Pilot

The Show  (from Wikipedia):

 

The series focuses on a group of surgical interns, residents, and the various physicians who serve as their mentors in their professional and personal lives. The five characters who are first introduced as interns are Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), George O'Malley (T. R. Knight), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). They progress to residency after their first year in the surgical program. Their first resident is the stereotypically tough surgical resident (in the tradition of ER's Dr. Benton), Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson). The surgical program is run by Chief of Surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) who has a pre-existing personal relationship with Meredith, having had an affair with her mother when Meredith was a child. In Webber's employ are attending physicians Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) and Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), who specialize in neurosurgery and cardiothoracic surgery respectively.

The Contender:

I am a lesbian doctor who was recently dumped by the woman that I once thought I was going to marry. I can’t say it was a total shock, because she had been saying things for weeks (months?) like “We might not see each other for awhile,” so I had many sleepless nights to think about what I would do if she dumped me for real. And for some reason, my late-night, semi-crazy conclusion was that if she dumped me, I was going to watch Grey’s Anatomy. All of it.

I didn’t come to this decision because I’m a fan of the show. I’ve maybe seen part of one episode once, so the idea did seem a little crazy. But then, as I walked out of her house for the last time, I stopped, I turned back to her and said, through my tears, “I’m going home and I’m going to watch every episode of Grey’s Anatomy. And I promise you, after I do, I will feel better.”

And I’m somebody who does what she says she is going to do.

Here, then, is the list of reasons (that I came up with in the middle of the night) that made me decide that I’m going to watch every episode of Grey’s Anatomy ever made:

1. Drama: One of the reasons I haven’t been able to watch the show is that before now, I couldn’t tolerate overwrought drama. But now, drama may be exactly what I need. I want to watch 100 episodes about medicine and relationships and I want to cry at the end of every single episode. And after that, I bet I’ll feel better. And by better, I may mean worse.

2. Story lines that parallel my life: I really haven’t ever seen the show, but I want kids and Ex did not. And that’s one of the reasons we broke up. Supposedly this is relevant to the show at some point.

3. Music: Mark Lawson of The Guardian has credited Grey's Anatomy with popularizing the "songtage", or musical montage segments. This would have the potential to be lame if the music of the show were not so good. And sad. To quote Starlee Kine, “There’s something so satisfying about listening to sad songs…Sad songs don’t judge you. In fact, they understand you. A break up song won’t ever suggest that you start online dating or that you’re better off without her. They tell you that you’re worse without her, which is exactly what you want to hear because it’s how you feel.” Yeah. That.

4. I’m not in training anymore: I’m an attending, and all of my frustration with the inconsistencies and inaccuracies the show presents about the experience of medical training are lessened.

5. In the tradition of the Julie/Julia/Lawrence blog, it’s good to write about something that anyone with a Netflix account can relate to.

6. As I think of more reasons, I will post them.

365 days, approximately 100 hours of Grey's Anatomy. (Wow, that doesn't even sound impressive.)

One doctor, her Netflix account, and a blog on which she hopes to remain totally anonymous forever. She is not even telling her friends that she is doing this.

The Pilot:

We are introduced to the interns, all whom seem to start on a shift that lasts 48 hours long. During the course of their first call day, some will be called to operate with no apparent experience (remind me not to get appendicitis in Seattle in July) and others will fear that this residency-thing is not what they bargained for.

I swear I will resist harping on all of the inconsistencies and total inaccuracies this pilot demonstrates when it comes to actually being a resident (quick review of my notes: 48 hour shifts are illegal, what locker room?, interns are not nurses, have these people never heard of a neurology consult service, how do they have time for all this angst? etc).

My favorite line, the truest line of the pilot was this:  “Today you are the doctors.” Last time I was on service I said something very similar to my interns in an attempt to get them to take some responsibility for their patients (and I think they also hated me for it).

My other favorite lines? “Don’t bother sucking up. I already hate you.”

And, “We’re going to survive this right?”

This answer to this last line is more complicated than residents might wish for on their first day of internship. Yes, you will survive, but your life and your view of the world will be changed forever, and not necessarily for the better. You will leave wiser but also less optimistic, less trusting, and, depending on your abilty to juggle your schedule and your time with your family and friends, possibly less loved.

OK, that's enough of that. They're actors, not residents. And they make it through season 7, at least. Remind me not to get philosophical ever again.