Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American television drama that aired on ABC since March 27, 2005.

The series has spawned two spin-off series are Private Practice and Station 19.

Summary
The series has aired eleven seasons, and focuses on the fictional lives of surgical interns and residents as they gradually evolve into seasoned doctors, while trying to maintain personal lives and relationships.

The title is a play on the name Gray's Anatomy, an English-language human anatomy textbook originally written by Henry Gray. The show's premise originated with Shonda Rhimes, who serves as an executive producer, along with Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Krista Vernoff, Rob Corn, Mark Wilding, and Allan Heinberg. The series was created to be racially diverse, utilizing a color-blind casting technique. While the show is set in Seattle, it is primarily filmed in Los Angeles, California.

Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo
 * Sandra Oh
 * Katherine Heigl
 * Justin Chambers
 * T. R. Knight
 * Chandra Wilson
 * James Pickens, Jr.
 * Isaiah Washington
 * Patrick Dempsey
 * Kate Walsh
 * Sara Ramirez
 * Eric Dane
 * Chyler Leigh
 * Brooke Smith
 * Kevin McKidd
 * Jessica Capshaw
 * Kim Raver
 * Sarah Drew
 * Jesse Williams
 * Camilla Luddington
 * Gaius Charles
 * Jerrika Hinton
 * Tessa Ferrer
 * Caterina Scorsone
 * Kelly McCreary
 * Jason George
 * Martin Henderson
 * Giacomo Gianniotti
 * Chris Carmack
 * Jake Borelli
 * Greg Germann

Development
The series was pitched to ABC Entertainment, who gave the green light. The show was picked up as a mid-season replacement for Boston Legal in the 2005 television season. Francie Calfo, executive vice president of development at ABC Entertainment, commented that ABC was looking for a medical show that was unlike the others airing at the time.

The show's title, Grey's Anatomy, was devised as a play on words: a reference to both Henry Gray's classic English medical textbook, Gray's Anatomy (first published in 1858 and still in print), and the title character Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). Before the series debuted on March 27, 2005, a few early releases were shown to close friends and family of the producers and actors. The show was scheduled to run in the Boston Legal time slot for four weeks.

But its high ratings and viewership resulted in ABC keeping it in that slot for the remainder of the season. ABC Entertainment President, Steve McPherson, commented on the scheduling change: "Ultimately we decided that, without having adequate lead time or marketing dollars to devote to moving either show so late in the season, we'd continue to let [Grey's Anatomy] build on its tremendous momentum through May." Prior to broadcast, it was announced that the show's title would be changed from Grey's Anatomy to Complications, although this did not take place.

Production team
Grey's Anatomy is produced by ShondaLand, in association with The Mark Gordon Company, and ABC Studios (formerly Touchstone Television). Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Krista Vernoff, Mark Gordon, Rob Corn, and Mark Wilding have all served as executive producers throughout the course of the series. In subsequent seasons, Steve Mulholland, Kent Hodder, Nancy Bordson, James D. Parriott, and Peter Horton have also been executive producers, with Allan Heinberg joining the show in 2006 in this role. As of season eight, the executive producers were Rhimes, Beers, Gordon, Vernoff, Corn, Wilding, and Heinberg.

Rhimes is the series head writer, or its most prolific writer. She often promotes the show by answering fan questions on her Twitter account. Other members of the writing staff are Vernoff, Wilding, Peter Nowalk, Stacy McKee, William Harper, Zoanne Clack, Tony Phelan, Joan Rater, and Debora Cahn. From the second through seventh seasons, the writers maintained a blog entitled Grey Matter, where the writer of an episode discussed background of the writing.

Directors vary by episode, with Rob Corn directing most frequently, followed by Tom Verica. Horton, Edward Ornelas, and Jessica Yu have also directed a substantial number of episodes. Cast members Chandra Wilson and Kevin McKidd have both directed multiple episodes.

Grey's Anatomy has been edited by Susan Vaill since the show's inception, and David Greenspan was named an editor in 2006. Casting directors Linda Lowy and John Brace have been a part of the production team since 2005. Production design is led by Donald Lee Harris, assisted by art director Brian Harms, and costume design is led by Mimi Melgaard. Working alongside Melgaard, Thomas Houchins supervises costumes, Ellen Vieira is the makeup artist, and Jerilynn Stevens serves as a hair stylist. The Director of Photography is Herbert Davis. The music coordinator is Danny Lux. Karen Lisa Pike, M.D. is the on-set medical consultant, alongside Linda Klein, an RN. The production staff is part of a Grey's Anatomy softball team that competes against other television shows, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.