GREY’S ANATOMY: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON
(not rated)
MOVIE: *1/2 (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: ***1/2 (out of 5)
STARRING
Ellen Pompeo as MEREDITH GREY
Sandra Oh as CHRISTINA YANG
Katherine Heigl as ISOBEL “IZZIE” STEVENS
Justin Chambers as ALEX KAREV
Chandra Wilson as MIRANDA BAILEY
Patrick Dempsey as DEREK SHEPHERD
Sara Ramirez as CALLIE TORRES
Eric Dane as MARK SLOAN
Chyler Leigh as LEXIE GREY
Jessica Capshaw as ARIZONA ROBBINS
Kevin McKidd as OWEN HUNT
Kim Raver as TEDDY ALTMAN
Studio: ABC Studios
BY KEVIN CARR
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Big changes happen in the sixth season of the extremely popular medical soap opera “Grey’s Anatomy.” Meredith and McDreamy are dealing with their lives as husband and wife. Karev and Izzie are having other marital problems, and things may not work out well for them. Miranda faces a potential new job while Callie and Arizona have their own relationship to develop. Lexie and the rest of the newbies are thrown in with a bunch of new interns from a competing hospital. Finally, Christina and Owen’s own romance is on the rocks with the introduction of Owen’s former colleague Dr. Altman.
WHAT I LIKED
There is a certain amount of respect that I have for the longevity of “Grey’s Anatomy.” It may not be my favorite show on television nowadays (far from it, actually), but there’s something to be said about a series that captures its audience and remains fresh for them for years. Not many shows make it to a seventh season with sustained popularity (including weathering a writer’s strike several years ago).
Yeah, a lot of these compliments might seem back-handed, but while this show isn’t my cup of tea, I think the behind-the-scenes story is a lot more interesting. “Grey’s Anatomy” has remained flexible throughout the years, shifting characters in and out for various on-screen and off-screen reasons. The sixth season is no exception. This year, we have all the new interns and residents from the merging of Seattle Grace with another hospital, and for better or for worse, there is new blood in the series.
So as much as I do not enjoy the show (read more of that in the next section), this series hits all the marks it needs to in order to keep the fans interested.
At the very least, there was a pretty exciting season finale, which involves a shooter in the hospital. Sure, it’s filled with the show’s cliches, and I would have preferred to see a more aggressive and diverse reaction from some people in the hospital, but at least it wasn’t your standard bizarre-disease/relationship-of-the-week episode.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
I like a good drama, but the overbearing angst of “Grey’s Anatomy” wore thin on me years ago. I really don’t like any of the characters. McDreamy is an arrogant jerk. Meredith is a whiner. Christina is not a nice person. Then there’s the new batch of interns who just aren’t that interesting to me… even worse than the new batch of recruits in the concurrent season of “Scrubs: Medical School.”
There’s an overall approach to characters this show has that rubs me the wrong way. The philosophy behind “Grey’s Anatomy” is that people succeed and thrive on conflict. It’s a zero-sum game for this show in that if one person does well, it has to be a result of someone else suffering. I just don’t subscribe to that philosophy. This becomes very apparent with the needless bickering of the new staff. I’d like to think that the people working at my hospital has a better team player mentality than the screw you approach of the characters on this show.
The other things that grated on my nerves this season was how the series is becoming a caricature of itself. For example, the writing sets up so many speeches as well as the now-cliche musical montage over long pans at the end of the show. I’m just getting tired of the speeches, and I’d like to see a deviation from the overall formula. If they can change cast members as fast as they change directors, they should be able to shake things up a little bit from the formula side.
DVD FEATURES
This six-disc DVD set has a pretty nice collection of special features for the sixth season. There’s a slew of deleted and extended scenes on select shows, as well as an extended version of the season finale which includes 20 extra minutes. There’s also a short blooper reel that’s pretty funny.
Star Chandra Wilson gets a spotlight on the DVD, featuring her work as a director as well as her Broadway appearance in “Chicago.” The final feature is the six-part web series “Seattle Grace: On Call,” which follows the new crew at the hospital, as well as its own short behind-the-scene featurette. Unfortunately, the drama in this web series isn’t that great, and it’s very clear why these newbies never quite worked in this season.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Women… and fans of the show. But not me.