Mar. 27, 2005. That day probably seems pretty irrelevant. But two coincidental things happened that day: Canadian heart surgeon Wilfred Bigelow, known for his development of the pacemaker, died. And a little show that would redefine the medical drama genre premiered on TV, something we all know as Grey’s Anatomy.
And today is March 1, when season 14 picks back up, just 13 years shy of the initial premiere of the show. Though the show now holds nearly an entirely different cast from its pilot, it’s a show fans have religiously followed for more than a decade. But what could possibly be next for the show? With the spinoff Private Practice, which fell wildly short to Grey’s, and Station 19, a spinoff about firefighting, creator Shonda Rhimes has to be coming to an end with this heartbreaking universe she has created, right?
Wrong. Lead actress Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith Grey in the show, said in an interview with Variety that the show will end when Pompeo is burnt out from acting.
But how much longer will that be? The show seems to have exhausted every possible tragedy that could happen. And with really only Grey and Alex Karev surviving from the original squad, it seems nearly time to, for a lack of better words, pull the plug on Grey’s.
The show is ahead: It is still highly rated and all that jazz, but at a point the writers will have to keep killing off characters to make it interesting, and if they were to end by killing Meredith herself, the fans would likely be inconsolable for a lengthy period of time.
Shonda is better than that though. We know she is able to create a twist somehow more heartbreaking than the last. Thus, why it wouldn’t be surprising if there was some Shondegy (get it, Shonda + tragedy = Shondegy) in which Meredith dies and is brought back to life (again).
Now or within the next few seasons would be an ideal time to end the series, though. The show is so far ahead of the rest in its genre, and cutting it off at a time before it starts to drag out would be ideal. And even with season 15 on our radars, the show isn’t yet running dry. But let’s agree it needs to stop before it is, for the sake of the show, still holding a special place in the hearts of fans before we say “Oh, everything after season 14 was bad.”
If we are being real though, Shonda will probably have some way to break the rest of our hearts and somehow continue to draw millions in for at least another 10 seasons. It feels as if we are about due for a helicopter crash or another building collapse.
Whatever, just rip our hearts out already Shonda.
Chuck Greenlee is a junior studying communication studies at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you think it's time for Grey's Anatomy to end? Let Chuck know by tweeting him @chuck_greenlee.
