I just read an interview with ...
Question: I just read an interview with
Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes where she made this statement about her core show couple of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey): "For good' doesn't necessarily go past this season," Rhimes says. "But they're definitely together for good for now." This is just one example of many where Rhimes continually uses the media to make statements to her fans to either create buzz or pacify them, only to come back and go against her original statements. At the end of season four, Rhimes went to many media outlets to assure fans her key couple would be together "for good" and then went on to explain the ups and downs of any ongoing TV relationship and was excited to see how fans would follow them. Show producer Betsy Beers also echoed this statement as recently as two weeks ago. Why do you think Rhimes does this? Obviously fans had an idea of what "for good" meant, and personally, I don't think they were off. Now the fans are all over online, calling the show's writer, creator and producer a liar and I think that's the nicest thing she's being called. Many express no longer having any faith in any of her current or upcoming projects. Why do you think she would make a statement like this so close to the show's upcoming season and slap the face of so many who were finally trusting her again with her characters and show?
Answer: If you're going to judge a show on its publicity, or (heaven help you) on what people are buzzing about on fan sites, in advance of actually seeing the show, I pity you. (This question came in well before Thursday's season opener. I imagine I'll be getting plenty of reaction now that it's aired.) Shonda Rhimes is both notoriously close-lipped about plot developments on her show and notoriously playful and flippant about what she does choose to say to the press. I'd take it all with a pillar of salt. In this case, I wish she'd just settled for saying that Meredith and Derek are together "for real," because "for good" is the sort of self-limiting statement no one who produces a long-running, ever-evolving show should get trapped into. Quite clearly, Meredith is her own worst enemy when it comes to settling in to a relationship "for good," and that's the inherent drama of the current state of this particular romance. Like it or not (and I can see the point from both sides), that's the psychic anatomy of Meredith Grey. But honestly, all this yammer of fans feeling abused and slapped in the face before the season even gets going is just silly.
