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Dish Of Salt: Finally Going 'Grey' (October 9, 2006)

by Laura Saltman

It may be the most watched show on TV right now, but I'll be honest, I was a reluctant "Grey's Anatomy" watcher. I've never been a huge fan of medical dramas because all the blood and guts makes me queasy. Plus, when the show first premiered, after "Desperate Housewives" at 10pm, it was on way too late on a Sunday night for me. So, I tuned out and went to sleep, despite my co-workers cries that it was a brilliant show and I should be watching.

I remember being in Spain, exactly one year ago at a friend's house, overlooking the Mediterranean in Ibiza. Sure the scenery was beautiful and the weather impeccable but we hadn't spoken to an American in almost a week. So, I'm itching for some American culture and turned on the house's TV which had a satellite dish, only to find "Grey's Anatomy" season one airing (on I think the BBC or something similar). There is a party going on and Dr. Grey and McDreamy are getting busy in the front seat of his car. At this point, I have no clue who the random woman knocking on their car window is. So, despite my best efforts and aching to hear English, I still couldn't get into it and instead began watching re-runs of "Will & Grace" on satellite.

One month later and season two is in full swing. All of a sudden the show's success takes off and the stars are everywhere. I watch Ellen Pompeo on "Oprah", where they play the clip of Meredith begging Dr. McDreamy, "Pick me. Choose me. Love me." I decide that this display of emotion makes women look frighteningly pathetic and continue to tune out. Why Oprah doesn't cry fowl on that one bugs me. She's an empowered woman. She should know better.

Then Superbowl Sunday rolls around and my hometown team, The Pittsburgh Steelers, have just won. I have way too much adrenaline and wind up wide awake and giving Grey's one more shot. I tune in to see the big Superbowl episode. Still, I just can't find myself caring about whether or not anyone in the O.R. is going to blow up or not. I happen to be channel flipping the next night to see Kyle Chandler get blown to smithereens. I mention this because it's annoying that once I did start getting into the show, I already knew what happened. I also knew that Denny Duquette died before I even knew exactly who Denny was.

So, what happened? Well, let's see. I started writing this blog about a month after the Superbowl episode and becoming more and more of a TV expert. The Emmy nominations are announced in July and I finally decided that, as such, I couldn't ignore this wildly popular show. There must be something to it that I can't see. I decide to start from scratch and borrow the season one DVD from producer, Bryant, who had been one of the ones telling me all along I needed to watch, "Laura once again this show isn't 'ER!' What else are you doing on Thursdays at 9? Ok, don't answer that. So after watching 'Smallville' (yes I said it "Smallville") switch over to Grey's latest escapades. It's smart. It's touching. It's funny. It's good TV."

Being able to watch TV shows on DVD is perhaps the best invention of the decade. Now I won't lie. It took me about five episodes before I really started to care about these characters. Maybe because they were hard to get to know, each and every one of them flawed in a different way. All of sudden by episode six, I find myself realizing what all the fuss is about. It's dramatic but with a silly side. It's heartwarming but with a hard edge. The characters are flawed but with a human side. I can close my eyes when they are showing the gross, surgery stuff.

The day Grey's season two arrived on DVD, I was eager to dive in. It took awhile but now I'm finally caught up on my Grey's watching. After fighting it for so long, I have officially crossed over to the fan side. Though I will admit the whole Dr. McDreamy versus the Vet storyline does bug me a little bit. Just like Dr. Grey's pathetic begging to Dr. McDreamy last year, I find it kind of ridiculous that two men as good looking as Patrick Dempsey and Chris O'Donnell would agree to date the same woman. Standing there at her doorstep last week while she asked them to woo her, I'm thinking any guy in his right mind would be like forget this, you can have her. That's just me.

As it turns out, yesterday, I spent the morning with the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" as they hosted an event for The Rape Treatment Center of Santa Monica. Now I'm all for talking about and taking part in charity events but it would stand to reason that I would also want to try and get a little scoop out of everyone. I was warned by their publicists that Sandra Oh and Ellen Pompeo would only talk about the event. Understandable. I remarked to Ellen that I thought it was amazing that so many of the cast members took time out of their busy schedules to be there. She told me, "We get so much attention lately, just for the show, and I don't know if any of us feel worthy of how much attention we're getting. So, the opportunity to come out and do something positive- we all jump at that chance."

If that doesn't tell you she's a reluctant celebrity nothing does.

The boys were much more talkative about the show though. T.R. Knight told me the show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, is pretty adamant about them not leaking any information out. Don't think I didn't try my best.

I did get a little scoop out of them so be sure and check out my interviews with the guys. Just click on the video clips above on the right!