S1. I still enjoy the show but I hate all the bedhopping. Let's get back to the medicine and friendly interaction. All the longing stares and secret hook-ups and soap opera antics are what brought down ER. I don't want to see that happen to this show as well.

Bailey does indeed rock though.

I think EP's acting deteriorated from S1 to S2, but the stakes were definitely raised this past season.

This is a tough decision, not just because they both feel like one hugeass, mega-season, but I'd have to say season 1-- just by a little bit. Actually, I feel like season 2 was a little too long for its own good, and that it dragged a bit right after the Superbowl/Bomb episode and didn't pick up for a while. I haven't been fond of a lot of things in season 2-- Izzie/Denny, for one thing, and the way that whole train wreck of a storyline ended. Or the Mer/Der/Addison triangle, which STILL ISN'T OVER. But overall, it's still one of the best shows on TV.

I feel as though it's not that fair to compare the two "seasons" because S1 was only 9 episodes and S2 was 27 episodes... Of course S1 was better in terms of all the characters starting off in rather pristine condition, but that doesn't mean it's just to hate S2 for the development within it. I mean, I can understand liking S1 better, but I think it's crucial to make the distinction between how much screen time the characters have.

That said, I like S2 better.

ETA I'm not that great of a speller when I write these things quickly

I agree that it's hard to fairly compare the seasons since S2 had so many more episodes, but, even when comparing S1 and the first part of S2 vs. the latter part of S2, I'd pick the second half of S2 without hesitation.

I just thought S1 was a little too self-consciously 'look at how quirky and whimsical and zany' we can be, while the middle of S2 and on just seemed a lot more layered and complex. For me, the show took a little while to find its unique tone: that perfect balance between drama, humor and romance. I really enjoyed S1, but can't envision myself watching those episodes over and over. S2, though, IMO holds up beautifully under multiple viewings. It's just more nuanced and interesting to me. Plus, I happen to adore both Addison and Finn, neither of whom were part of S1.

Season 2 was better because it gave me Addison and bailey became more of a real person, and not a caricature.

After watching the S2 finale of GA, I went back and watched my S1 dvds. I was actually shocked at how different these two seasons were. It seems as though the atmosphere in the hospital completely changed.

In S1, the interns are all scared and inexperienced. They're anxious to please their superiors and will do anything it takes to get ahead in the program. Personally, I really enjoyed watching this competitive environment. When the interns made new discoveries and earned respect from the attendings, it was highly rewarding. When they made surgical mistakes, it was extremely tense. The intern's personal relationships were more of a light, comical device in S1. We saw how they escaped the stress of their work environment by having fun with each other. My conclusion about S1 as it pertains to my current argument is that the medicine/surgery was tense and exciting, while relationships were light and fun.

In season 2, we see a complete reversal of this dynamic. None of the interns seem to care as much about their cases, and patients are often used as comic relief. Instead of being stressed about their jobs, the interns are all stressed about their friendships and love lives. Instead of being competitive with each other, our interns are now a "family" who will protect each other at the risk of losing their jobs. A person could argue that this is a good transition for our main characters, but I belive that this transition should take more than nine episodes to occur. As well, since many of the interns have slept with their superiors, they are no longer anxious when they disobey them. There is barely any hospital hierarchy anymore, even the Chief of Surgery knows all the interns by name and reputation (in normal hospitals this is very unlikely).

In season 2, I wanted to see the interns work extremely hard to earn the respect of their superiors. I wanted them to remain mistrustful and constantly in competition with each other. This show is obviously not all about medicine, but it shouldn't be all about relationships either. In S1, GA was a very unique hospital drama because it demonstrated the challenges of working in a very professional environment. I have no problem with relationships as they concern the careers of the interns. However, when you start to write a show with a main focus of hook-ups, break-ups, and love triangles, you start to slide down a slippery, soapy, slope.

So that is why I prefer S1 over S2.

ETA: Loyal Viewer! Yay!

Considering the two male attendings have slept w/ two female interns, and a female resident is dating her male intern, I'd say the "superiors" are the ones that gave up their cards here. No one forced Shepherd to sleep w/ Mere, Burke to pursue Cristina, or Callie to stalk George, it was their choice and now that they get no respect is no fault of the interns.

And I gotta say I prefer S1 slightly over S2. I just loved Shepherd. Loved loved loved him. The perfect boyfriend, so sweet, so loving, so attentive, so...just loving. Even their last scene together as a couple (right as Addie is walking into the hospital in the background), he's taking care of Mere by putting on her coat. This year's Shepherd has been a fucking nightmare, so I perfer S1 b/c of the perfect, adorable man.

ETA: a word

Total word.

I actually just bought and watched S1 for the first time. I didn't start watching until S2 (though I had been briefed on the relevant details of S1 by someone who did watch). And...wow. The whole feel of the show was so different. I feel like it started to morph into more S2-ishness around "Save Me."

