Shonda is a Buffy fan, which totally explains Mer's mopey personality! I can see some other Buffy like things about the show -- Mer/McDreamy are star-crossed like Buffy/Angel. It's not appropriate for a doctor to date an intern, although that's not as bad as a vampire dating a slayer. The interns are totally like the Scoobies. I think Alex is the Cordelia.

One thing I like better about ER than GA is the depiction of nurses. They get way more respect on ER, ever since the early days of Nurse Hathaway. Besides that, GA totally kicks ER's ass.

If you're talking early ER, they are completely different. ER, in its day, was the best thing on television and, more than that, it was one of a handful of shows that changed the way television is made. I've been watching early ER on DVD recently and I am amazed at how well it stands up . . . very little of it is at all dated. And those early episodes still have the ability to surprise me . . . even though I've seen all of them before and remember a good deal about those early seasons. I'm a big fan of Grey's, but I doubt that twelve years from now, I'll be looking at the early seasons with the same admiration that I have for Classic ER.

Today's ER is a soap opera set in a hospital with bad lighting and less than ideal sound quality. Grey's is certainly better technically than today's ER - at the very least, I can see and hear it. I think it's also better in terms of quality . . . everybody connected with the show seems to be genuinely enthusiastic about what they're doing and that comes across on the screen. On ER, they seem to be just going through the motions.

IMO, there's nothing particularly original about Grey's (like there was about early ER), but Shondra Rhimes has the uncanny ability to mix and match all of the classic medical show elements in a way that makes them seem completely original. And in almost every episode, she does something that surprises me . . . . I knew that the bomb was going to blow up and I knew that Dylan was toast (I've watched television before) and I was still surprised. That's good writing.



I would say they used to, but other than that . . . WORD.

Izzy has started to look a more and more like Cameron from House lately. They both get a little too invested in their patients lives. Izzy's romance Denny is just screaming of a Cameron parallel to me. Izzy is falling for a guy with a bad heart, and Cameron fell in love with a guy with terminal cancer. I just hope that Izzy doesn't go and decide to marry Denny before he dies.

George is "Bambi" just like JD was/is on Scrubs. Hee.

I just finished watching the first season. Lots of fun.

Speaking of Izzie, the Izzie/Denny relationship reminds me of Denise/Michael J. Fox's character relationship on Boston Legal. He had stage 4 lung disease, though.

In season one, Izzie sort of reminded me of Phoebe from Friends. She was the wacky one of the interns. Now she's just the crazy one (Falling for a patient? Seriously? And dissing on Alex for telling said patient the truth? Seriously?). Alex is a bit like a mean Joey. He's the ladies man, but Joey was so obviously sweet hearted and Alex is more guarded.

Izzie now reminds me of...The Black Guy on every other tv show that's not as racially diverse as Grey's. You know, the guy who's always like "I'm black and feel inferior"-- except that she's like, "I'm from a trailer park and feel inferior". I also agree that she's turning into the Cameron of GA. All we can do is hope that denny will die soon and Izzie will stop being so damn grating and learn not to get too involved with her patients.

Agree completely skillzdatkillz!!!

I do wonder if Shonda was a fan of scrubs due to the obvious similarities and i don't mean that in a negative sense. Loved that scrubs had a line for grey's a few weeks ago! lol.

From the Finn thread:





They're (are/were) both soap operas of sorts. A group of <insert adjective and noun here> trying to <insert adverb and verb here>, like basically any other drama on television.

I loved SaTC. And I love Grey's Anatomy.

SaTC's humor was crass, it's "romance" was explicit, and the vocabulary of a couple of the characters included a lot of four letter words. Yes, HBO--and that could be used to downplay the differences, by saying "Well, it was only like that because it was on HBO." But the fact that a show like that isn't network becomes very intertwined with the show's identity. [Nip/Tuck, for example, wouldn't be nearly "what it is" if it were a network show. The fact that it's on cable allows for things--things which may be why people like it and watch it.]

The humor on Grey's is a bit wittier, and more subtle. And, of course, there's the huge medical aspect. And, again, you could say "Well, it's like SaTC, except with medicine." The medical aspects permeate every bit of the characters' lives, even their personalities themselves. The two can't be separated.

