{"id":4297,"date":"2015-08-15T13:10:56","date_gmt":"2015-08-15T17:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/?p=4297"},"modified":"2015-08-15T13:10:56","modified_gmt":"2015-08-15T17:10:56","slug":"greys-anatomy-are-abc-rhimes-running-scared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/15\/greys-anatomy-are-abc-rhimes-running-scared\/","title":{"rendered":"Grey\u2019s Anatomy: Are ABC & Rhimes Running Scared?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor's Note: \u00a0My new project is writing for \"Constant Content.\" \u00a0I wrote this and submitted it, but it was rejected as \"newsy\" or \"dated\" content. \u00a0Well, my blog is the PERFECT place for this content! \u00a0Y'all will have to let me know how it goes -- I won't be watching Grey's, but I have been watching, with great interest, the FRANTIC promo for the upcoming season.........<\/strong><\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

McDreamy died. Did ABC\u2019s Thursday night lineup die with him?<\/p>\n

McDreamy was the nickname of a doctor on Grey\u2019s Anatomy, a TV show on ABC. Shonda Rhimes created it and then she created Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder. The trio forms ABC\u2019s blockbuster Thursday night prime time lineup. McDreamy, Dr. Derek Shepherd, was the romantic lead on the show, opposite Dr. Meredith Grey, the female lead, played by Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo. After a feud that made headlines, Derek Shepherd died on the April 23rd<\/sup> episode. 67% of the show\u2019s fans say the show died with him, according to a poll cited by The Daily Gazette.<\/p>\n

TV actors get written off and their characters die, but McDreamy is different. On March 27, 2005, the first scene of Grey\u2019s showed the morning after between two strangers who hooked up the night before at a bar. Those strangers were Derek and Meredith, famously known as MerDer.\u00a0 Their romance launched and anchored the show until Dempsey\u2019s character met an undignified end. McDreamy backed across a highway and grabbed his cell phone. A speeding semi struck his car.<\/p>\n

Fans took it as a betrayal by Rhimes. Loyal viewers followed the romance through his divorce, her drowning, explosions, gunshots, separations, and reconciliations. After the couple, at long last, wed in a sticky note ceremony, Rhimes promised a happily ever after. She kept the promise until trouble developed. Rumors of Dempsey having an affair with an intern followed his separation from his wife. Other gossip claimed Dempsey\u2019s behavior on set had alienated everyone. Rhimes kept him out of many episodes last Season after sending Dr. Shepherd to Washington. She brought him back long enough to kill him.<\/p>\n

Fans protested Derek being killed instead of sent back to Washington or to Zurich where Cristina (played by the departed Sandra Oh) runs a high tech medical clinic and lab. The manner of death disturbed them since the traffic accident was a swipe at Dempsey whose involvement in auto racing is well known. Fans denounced the lack of a real memorial. Former colleagues not attending Derek\u2019s funeral diminished his death in the eyes of viewers. Fans concluded that Rhimes showed little regard for McDreamy and less regard for them. 67% of them vowed not to watch again.<\/p>\n

Vanity Fair quoted Rhimes calling McDreamy \u201cincredibly important\u201d and an example of what \u201cyoung women should demand from modern love.\u201d\u00a0 But Rhimes emphasized that \u201cthe carousel never stops turning.\u201d\u00a0 Fans didn\u2019t find it a fitting memorial, but it sufficed for Rhimes until polls showed that the carousel stopped for many viewers. ABC President Paul Lee said that Rhimes decided Dempsey\u2019s death \u201cwas the way to go.\u201d The Season premiere approaches with the network laying blame at her door, so Rhimes developed a two-pronged strategy: rewriting history and paying late tribute.<\/p>\n

Although Dempsey\u2019s contract, like Pompeo\u2019s, extended through the upcoming Season, Rhimes ended Dempsey\u2019s run early. In the Entertainment Weekly exclusive posted the evening of the death episode, April 23rd<\/sup>, Dempsey said he was \u201csurprised\u201d at how the story unfolded and didn\u2019t find out he\u2019d be written out and killed off until February or March. In a piece posted August 7th<\/sup>, The Daily Gazette quotes Rhimes that Dempsey wanted to leave after 11 seasons so, \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, let the man go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhimes eulogizes McDreamy on the Season 11 DVD set for release on August 18th. E News spoke with Rhimes who said the choice came down to death or leaving Meredith \u201chigh and dry.\u201d\u00a0 If Derek left, Rhimes said, it meant that \u201cthe love was not true, the thing we had said for 11 years was a lie, and McDreamy was not McDreamy.\u201d \u00a0Rhimes did not discuss the mutual contract terms designed to allow McDreamy and Meredith to leave together.<\/p>\n

According to the poll, 67% of former viewers will not watch Meredith\u2019s solo journey.\u00a0 That number has execs casting blame and the show runner writing a new script. Time will tell whether Ms. Rhimes\u2019 fans continue to \u201cThank God It\u2019s Thursday\u201d or turn to another channel. All 3 of Rhimes\u2019 shows \u2013 Grey\u2019s, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder \u2013 premiere on ABC on September 24th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor's Note: \u00a0My new project is writing for \"Constant Content.\" \u00a0I wrote this and submitted it, but it was rejected as \"newsy\" or \"dated\" content. \u00a0Well, my blog is the PERFECT place for this content! \u00a0Y'all will have to let me know how it goes -- I won't be watching Grey's, but I have been ...continue reading \"Grey\u2019s Anatomy: Are ABC & Rhimes Running Scared?\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4298,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions\/4298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}