20 Years Later, Has Grey’s Anatomy Forgotten What Made It Great?

It’s been 20 years since the Shonda Rhimes-led medical drama Grey’s Anatomy made its debut on network television. With 21 seasons under its belt and another on the way, the appeal is clearly still there. Despite seeing familiar faces like Meredith Grey (yes, even after Ellen Pompeo significantly reduced her role as a full-time cast member) or walking the same halls of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, the show is a different version from the one we started with.

The show still continues to be successful even after all these years. It is renewed for season 22 on ABC this upcoming fall, especially in part to its strong performance in the ratings thanks to streaming. The series is currently sitting at number seven on Nielsen’s top 10 streaming TV shows. Despite this, fans of the show tend to separate the new from the old, breaking the series up into different eras. Nowadays, audiences are met with more mild storylines. This has become more and more apparent as fans get fewer ensemble plots, making the audience miss those early days of whatever crazy adventure the writers cooked up for them.

It’s Been Over a Decade Since the “Good Old Days” of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

The original era is largely considered to be from Season 1 to 11. The second half of the series runs from Seasons 12 to present day. This is due to the involvement of the core ensemble cast. Along with the original cast members, those early episodes are filled with a noticeable tone and style. Compared to those early, more intimate, and more organic storylines, today’s episodes feel forced and over-refined.

As the new wave of seasons appears to prioritize individual character development, you can’t help but compare the M.A.G.I.C. era (Meredith, Alex, George, Izzie, Cristina) to the new generations. What stands out the most when making such a comparison is the show’s distinctive ensemble camaraderie that is hardly there anymore. Take two of the most widely memorable and top-rated episodes of the series: the two-part season six finale. These episodes saw many of Grey Sloan’s best and brightest grapple with an active shooter. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) was shot, forcing Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) to operate on him under duress. Subsequently, Reed Adamson (Nora Zehetner) was killed point-blank in a very Game of Thrones-esque way, completely catching audiences off guard.

The end of Season 8 to the beginning of Season 9 also gave fans the cream of the crop in terms of exciting episodes. The infamous plane crash arc found, yet again, the show’s main players in peril. Including a few of the aforementioned, Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), and Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) were also involved once again. The ripple effect of the crash even impacted the hospital at large after its survivors sued for negligence. It was this episode arc that led the hospital to change its iconic name from Seattle Grace Mercy West to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Even though newer seasons continue the pattern of fresh rounds of residents, they feature a lack of integration with fewer plots involving the larger cast. A bomb in a patient, an intense ferry disaster, a hospital shooting, or an infamous plane crash, the list goes on and on. These events from the OG days often felt like game-changers. The formula behind Grey’s has changed —​​​​​​​ for better or worse.

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Still Works, but the Story Feels Milder

These days, it’s not uncommon to see a larger plot involving hospital bureaucracy. This is especially true surrounding the hospital’s head, Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen). Season 21 ends on an intense cliffhanger as Meredith looks to sell her shares of Grey Sloan to fund her Alzheimer’s research. It very well could be these short bursts of excitement that keep audiences tuned in. It doesn’t hurt the face behind this excitement is series mainstay, Meredith Grey herself. Would this cliffhanger be as exciting if it were anyone else?

What really reinforces the idea that the new seasons have derailed from what initially made the show so good are the top episodes in recent years. The highest-rated episodes in newer seasons primarily involve singular character arcs. Audiences witnessed Meredith’s intense recovery after a brutal attack in “The Sound of Silence” (Season 12, Episode 9), or there’s the Jo Wilson-led (Camilla Luddington) episode “Silent All These Years” (Season 15, Episode 19). Sure, in one way or another, staff at the hospital are indirectly impacted by these plots, but long gone are the days of an arc that gets everyone involved. Bonus points if it involves a fiery crash.

In recent years, despite having a dedicated fan base, audiences have critiqued the show for its lack of stakes. Leaning heavily into romantic entanglements, the medical drama can feel like a soap opera rather than a procedural at times. Of course, those early days had their fair share of dating dilemmas. Enter Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and April Kepner (Sarah Drew) or how could we ever forget infamous couple Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl). Even the tumultuous relationship of Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) had their own iconic moments. However, behind all the “Will they, won’t they?” was the over-the-top storylines that drew audiences in. Although Grey’s Anatomy still draws audiences in, we are long past the days of watershed moments that completely change up the setting of the hospital and, honestly, that’s a shame.