Anyway, I agree with Smoothie that most comparisons between SaTC and GA are a bit of a stretch.

This is the thread I've been waiting for.

GA has most in common with Buffy. Here's how.

Meredith is our sweet, somewhat selfish, caring, heroine. When push comes to shove, she'll be there for you. They both have absentee fathers. They both fall for men they can't have. They both have constantly changing hair colors.

George is totally Xander. He is/was in love with the heroine. He's sweet, loyal, but he can be quite jealous of her other romantic partners. The biggest thing George and Xander have in commmon....syphillis.

Derek is Angel. He is tall, dark, handsome, and forbidden. Addison is Darla to Derek's Angel.

Alex is Spike. He's crude, and an ass. But he can sweet and often tells the truth. Plus he's hot.

Cristina is Cordelia because of the whole blunt honesty. Actually Cristina probably a combination of Cordelia and Anya. IE: Did you meet your sister too? Not knowing when to shut up. Cristina is also a bit like Willow because she is best friends with the main character.

Burke is Oz. He's quiet and deep and he plays an instrument.

Izzie is half Willow and half Cordelia. She can sweet and caring but she's got the whole queen bee thing going on. She also wants to keep George all to herself and often makes fun of people who want to take him away from her.

Callie is Anya. She's blunt, somewhat obsessed with George(Xander) and is made fun of by George's best friends.

The Chief is Giles. He had a thing with the heroine's mother. He has a "father's love" for the heroine and he is the oldest. He oversees the doctors.

Ellis is Joyce Summers. Only in the sense that the actresses look similar. Joyce is most of the time nice, but can sometimes be a bitch. Ellis is most of the time a bitch, but she can be nice.

Finn=Riley Finn. The boy who comes along after the heroine's heart is broken by the forbidden lover. He's sweet and kind and kind of boring. She tries to love him but she can't because her heart will always belong to Angel/Derek.

Addison is Darla. She was with the leading man first and watns him back.

I don't know if there is one for Bailey. Jenny Calendar maybe. I don't know.

That's all I have. There are probably more parallels.

Just stylistically, there's a lot in common with "Scrubs" I love both shows, and the music often is on both. "In The Sun," "The World Spins Madly On," and "How to Save a Life" are the three that come to mind right now.

Omg get out of my brain!!! When I was going about the SINTC crap in the other threadm I was thinking "GA is mostly like Buffy if anything" but I didn't feel like getting into it. You rock, and I agree with everything you said!

I thought of more Buffy comparisons.

The mix of comedy and drama in GA is incredibly reminiscent of the mix of comedy and drama in Buffy. The dialogue is similar. Just subsitute medical jargon for demons and vampires.

Oddly enough, I read an interview a while back where Shonda admitted to being a huge BtVS fan back in the day.

I thought of a Gilmore Girls similarity.

The relationship between Meredith and Cristina reminds me a lot of of the relationship between Rory and Paris(seasons 1-3). Meredith plays the straight man to all of Cristina's barbs and quips. Meredith is sweet and caring and looks like little birds help her get dressed in the morning. Cristina is abrasive, sarcastic, and rude. They started out as psedo enemies and gradually became friends. They balance each other out. Is it too much to ask that we see a kiss between Meredith and Cristina like we saw between Rory and Paris during Spring Break? Oh well, at least we got the SB shower scene.

Total word. The words 'forbidden' and 'wrong' and 'unwise' come up so many freaking times in Buffy relationship drama, not just in the relationships of Buffy herself with Angel and Spike, but in the relationships of all the other characters on the show, like Willow and Tara or Xander and Anya or even Tara and Spike. Grey's is sooooo like that also, it's not even funny.

Just look at Meredith and Derek and Burke and Christina and Izzie and Denny and Webber and Ellis on Grey's. There is a shared element of danger, risk and sheer damm excitement in the relationship drama and the friendship dynamics between the characters on Buffy and Greys, that I get times infinity, love to pieces and don't ever see in a million years, on SAtC or Gilmore Girls.

