played Isabel Evans
On Grey's Anatomy she's Isobel Stevens

It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out where I'd I'd seen her before - it's been 4 years since Roswell ended.

[mick66]

1. They are supposed to be surgical residents...why did they respond to the girl having seizures in the ER. The ER should have handled that and contacted PEDIATRICS not surgery

2. The surgical attending asked the interns for help for the seizures. Why not a Neurologist and ideally a Pediatric Neurologist.

3. The Nazi resident is still just a resident...she should not have an atittude about being woken up by an intern in the middle of the night.

4. Having a intern perform a surgery on Day 1 (July 1st?) is silly. He would have no idea what to do and the attending would not just be standing there and watching. More realistic would be the intern being at the table and holding a retractor.

5. The interpersonal relations are so far from reality that it is absurd. Particularly the ideas that interns are slaves in wrong. It may make good TV, but it paints a poor and inaccurate picture of physicians in training.

6. The same attending does an appendectomy and open heart surgery?



ditto

I'll give it one or two more episodes, unless I find something better to Tivo at that time.

[DevdogAZ]

I'll only say this once. I watched and my first ereaction was:

Oh!

/must rent Sideways
Wow! If that's the response you had, maybe I should check it out. ;) :D

[jschuur]

Did anyone else get Doug (clumsy doc, who goes into pathology) vibes from Scrubs when they saw George?

[LoadStar]

I guess I'm having a little trouble with the level of knowlege/experience the characters have. These are interns, right? Meaning, not med students?

The reason I clarify - they behave more how I'd expect med students to behave... by the time they become interns, they should have performed a few surgical and/or ER rotations, as well as a rotation in a specialty (or at least, that seems to be how ER portrays it). Yeah, they might still be green, but they shouldn't be THIS green.

Then again, there are other times when it's muddied. For example, when the one character says the patient needs a central line, the person at the desk says "So do one." However, I'd imagine a procedure like that would have to be presented to an attending or resident, right? Instead, the character just kind of lamely says "I don't know how." Perhaps, but the correct answer is "I can't without presenting it."

[sneagle]

And the hostile attitude is getting tiresome.I fully agree. Too many shows these days are showing interpersonal relations to be more about conflict than cooperation.

[5thcrewman]

Denny Crane? Anyone?

[PeteEMT]

Since TiVo is busy recording Crossing Jordan, I used the DVD-R's PVR functions to record this. Unfortuneately when I watched it, there was no captions. Probably a local station dropped the ball thing.

Will try again next week.

[Droobiemus]

I'm not usually into most procedural/cop/medical type shows, but this one looked interesting, so I thought I'd check it out...

I really enjoyed it. Writing was enjoyable, cast was likeable, and there were some decent twists and turns.

If the next few are as enjoyable as this episode, I'm keeping the SP.

[JimSpence]

Great shot of Ms. Heigl on the TV Tome website.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-1763

Her hair was darker on Roswell.

[murgatroyd]

I saw Sandra Oh (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0644897/) on The Tonight Show and was interested enough to watch the first episode.

Liked the characters; we'll see if they can clean up their act, technical advisor-wise. <shrug>

Jan

[DaveBogart]

Great shot of Ms. Heigl on the TV Tome website.
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-1763

Her hair was darker on Roswell.That's a mighty bad boob job she's got there!

[Steveknj]

I thought it was pretty good and I'll watch again. I think it was closer to Chicago Hope than ER. But I also couldn't figure out why surgical interns were working the ER.

[joeinma]

I thought it was a pretty decent show, though I don't plan on getting too attached based on ABC's past practice with short season dramas. Anyone remember Line of Fire or The DA? Those were ABC's midseason drama replacements the last two years, both decent shows, both never seen again after their 5-6 week run. (Actually 11 shows for Line of Fire, 4 for The DA.)

Anyone notice a pattern with ABC's replacements? FBI two years ago, then lawyers last year and now medical this year and also police this year with Blind Justice. Expect a firehouse show next year. It's the typical network syndrome. Cops, fireman, doctors, lawyer or spys. Pick one of those 5 themes and make a show. It's been the same thing for years, though ABC gets major props with Lost and Desperate Housewives this year.

I kid with my friends that it's the same with sit-coms. One dimwit husband plus one hot wife and mix in cute and funny kids or parents. Maybe add a mooching sister-in-law. What do you get? Everyone loves Raymond, According to Jim, Still Standing, Listen Up, King of Queens, Rodney and on and on. They all have the same basic concept! 70's Show and Scrubs are the only "orginal" comedies.

[markz]

I kid with my friends that it's the same with sit-coms. One dimwit husband plus one hot wife and mix in cute and funny kids or parents. Maybe add a mooching sister-in-law. What do you get? Everyone loves Raymond, According to Jim, Still Standing, Listen Up, King of Queens, Rodney and on and on. They all have the same basic concept! 70's Show and Scrubs are the only "orginal" comedies.

I always tell my wife that we'd have a sitcom in the making if only she had a hot sister to hang-out in our kitchen. We have the average husband, hot wife and funny parents. Hilarity would ensue if there was only a sister!