So perhaps I'm biased because S2 was what hooked me, but I think S2 is better by far. There WAS a ton more medicine in S1, but to me it felt like filler. They hadn't established all the relationships yet and the various dynamics (just because of too few episodes). So they had to stick more "hospital politics" stuff in to drum up some dramatic controversy. I prefer it now, when there's enough layering and enough complexity to generate some genuine interpersonal controvery The medicine is decidedly secondary for me. I've already seen ER. I know some people hate how all the patients seem to be designed to mimic what's going with the doctors. And when they've totally cheapened it into just a plot device, I don't like that either. But I watch about 95% for the relationships (friendships, professional, romantic, a combo thereof, etc.), so the medical stuff can bore me a little.

Also, I agree that all the characters have become, in one sense, much less likeable over the course of S2. McDreamy's been McPussy at points, Meredith has gotten needy and whiny, George has regressed into kicked-puppydom, then progressed out of it, then regresssed, then progressed, etc. Izzie's gone batshit crazy. Karev's been a giant, conceited asshole at many points. Burketina has had their ups and downs. Really, the only characters who I think have gotten completely more awesome are Addison (who appeared for all of 30 seconds in S1) and Bailey.

But from where I'm sitting, somehow the fact that they've become more unlikeable--in a certain sense--actually makes them more likeable in another sense. They've certainly piled the shit onto these characters and their relationships, but I say bring the shit. It's more involved, more complex, more messy, more like real life, and ultimately more satisfying for me, at least. For too much of S1, McDreamy was the classic good-looking, breezy, slightly caddish doctor. And as fucking hot as that is, I prefer complicated!confused!McDreamy, even though sometimes his behavior makes me want to throw things.

I enjoyed S1. I plowed through it in 4 days. But S2 is still better for me. I see S1 as necessary establishing episodes, so they could really get to the goodness that was S2.

Total Word! Season one is great fun to watch and I love it death for how charming McDreamy is, but a whole second season of S1 would have started to bore me. It was the necessary set-up, getting the audience introduced to the characters and their relationships, how they acted and so on, so that they could really dive into the story in S2. S2 has all the drama and the unmasking of these charming, fiesty, relatively together characters to see the messiness and problems beneath. It made them more human, which at times equals more irritating, but it's what kept me hooked. S1 was fabulous and funny, but it was just the right amount of that type of fabulous. I'm very glad S2 made the change to bring us characters who make unlikeable, frustrating and at times incredibly stupid decisions because I can relate to these people that much more for their flaws.

I don't believe at all that GA should focus more on the medicine, becuase I have yet to find a tv show that actually gets their facts right in this regard. The thing I enjoyed about S1 was that it wasn't really about medicine, but it wasn't really about relationships either. Instead, it was about suceeding in a highly competitive and professional environment. I just loved how it captured this feeling of being swallowed up in a world full of big players and paddling madly to stay afloat. I think that this made GA very unique.

Don't get me wrong, I love relationship drama on TV. It's just that in S2, when one of the interns made some big step in their careers, it was over-shadowed by more pressing relationship issues. In S2 the medicine was no longer interesting because it wasn't as important to the interns. I just didn't like that fact that the show abandoned the career stuff early on.

(For some reason I have a lot to say about this topic. Going back to essay-writing now :) )

I would join the posters who said that S1 is much better than S2 for the simple fact that almost all characters in S1 speak and act as smart, ambitious and consistent personalities, even when they make some serious mistakes.

My problem with S2 is that I see the IQ of main characters are dropped so low, that it’s hard to believe we see the same characters that we saw in S1. Meredith was goal-oriented (“Unlike you I still have something to prove!” “It cannot exist”) and in general intelligent, talented and SMART woman, although I admit that “she flawed” in some areas of her life, but she knew the difference at least.
In S2 Mer’s behavior and storylines are so unreal and stupid, particularly in the last few episodes (“I am knitting”, “I want to go to your apartment, no I don’t want?” “He is married and I am knitting???”, or the whore-related lines) that it makes me think that she deserves what she gets. We all do mistakes, but she looks like she doesn't know the difference at all...Where is 30+ year old talented and well-educated woman who worked so hard to get into the program? The same goes to Derek – he answered so many times “I don’t know” in S2, that I think other characters should already mock him for that. If writers portray him as evasive or not-thinking clear/well character, it goes in contrast with his attending position and what we saw in S1. He could be the same bastard, but at least his storylines should sound clever. Addison as a wife and woman in power, being a successful surgeon etc, looks stupid and mentally-challenged to me..If she acted as she supposed to – manipulative and competitive – it would be much more interesting to see.

I like a few episodes in S2 for the simple fact that guest-characters speak as normal intelligent people – my favorite is episode with divorce attorney, or even episode with Mark, or bomb episodes. My point is that even if writers portray the main characters as “people who never grew up” or “bunch of teenagers playing on the ground” – they should be intelligent anyway in accordance with their education and positions.