A British Show that's somewhat similar is Green Wing. It's another hospital comedy/drama, with the soapiness of GA, and the surreal humor of Scrubs, but just completely dialed up in intensity (especially the surreal humor). They don't even bother showing any medical storylines-- the only time we ever see patients are when they are knocked out on the operating table. It's kind of GA+Scrubs on acid.

ITA, except for:



She couldn't love him because she had to learn to love and appreciate herself first before she could really, truly love someone in a mature way. Although, I do agree with the will always love part. Buffy even talked about it with Angel in the last episode. The whole really bad cookie metaphor...

I love the GA BtVS comparison!

I think Christina is more like Faith. Still a slayer, but just a little twisted and occasionally evil.

Izzie is so completely Dawn. Childish and self-important.

Callie gives me a Drucilla vibe. You know...looks sweet, but will eat you alive.

Burke seems very early Wesley to me.

I wish I could come up with something for Bailey, but hey, she's a power all her own!

Oh, let's not forget that Riley partook of a little vampire prostitution. That boy was a little scarey and damaged, too. Ha! He is McVet!

I, too, love the comparisons between GA and Buffy, both because I never would have thought of all these parallels myself and also because BtVS remains my favorite show in the world. I definitely think a lot of GA's sharp, infinitely quotable dialogue can sound Buffy-esque, and I agree that the trend of making their main characters very flawed and often depressed, angry, etc. rather than ultra-likable and perky is something I often associate with Buffy.



See, I totally see why a lot of people compare these two shows, but for me they sound a lot more alike on paper than they are in actuality. Hey, there has to be SOME difference, because I love GA and loathed Ally McBeal with the fire of a million blazing suns!

I guess for me the main difference is in tone. Ally McBeal always felt so self-consciously whimsical and 'hey-look-at-how-quirky-we-can-be', while for me GA is a much more layered and sincere mixture of humor and heart. Sure, GA can be a bit cutesy and pat, but IMO it doesn't approach the eye-rolling over-the-top feeling of the 'wacky' fantasy sequences and exaggerated nuttiness we got on Ally McBeal. Plus, as others have said, I think the writing on GA is far superior to what we got on AM. In fact, one reason why I'm one of the few TWoPers who prefers S2 to S1 is that I feel GA has gotten less cutesy and whimsical in tone.

Not to mix shows, but Bailey would fit as Zoe from Firefly. Calm, confident and has everyone's number.

I thought of a few Rent comparisons.

Meredith is a lot like Mark Cohen. They are both the narrators of the shows, they both care about their friends, they both had relationships that with them being dumped, they both have friends that are grouchy(Cristina and Roger), they have a tendency to whine, they both have a close group of friends, they're both blonde, they both wear scarves a lot. I'm almost convinced that Meredith is the female version of Mark Cohen.

The Meredith/Derek/Addison triangle is a little like the Mark/Maureen/Addison triangle. Derek is Maureen because he's so fickle. Addison is Joanne because she's uptight and is with Maureen/Derek. Meredith is Mark because she's the one who was dumped.

Cristina is a bit like Roger because she's a little grouchy and a little reluctant to jump into a relationship. She's also best friends with the narrator.

I hope to God people know what I'm talking about.

I've already stated on SaTC comparisons and no one can convince me otherwise. Everything is similar between the two. I don't care if one is about aliens on Jupiter and the other is about eskimos living in the North Pole. Everything is similar and watching gives me deja vu all the time.

And another comparison w/ Gilmore Girls. Mere/Lorelai. Both had repressive/uncaring mothers who by totally different cicumstances left their lives (Lorelai's will and Ellis's Alzheimers), both were pegged to be "failures," both played up to those stereotypes (Lorelai gets preggers at 16, Mere parties away Dartmouth), but once both mothers were out of their lives, both became extremely successful and top of their fields (Lorelai's Dragonfly and I'm sure Mere will also become a world renown surgeon at one point or another).

Here's my "Little Mermaid" comparison. Be warned, it's long.

Meredith is Ariel because she is our central heroine. She is in love with a man who is forbidden to her. Because he's married and because he's an attending. This would apply more in Season one. She's smart, beautiful, has a tendency to cross the line, nice, can be whiny, great figure.