I'd add Arrested Development to the list of "original" comedies. In fact, it is the most original show I have ever seen on tv!

[dtle]

Two words:

Katherine Heigl

I'd watch her read the phone book.

Will she be the one stripping in the previews before the show, or is it going to be the main character?

I love her character already. She's hot, smart, and apparrently, an excessive cleaner. I wonder if she cooks, too?

[cpalma]

It may not have been "reality" but gawd, aren't we all sick of "reality"?

My son enrolled in college pre-med. I never told him my thoughts on this and my hubby was the proud..."my son's going to be a doctor". Son dropped his pre-med aspirations after his first semester. Watching this show I told my husband, that's why I never wanted him to go into medicine. The interns portrayed are under an enormous amount of pressure (even if it was exaggerated on the show).

Grey's is not a bad escape on a Sunday night.

[JEbbesen]

I think it was closer to Chicago Hope than ER.

And that is in its favor. Much preferred CH to ER.

I don't get too into what's realistic or not, I did find the show entertaining even though you could predict just about everything that was going to happen.

This show has several things that appeal to me including Patrick Dempsey, the hospital background and the soon to be seen hijinks that will happen as they all move into her big, empty house.

[Rob Helmerichs]

The interns portrayed are under an enormous amount of pressure (even if it was exaggerated on the show).
From what I've heard, it's actually pretty understated on the show...

[Wheens]

I see both intern and resident used in posts to describe the characters. Which are they? Can some one knowledgable in Med. give us some idea of the chronology of training and time spent in each phase? Thanks

[sneagle]

Training to be a doctor
College (4 years)
Medical School (4 years)
Residency - varies from a minimum of 3 years to 6 or 7.
Traditionally the first year of residency is called an internship and those doing it are called interns.

As for the stress on interns and residents..it is hard work but for most it is not the type of pressure seen on TV. Some attendings are jerks and berate the residents (and interns) but the goal would be to encourage them not discouarge them. Surgery, however, tends to be full of more stress, pressure and degradation than other specialties.

For example, when I was in medical school, I was in a surgical case (breast cancer, I think) and needed to leave early for a religious holiday. The attending refused to let me go (as if he had a choice) and began to pimp me--ask me questions to test my knowledge. When I failed to meet his expectations, he berated me and told me to tell my parents that they had wasted their money sending me to medical school. Great, huh!

[MitchO]

...he berated me and told me to tell my parents that they had wasted their money sending me to medical school.

I've heard that particular jab in enough anectodes to assume it's the default "mean thing to say".

It actually didn't occur to me while I was watching the show that the interns were covering multiple job descriptions, but now that it has been pointed out here, it bugs me. Thanks a lot people :p

[DevdogAZ]

I've heard that particular jab in enough anectodes to assume it's the default "mean thing to say".
I beleive it originally came from the movie "The Paper Chase" when a professor told a student to call his parents and tell them they wasted their money sending him there. (or something like that)

[thevargasgrl]

I loved this show. Thought it was fantastic. I love Sandra Oh.

[maseace]

I thought it was a pretty decent show, though I don't plan on getting too attached based on ABC's past practice with short season dramas. Anyone remember Line of Fire or The DA? Those were ABC's midseason drama replacements the last two years, both decent shows, both never seen again after their 5-6 week run.


Also would like to add MDs - I liked that show for it's 4 or 5 episode run, and this one seems similar. Hope it can make it a full season.

[The Spud]

I beleive it originally came from the movie "The Paper Chase" when a professor told a student to call his parents and tell them they wasted their money sending him there. (or something like that)

One of my all time favorites:

Kingsfield: Mr. Hart here is a dime, call your mother. Tell her there is serious doubt about you becoming a lawyer.

Hart starts to walk out. Stops and turns:

Hart: You, are a son of a bit*h, Kingsfield.

Kingsfield: Mr. Hart! That is the most intelligent thing you've said today. You may take your seat.

[ScottE22]

Just watched this tonight and was pleasantly surprised after less than stellar reviews from our local TV writer..... I added an SP so we'll see what develops this season.

[mykittykat88]

I stopped watching after the interns took copies of the chart, but here is what I recall...

1. They are supposed to be surgical residents...why did they respond to the girl having seizures in the ER. The ER should have handled that and contacted PEDIATRICS not surgery

2. The surgical attending asked the interns for help for the seizures. Why not a Neurologist and ideally a Pediatric Neurologist.

3. The Nazi resident is still just a resident...she should not have an atittude about being woken up by an intern in the middle of the night.

4. Having a intern perform a surgery on Day 1 (July 1st?) is silly. He would have no idea what to do and the attending would not just be standing there and watching. More realistic would be the intern being at the table and holding a retractor.

5. The interpersonal relations are so far from reality that it is absurd. Particularly the ideas that interns are slaves in wrong. It may make good TV, but it paints a poor and inaccurate picture of physicians in training.

6. The same attending does an appendectomy and open heart surgery?

7. If informed consent before open heart surgery consists of 'well, it's surgery, there are risks' then we are all in trouble.

