GREY’S Anatomy” is in damage-control mode as the new season gets under way in Los Angeles.
With two episodes already wrapped, details about the September debut of ABC’s doc opera are trickling out.
Series creator Shonda Rhimes, who put all the show’s couples in jeopardy in May’s season finale, is going to take her time patching things up, according to sources.
As the season premiere opens, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) will have just returned from the two-week honeymoon Yang was supposed to take with her fiancé, Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington).
Burke left Cristina at the altar after producers decided to axe Washington for his anti-gay remarks on set earlier this year.
Burke’s disappearance will be dealt with over several episodes, sources report, and the intense Yang will plunge herself into work. She will have her own interns to boss around, as will Grey, Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers).
Poor Izzie will still be involved in the frustrating love triangle with the O’Malleys, George (T.R. Knight) and Callie (Sara Ramirez). Easily the least popular story line on “Grey’s” last season, the triangle will drag on, despite reports that negative reaction from focus groups had changed Rhimes’ mind about continuing it.
Also, expect the return of the old chief of surgery, Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.), from his premature retirement.