Why Grey's Anatomy has stayed trending for over 20 years: The secrets behind its enduring popularity

Grey's Anatomy has been successfully running for over two decades and holds the unique distinction of being the longest-running primetime television show. In terms of ruling the air for such a long time, Grey's Anatomy has even surpassed its predecessor medical drama, ER. It is recognized as television gold.

While there have been several ups and downs on Grey's Anatomy since it was first telecast, the Shonda Rhimes creation has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds over the years. There are several reasons behind its ability to trend for over two decades, and here we shall try to sum up a few of them.

Grey's Anatomy diversified the landscape of primetime television

Grey's Anatomy initially came across as a steamy medical drama that featured doctors and interns having a crazy amount of sex. However, over the years, the show has matured to include diverse representation and has tackled important social topics and medical stigma. The audience has been able to increasingly relate to the daily struggles of the show's characters. Although the central characters, barring the exception of Sandra Oh's Dr. Christina Yang, were predominantly white, the hospital leadership on the show was composed entirely of Black characters, such as chief of surgery Dr. Richard Weber and chief of cardiothoracic surgery Dr. Preston Burke.

It is a testament to Rhimes' vision that diversity on the landscape of network television came to be associated with the Ellen Pompeo-led show. Dr. Arizona Robbins happened to be the longest-running Lesbian character on any television show, and the medical drama incorporated numerous transgender and non-binary characters in recent years, including Dr. Kai Bartley and Dr. Casey Parker. Apart from its characterization, the ABC show is an enduring favorite among fans owing to its portrayal of gaps in the American healthcare infrastructure.

Shonda Rhimes speaks about Grey's Anatomy

Rhimes sat down with Entertainment Weekly for an exclusive interview marking the twentieth anniversary of the show. When asked about the moment when she realized for the first time that the show could be a major hit, Rhimes recalled:

"I wasn't even thinking about Will the audience think it's really good? I hadn't gotten there yet. I think the moment I realized we were special in some way was they were doing audience testing with the pilot. It used to be that they'd bring you in and there'd be this screen, and the audience would be on the other side and they'd be turning dials as they watched the show. And so we were there in real time watching it, and the trajectory kept going up, up, up — and it never dipped. Somebody turned to me and said, "This has literally never happened in the history of ABC.""

She further added:

Trending

"And I don't know if it really never happened in the history of ABC, but that's how they said it to us. And I thought, "Oh, so we're doing really good," but I still felt like a student getting my A-plus."

Grey's Anatomy is available on ABC.

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