Shades of Grey

It has been a long time since I watched Grey’s Anatomy. I watched the first two seasons, back in 2005 and 2006, but haven’t watched it since — it reached that Marissa point where the characters do really irrational things and you check out. I caught an older episode tonight, and I recognized about half of the characters, and it was pretty excellent. Everything I used to love was still there. And it’s not something specific to Grey’s Anatomy, it’s true of The OC and Gossip Girl and any other show like that. The drama is ridiculous. There are moments when you think hey maybe if everyone spent less time gossiping and eating pizza then you would be able to practice medicine a bit more.

At the core of these shows is the drama. Everything is a mess. It is always going to be a mess. When it stops being screwed up this way, it will be messed up in a different way. These shows would not work if everyone was happy, if all the relationships were going perfectly and no one was having a nervous breakdown. This is real life drama on steroids, a hyperbolized state of everyday life drama but with better comebacks. It reminds you that your problems are going to be fine, and that in comparison there is no way it will be this crazy. But you can also relate. Your friends do crazy stuff too. It helps that there are thoughtful voice overs — Grey’s and Scrubs have that down. Whatever happens it will be okay. You will live to fit another day, and the most important thing is to enjoy the ride.

And maybe just maybe if you are lucky you will be able to keep track of who is dating who.