In S2 I feel a lack of good writing, instead of over-simplified storylines “Could of gone better” “Or that girl/kid”, we could see some more of a smart and intelligent side of the characters. I find that S1 was more well-thought, consistent and integral than S2.

Exactly haberdine!

Character development?????

This seems to be the minority opinion, but I vastly prefer S2. It's easier for me to compare and contrast now that S1 repeats are running on Thursdays while S2 repeats are running on Sundays. I'm usually one to roll my eyes at excessive romantic angst and in fact still often think that the medical cases of the week and the ethical/familial/philosophical etc. issues they raise are the most interesting facet of the show. So, believe me, I understand why the super--shippy focus of S2 bugged some people and am still amazed that I didn't mind and even loved most of the 'ship stuff myself!

IMO, S2 just had so much more to it, if that makes sense. I don't even really enjoy watching S1 repeats, as I feel one or two viewings of them was sufficient. S2, however, IMO holds up wonderfully even after multiple viewings. The S2 eps just seem more layered and nuanced to me. I'm still noticing new things: zingy one-liners that I'd missed the first time around, certain dynamics among the characters, the way some of the medical cases relate to personal issues the interns are going through. And, as mentioned above, GA is one of the few shows on which I actually enjoy the relationship angst: I just feel it was compellingly done and had real insight (and often humor) into the screwed up romantic entanglements in which we often find ourselves.

For me, a lot of the elements that made S1 so enjoyable were even more finely honed in S2: the sharp dialogue, the use of music, the intersection of the interns' personal and professional lives. I felt like it delved deeper, and while the results were sometimes messy and even occasionally unpleasant (I'm among those who hated the McDreamy/Mer sex scene in the finale), I've had a grand old time sorting through the muck and analyzing every episode! I totally understand missing the S1 dynamic among the interns, but I'm just not sure how many more times I'd want to watch the interns compete over cases. IMO, the show's really deepened and evolved since it began, and I'm already embarrassingly excited for S3...

Of course it was intresting to see S2, generally it should be more intresting - more history, more events, more interactions..Viewers are already familiar with main characters..More episodes and etc.

But I see a regression in all main characters - not a development. I am ok with the events and interactions and obstacles..but their storylines sound stupid to me, compare to S1. Mer's "knitting" and almost all lines with Finn look out of place.. I miss the initial sex-Goddess, slightly manipulative, but generally smart woman. At the end of S2 she acts and speaks like a teenager.
Derek is a "black hole" in S2 to me and apparently to many other viewers..Development? What development?

I know it's artificial to compare S1 and S2, but to be accurate I would say that first episodes were more about Interns/Beginners on the Field, Career, Competition, the Game itself and Personal issues; whereas in most episodes of S2 focus was more on Adultery/Cheating (that incl.Alex,George and Izzy), Balancing your personal life with the Game, Love/Illusion of Love, and Career - in that order.

I do agree with haberdine on the issue that in season two, the interns' careers seemed to take a back seat. I do like the romantic/relationships aspect of the show, don't get me wrong, but this season there was a lot less focus on competition and how intimidating it is to be an intern. Rightly so, I suppose, since a) that'd get boring and b) the interns are all screwing attendings anyway, but it also does seem like the characters became a little less mature. Izzie and George acted like 12-year olds more often than I like to think- and to some extent I understand this, because you don't get the same independence in college/med school than you do in the "real world"-- but I'd expect that with Izzie's background, at the very least, she would be more focused on her career and act her age, since she had to support herself since she was quite young. (George, on the other hand, lived with his mom till he moved into Meredith's house.) If Izzie's had as hard a time as she says she did, you'd expect that she would be more career-driven and wouldn't be going around, say, lying in bed with her patients and cutting their LVAD wires. I mean, fine, "you can't help who you fall in love with"...but you can ask to be removed from their case. You can NOT steal a heart for them.

It did seem, at times, that the characters had regressed to high school- like the episode where Callie peed in front of Meredith and Izzie. Yeah, OK, it's gross that she didn't wash her hands...but you have to shut up about it at some point. I actually am in high school, and I would never carry on like that.

Oh, but my biggest problems with season two:
- They had a prom at the goddamn hospital, which "everyone has to attend" (wtf, Webber? How are you, in any way, qualified to be the Chief of Surgery?)
- Dizzie. Oh, Jesus Christ. I hated them all the way till "17 Seconds", when I suddenly found myself not minding them that much. But I do take issue with the fact that Izzie CUT the wire instead of just, I don't know, unplugging it or something. At least then she'd have some chance at a career.

That being said, I've now changed my mind- I like season 2 more. I recently rewatched season 1 (I don't live in the US, so I'm not getting reruns), and it's not as good as I remember it to be. It's very "first season", if you get what I mean-- you can tell that it's a show that's trying really hard to get up on its feet. And they've vastly improved the music-- in S1 I found it a little jarring and distracting at times, but in season 2 it seemed to flow better.