Nobody Had a Better Week Than Drama-Loving Grey’s Anatomy Fans
Weâve reached the end of another long week. But before we clock out for the weekend, weâre giving props where theyâre due. Hereâs to our winners of the week.
Not since the antics of Katherine Heigl and misbehaviors of Isaiah Washington has the behind-the-scenes drama at Grey’s Anatomy been so compelling. While we still love the weepy hospital procedural, we thought its most scandalous days were behind it. But as we learned this week, not so.
Apologies to Netflix’s Sweet Bobby, but the faker-scammer-true-crime doc we’re currently obsessed with is Anatomy of Lies on Peacock, a three-part exposĂ© of Elisabeth Finch, the powerful former Grey’s writer-producer who was caught having fabricated an entire history of cancer, abuse and trauma. The story was first broken by The Ankler and then deeply reported in Vanity Fairâin a two-part piece on which the Peacock series is basedâbut as any writer for the screen knows, reading is one thing, seeing is another.
If you think this is just an industry story, think again. It’s about manipulation, the co-opting of social justice movements, and more than a few vampires, both literal and figurative (she pretended Anna Paquin gave her a kidney).
The woman at the center of the fraud posted a lengthy apology the day the doc came out, so this isn’t a Dancing For The Devil situation where we don’t actually know what to believe. She did it.
And it sounds like things were on the verge of toxic both inside the writers room and on set around 2017-2018, which is when fan favorite Sarah Drew, who’d played Dr. April Kepner for nine seasons, was abruptly let go, alongside co-star Jessica Capshaw, who played Dr. Arizona Robbins. âWe were unceremoniously let go in a way that felt mean and unjust,” Drew just spilled on the podcast that Capshaw hosts with current Grey’s cast member Camilla Luddington, who plays Dr. Jo Wilson.
At the time of the double departure, Shonda Rhimes et al chalked it up to the âcreative directionâ of the show, with Drew saying that she was told her contract wasn’t renewed because the always sprawling cast had too many characters and they apparently needed to downsize. Both Capshaw and Drew have made return appearances on the show since then, so probably no bad blood now, but back in the day⊠(eyes emoji).
Luddington, by the way, is also part of the Finch drama, though not by her own design. The disgraced writer became heavily involved in Dr. Jo Wilson’s storyline, going so far as to check herself into a mental health treatment center under the name Jo. The treatment center where she met her wife. We’re telling you, it’s a lot.
GREY’S ANATOMY, Sarah Drew in ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ (Season 11, Episode 9, aired January 29, 2015). ph: Kelsey McNeal/©ABC/courtesy Everett Collection©ABC/Courtesy Everett Collection
And now, if you’ll indulge a bit of tinfoil hat PR theory, does anyone else find it coincidental that the team over at Grey’s chose this moment to announce that Sophia Bush is joining the cast?
She’s slated for a ârecurring roleâ starting on November 7; love her, love this job for her, it’s the timing that’s only a tiny bit sus. Also the Deadline announcement notes that her character’s husband is named âDavid Beckham,â which we have to assume the series will address. Galaxy brain: naming her husband’s character after a famous retired soccer player when Bush is IRL partnered with a famous retired soccer player is kinda juicy, nah?
Richard Cartwright/ABC
They also have Justin Chambers, a.k.a. Dr. Alex Karev, out here mentioning Grey’s to promote his one-episode appearance on a Fox drama, which aired the same night Anatomy of Lies premiered. That one probably is a coincidence. Still, helpful timing, in terms of diluting the amount of Grey’s content on people’s feeds that directly makes the show look McQuestionable.
And just like that, we’re hooked again. If ABC was hoping to turn lemons into lemonade and hook former viewers via scandal, it’s working. We haven’t been so intrigued by Grey’s Anatomy in years.