I am sure there is more, but I think that should be enough. I agree that some of the 'soap opera' was okay, but the poor medical stuff is a distraction and makes the show unwatchable (IMHO) I wonder who their medical advisors are.


Number 4 is what made me glad I wasn't the patient on that operating table!

I also liked the episode.

[Neenahboy]

This just seems like a really bad cross between CH and ER. And aren't we all sick of medical dramas anyway? It's really obvious that they have no physician consultation for the writing of this show. And I really hate Sandra Oh, especially after her recent divorce announcement. This will be gone within a month. Just horrible.

[thevargasgrl]

This just seems like a really bad cross between CH and ER. And aren't we all sick of medical dramas anyway? It's really obvious that they have no physician consultation for the writing of this show. And I really hate Sandra Oh, especially after her recent divorce announcement. This will be gone within a month. Just horrible.
What does her divorce have to do with her acting ability?

[Neenahboy]

What does her divorce have to do with her acting ability?

Absolutely nothing...I just meant that I never liked her to begin with and that was the icing on the cake, because I hate Hollywood divorces.

[thevargasgrl]

Absolutely nothing...I just meant that I never liked her to begin with and that was the icing on the cake, because I hate Hollywood divorces.
So since she is an actress she doesn't have the right to get a divorce from someone she doesn't love because you don't like it.
Sandra Oh is a great actress. Too bad you'd let her personal life get in the way of enjoying great movies or television shows.

[skanter]

I watched it -- seemed like ER for teenyboppers -- trite and predictable, too.

:down:

[Ntombi]

I liked it for a pilot, but I was disappointed in the number of cliches it fit into 44 minutes. I hope they get slightly more original with the plot points, but I did think it was well cast and well acted.

I did think that the Patrick Dempsey character acted in a wholly unprofessional manner, and I wish they had taken a different tack with their mutual attraction. They could have both agreed that any further personal contact was a bad idea, and the writers could have still played with the fact that they both wanted to act on it, but were hamstrung. I just get an icky feeling when the boss has no reservations about pursuing a subordinate. They didn't even give him one line to acknowledge it. :down:

[Snowman]

Sandra Oh is a great actress. Too bad you'd let her personal life get in the way of enjoying great movies or television shows.

I let her horrid ugliness get in the way. She is just extremely unattractive. I also find her unbelievable as a character.

[holee]

I can't get over how thin Sandra Oh is now. When I first saw her in Double Happiness she was noticeably heavier.

[Squeak]

Training to be a doctor
College (4 years)
Medical School (4 years)
Residency - varies from a minimum of 3 years to 6 or 7.
Traditionally the first year of residency is called an internship and those doing it are called interns.


To add a little tidbit: The reason they are called interns is because almost all (maybe even all) states will not give them a license to practice medicine until they have completed one year, on the job training, post med school.

They are MD's in a technical sense, but can only practice in specific situations (internship).

On rare occasions MD's will do their one-year internship and then go into private practice (for the less strict specilities).

[MassD]

I let her horrid ugliness get in the way. She is just extremely unattractive. I also find her unbelievable as a character.

Both her face and her personality remind me of a human-sized locust.

[Neenahboy]

Both her face and her personality remind me of a human-sized locust.

Very true. If her hubby weren't directing Sideways, I'm almost certain they would've gotten someone else to play her role.

[UMKCmom]

Residency for General Surgery is 5 years. For neurosurgery, it's usually 7 years.

[UMKCmom]

The AMA does not use the term "intern" any more. It has traditionally referred only to the first year of any residency. It's an optional term and some residency programs may still use it.

[Spire]

And residency for TV show threads for specific episodes is usually a week or two. ;)

[Jeff Edsell]

I resisted this show at first, but as my wife kept watching it, I got sucked in.

But now, certain things are really wearing on me:

Meredith's look of "I just cried" or "I'm about to cry" or possibly both. She used to spend about 50% of every show looking that way. Now it's well over 90%. (I wonder if Ellen Pompeo gets tired of having saline drops put in her eyes?)

Derek's hangdog "two women want me but I just can't DECIDE even though it's obvious to everyone I don't love my wife anymore" look. That's well over 50% of his work on the show now.

Meredith's voice-overs. At first they informed the action. Now it seems like the writers say, "Oh, yeah, we need to write another voice-over to start the show." The voice-overs themselves seem to get longer and longer and say less and less.

Does there have to be some insane case absolutely every week? That's becoming boring in and of itself. It feels like the writers are stepping in front of the show and saying, "Hey look at the crazy case I read about his week! This could really happen!"

To be fair, there are somethings I do like. To Yang's horror, tiny bit by tiny bit, she is becoming human. She has no idea how to deal with this. (Watching the transition is fun because Sandra Oh has played the exact same character in everything I've ever seen her in. Perhaps she'll eventually get a chance to play something different.) I have no problem with George and Izzy, and even Alex has grown on me. (People don't have to be perfect, or always make good choices. They just have to be interesting.)

I guess I'm really just tired of Meredith Grey, her continual, unchanging whininess. If a character is never going to change in any way or have to deal with anything new, what's the point in watching them?