“I believe we can be extraordinary together rather than ordinary apart.” The medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy, created by Shonda Rhimes, is a 16-season show that captured the hearts of millions of viewers. After premiering on March 27, 2005, Grey’s Anatomy has been a huge success, making millions of dollars and winning many awards.
            The success of Grey’s Anatomy is its both heartwarming and heartbreaking storylines, as well as the characters. We meet the protagonist, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), on her first day of surgical residency at Seattle Grace hospital, along with her future best friends Christina Yang (Sandra Oh), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), George O’Malley (T.R Knight), and Izzy Stevens (Katherine Heigl). Each episode begins with a voice over by Meredith or another character, which foreshadows the episode’s plot, and at the end of each episode, there is another voice over that either contradicts or reiterates the beginning. 
            Each episode follows the daily lives of the doctors at Seattle Grace (later renamed as Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital), their patients and surgeries. Viewers get to see incredible surgeries from all the specialties: neuro, plastics, pediatrics, and others. The show also follows the personal lives of the characters. Relationships play as big of a role as their jobs as doctors. However, the relationships at Grey-Sloan Memorial are unrealistic, as no hospital has so many complex, intertwining, romantic relations. The biggest relationship on the show is Meredith’s and Derek Shepherd’s (Patrick Dempsey) on and off relationship that is greatly affected by Meredith’s “dark and twisty” personality and abandonment issues. Friendships and romance are a huge impact on the character's daily lives. 
            Every one to two seasons of Grey’s Anatomy is another year passing as the characters work to become surgeons. With each advancing year, a new group of interns arrive at Grey-Sloan to become surgeons. Many of these characters become very important or influential later on in the show. Each season ends with a major event such as the departure or arrival of a character, or a drastic change in a relationship
            By season 15, the show had 10 million total viewers. The 300th episode had 8.13 viewers and averaged a 1.9 rating in adults 18-49. A few reasons the show is so popular are some of the favorite characters such as Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). Many of these characters brought life to this show, and the departure of certain characters might be the reason the show is no longer as popular as it was. Ellen Pompeo has become one of the highest paid actresses on TV, making 575,000 dollars per episode, or 20 million dollars a year. The show plays on ABC and has 338 episodes as of the fourth episode of the sixteenth season. As successful and fantastic as the show is on screen, it wasn’t always as great behind the scenes. In an interview, Ellen Pompeo said “There were many moments when I wanted off the [show] ... I would say the first 10 years we had serious, serious culture issues. Very bad behavior. Really toxic work environment.” After the 10th season, Ellen said she really began to see changes behind the scenes. 
     Grey’s Anatomy is a truly inspiring show that has a huge impact on thousands of people worldwide. Following the characters on their journey, watching them struggle in their careers and love lives motivates viewers to follow their dreams.