Derek is Eric. He's got dark hair and is in love with someone who is forbidden to him. He's somewhat underdeveloped(like all Disney males), and is married to someone but would rather be with someone else.

George is Flounder. He's sweet, loyal, and best friends with the heroine. He's a bit of worrywart and is kind of the butt of jokes.

Cristina is Sebastian. She's bossy, paranoid, and serious about her job. She treats George the way Sebastian treats Flounder.

Izzie is Scuttle. This is kind of stretching, I didn't know where else to put her. She's a bit ditzy but cares for her friends.

The Chief is King Triton. He is the leader and he has a fatherly relationship with the heroine. He also dissaproves of the heroine's relationship with the attending. "He's an attending, you're intern" can easily be substituted for "He's a human, you're a mermaid"

Bailey is Ursula. I love Bailey but I did not like her in season one. She tortured Meredith even though Derek was the one who was being inappropriate. She threatened Derek through Meredith when Derek favoured her. This makes Bailey a bit like Ursula. I love her in Season Two though.

Addison is Vanessa, the chick Ursula turns into to trick Eric into marrying him. Addison was quite the bitch to Meredith in the first couple of episodes. She requested Meredith to be her intern just so she could torture her all day. Addison is married to Derek but it's clear that he is in love with Meredith.

Burke and Alex are the two eels Flotsam and Jetsam. This is because in Season One, Alex and Burke in the first few episodes were quite the jackasses. Burke tortured George a little bit and was in competition with Derek. Alex was somewhat creepy for the way he hit on Meredith in the locker room. Alex is like the eel because he is now under the control of Addison. Burke isn't so much like the eel anymore. There's just no where else to put him.

Okay so, yeah, there it is. Disney and GA are two of my favorite things. I'm eighteen by the way, if that makes any difference.

Another blatant Sex and the City rip-off. All the hot sex between Mere/Shepherd is exactly like Carrie/Big during the cheating arc in Season 3. Even the set-up is the same.

Big is w/ his boring wife who will only buy beige chairs (as opposed to Carrie's day-glo colors), Carrie is w/ safe, boring boyfriend Aidan. Big won't leave her alone while she's by herself in the hotel lobby, she starts crying and tries to escape him. He chases her down, and they argue, Carrie telling him she's "totally" and "completely" fine w/o him. He grabs her and starts kissing her, she tries to push him away, but eventually passion overtakes and they're in bed together. Big is lighting up a cigar looking like a cat that just swallowed a canary, Carrie is mortified.

Later in the arc, towards the end, Big promises to call his wife and leave her only if Carrie promises to leave Aidan. So hello Grey's S2 cliffhanger!!

My two favorite shows are GA and Veronica Mars. They are not alike in the sense that I can point at particular characters in each show and say that they have parallels in the other, or that their points of view are particularly similar.

What they have in common is that they both have great dialogue that can have you laughing out loud as you watch or thinking about the next day; characters and relationships that come to seem real no matter how unreal the premise of each show may actually be; music that has you running for the iTunes store; and, finally, that indefinable something that makes you want to get all your friends and family as hooked as you are.

GA is the first extremely popular network show that I've liked in a long time. I often wonder why it's getting about 25 million viewers a week when Veronica Mars is lucky to get 4 million. (I know GA being on ABC whereas VM is on UPN/CW does have a bit to do with it.) One thing may be that a lot of people seem to think VM is a teens/20s-only show. Not at all the case. I'm waaayyy older than that. And at a family reunion this summer people from their 20s to their 50s watched the VM S1 DVD and got hooked.

So if you're a big GA fan of any age, why don't you give Veronica Mars a try and see if you get hooked too?

(This is my very first post on TWOP. I've read all the FAQs and notes from the mod, but if I've still managed to make some faux pas with this post, please let me know gently!)

I kinda see GA as the inverse of VM. VM = teenagers w/ adult-sized problems and more wit than most kids their age. GA = high school w/ scalpels and Mclanguage. YMMV

I agree with you totally SheWhoMustBe. VM and GA are my favorite shows. They both have "that thing", and I also encourage anyone who watches Grey's to also try out Veronica Mars.

