“Grey’s Anatomy”
Sunday night at 10 on ABC/Ch. 7
½ (three and a half stars)
AND the hits just keep on coming.
It really must irk the people who run NBC to watch their counterparts at ABC do what they used to do routinely – namely, launch new shows of exceptional quality, one after the other.
And here comes another one – “Grey’s Anatomy” – a new medical drama so freshly packaged it makes “ER” look like “Marcus Welby.”
“Grey’s Anatomy” is that rare TV show that comes to the air fully formed, as if everyone involved has been working together forever, instead of just a few weeks.
Sunday’s premiere wastes no time on formal introductions – which means we learn about the characters as we go along.
And they’re an appealing bunch (for the most part), especially Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), the drama’s principal character.
She’s one of a group of newly installed surgical interns at a Seattle hospital, who form various rivalries and bonds as they work the ridiculously long shifts for which such internships are famous.
Meredith is the daughter of one of the region’s most renowned female surgeons, a pioneer no longer practicing who is revered at the hospital.
She has a lot to live up to, but she’s not the most competitive member of this class of new interns. That would be Cristina Yang, played by Sandra Oh of “Sideways” and “Arli$$.”
Like Meredith and the other characters in this ensemble drama, Yang is no two-dimensional character, however.
In fact, at first blush, this show might seem like just another doctor show about harried young docs scurrying about saving patients’ lives and fretting about their own. Give it a few minutes, however, and “Grey’s Anatomy” winds up revealing this world in a whole new way.
The show’s charismatic, young cast has something to do with this show’s effectiveness, but I suspect it’s a combination of elements – writing, directing, editing, plus a sensational soundtrack – that help this show render all previous medical dramas obsolete.
Good-bye, “ER.” Don’t let the operating room door hit you on the way out.