Grey’s Anatomy, the critically acclaimed medical drama, has recently been renewed for a twenty-first season. Yes, you read that right the twenty-first season. The show first premiered on March 27, 2005, with the first episode, “A Hard Day’s Night”. Since then the show has developed a very loyal fan base which is a huge reason why the show has continued for so long with such a high success rate. According to IMDb, the show has won 88 awards and received 252 different nominations since its premiere. The renewal of the show for the 21st season extends the show’s record of being not only the longest-running primetime medical drama, but also the longest-running primetime scripted series in the history of ABC. But the announcement of the 21st season has also produced a lot of division among the show’s fans.
There is a vast array of opinions regarding the renewal of the show. Some believe that the show has been going on for too long and is no longer of the same quality that it was in the earlier seasons, but there are also people who don’t want it to end. Groves sophomore Camelia Meradi has “watched the show since [she] was younger but stopped back around season 17”. Meradi explained that she just didn’t find “the show to be the same anymore” and thought that it “lost its luster” because of how little of the original cast was left.
The renewal was announced on Instagram on April 2, 2024, with the simple message, “Grey’s Anatomy will be back for season 21 on ABC”. The responses to this post were extremely varied but there was one overarching message in most of the comments, “The show should end”, “What is the point? There are none of the original cast left”, and “The show is not good anymore.” These opinions align with my personal opinion on the renewal of the show.
For the last couple seasons of the show it has not been the same as it was in the earlier seasons. A small handful of main characters are still left on the show. In replacement of the original cast, a variety of new cast members have been added to the storyline such as a whole new class of interns whom most of the story currently surrounds. This makes it feel as if it is a whole new show at this point. Another thing that adds to this feeling of a change in the show is the change in the showrunner, when in 2015, Shonda Rhimes, the original writer of the show, stepped down.
After the departure of the main character Meredith Grey, played by actor and director Ellen Pompeo, in season 19, a lot of conversation took place about whether or not the show should or could go on anymore without Pompeo. I believe that once Pompeo was reduced to a guest star on the show it truly did not feel like the same show anymore. Season 20 only has 10 episodes compared to all the other seasons having around 24 episodes, it truly felt that it was a good amount for a finale season and it is my opinion that the show should have ended after this season. But, it is in fact continuing, and because of this I will be waiting for the next season to premiere to see what they do. As Derek Sheppard, a surgeon and main character on the show would say, “it’s a beautiful day to save lives,” and we will continue to watch lives be saved on the show for another season.