I refuse to believe that GA is better then GA, but thats because I still think ER is better then GA.

Does GA stand for another show? I'm confused.

But, I'm with you on the second part - ER is better than GA.

I think one big comparission between VM which is uber love like this show to me are the character Alex and Logan... Both have dark pasts. Dealing with forms of abuse in their life and both use this asshole/smartass exterior to cover it, but when it comes down to it both can be very human and reedemable. Although the difference here is that we have seen more shit happen to Logan and gotten to feel it. I mean that boy has been through hell and back and to hell again and back... You get the idea. Alex grew from it, and can still be an asshat but still reedemable. Logan is still going through a rough time, and I can see him growing from all this. I think he could be like Alex in the future. Perhaps not a surgeon, but personaltiy wise.

Shepherd Squared and Somthing Epic, I like your insights on similarities between GA and Veronica Mars. It occurs to me that there are some similarities between Veronica and Izzie. Before life started bashing them around, both were cheerful, bouncy and friendly as puppy dogs. Certainly Veronica has gone way the other way. Izzie is showing signs of becoming hardened and cynical; it just remains to be seen if she will go as far as Veronica.

ER used to be good but then it turned into a steaming pile of shit. It should have ended while it was still on top. Now it's just a shadow of its former self.

As much as I love GA I want it to end while on top and not make the mistake ER made and continue just for the hell of it.

ITA with this. Both shows use language/dialogue which I love, too, which is always a plus.


I really like your theory. To me, though, the biggest difference is that a) Izzie had a tough time from the very beginning and then worked her way up till she lost it all, while Veronica had a fairly normal/happy middle-class existence till Lilly was killed, and then things went to shit. And b) It wasn't Veronica's fault, directly or indirectly, that Lilly died, whereas Izzie did play a part in Denny's death. Veronica didn't really have anything to feel guilty about, whereas Izzie does.

I love reading all your VM-GA comparisons. They're my favourite two shows as well. I like Grey's way better than ER though-- that's too serious and and intense for me. And it's not like anyone watches this show for the medicine.

Oh, Whoopsy! I meant that first GA to be ER.

Some interesting reading on the web about surgeons vs. doctors. Apparently, GA producers know the subject well by portraying the male surgeons on GA as hotshot doctors..with god complex.
Are surgeons sexier than doctors?
January 21, 2007

"They have long been portrayed on TV as hospital heartthrobs but now research claims to prove surgeons are better looking than other doctors.

Four “controls” were included from well known film stars who played doctors or surgeons. They were Harrison Ford (Dr Richard Kimble, a neurosurgeon in the film The Fugitive), George Clooney as Dr Doug Ross (a paediatrician in the television series ER), Patrick Dempsey as Dr Derek Shepherd (a surgeon in the TV series Grey’s Anatomy) , and Hugh Laurie as Dr Gregory House (an infectious disease specialist in the TV series House)."

"The results revealed that, on average, senior male surgeons were significantly taller and considered better looking than senior male physicians."

Link to the source

Clipped and banned for reckless site pimping.

Not really a comparison, but a hee moment from Season 2 during a/the Christmas episode, the one with the Hanusmas family which is full of references to The OC from "Well, we thought about calling it Chrismukkah", the character called April in the soap thing ( character called April on The Valley, which the girls on The OC watch) that the razor lady was watching (I think it was her), oh, and there were a couple of other moments that had me think they were a reference to The OC.
I like both shows immensely but in different ways, though they're both good escapism from real life problems, have really funny lines/good writing and I relate to a male character best in both of them (George and Seth), but would probably go for The OC, if I was held at gunpoint.
Used to love ER, then stopped watching for 4 years and had no idea what was going on and Carter had a beard that was totally eww inducing, so I gave up on it!
I like that the Grey's gang all have relatable flaws and are believable characters, even if the situations they get themselves into are a little unrealistic, but that's TV for you really.

Is anyone else getting a Josh/Donna vibe from Addison/Alex? I think I'm the only person in the whole world who liked that Josh and Donna weren't a couple until she graduated from being his lackey, and I feel the same way about Addison and Alex. But maybe I'm that way because I watched The West Wing over three months instead of seven years.