Grey’s Anatomy
For fourteen years , viewers have passionately tuned in on a weekly basis to see the often melodramatic adventures of the part ofGrey ’s Anatomy .
As the fundamentals series of both Shondaland and TGIT , this unctuous medical drama has never once flag in the ratings , systematically posting some of the strongest drama returns for any web drama - even with considerable casting and crew turnover .
From the beginning of the series , the show has traced the journeys of aesculapian house physician , interns , doctors , and higher ups at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital , now have sex as Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital .
Whether you were a rooter of McDreamy or McSteamy , or felt that the expiration of George was your breaking point , or mayhap Lexie , or Mark , or whether you wanted to be a Twisted Sister with Cristina and Meredith , the show has always offered role who you want to take root for .
However , they ’ve also arguably offer some of the most obnoxious characters on primetime telecasting . Characters on this show hail and go far more oft than they do on most other serial , but the distance or brevity of a lineament ’s check onGrey’sdoesn’t make a molding hit or lose any less important .
With that say , here are the7 Casting Decisions That SavedGrey ’s Anatomy(And 8 That ruin It ) .
15. Ruined: Camilla Luddington
Grey ’s Anatomyhas tackle countless important social issues and struggles over the course of its run , including addiction , PTSD , and myriad under - represented consideration and disease .
With the introduction of Jo Wilson , although it take a long time to get there in a particularly roundabout path , Grey’shas pass on itself a very complex opprobrious relationship plot line .
With the reveal that Jo was in fact a womanhood name Brooke on the outpouring from her abusive married man Paul , the milquetoast lineament should habve abruptly become reinvigorated with zip and interest .
However , due to Camilla Luddington ’s mediocre acting skills , Jo / Brooke ’s storyline has only become all the more muddled and difficult to run .
The messagesGrey’shas been send about empowerment and durability in the grimace of abuse , and of survivors standing together , are surely important things to give a weapons platform to . But Jo , and Luddington , were undeniably the incorrect pick for that soapbox instant .
14. Saved: T.R. Knight
It was the deprivation that ruined fans all across the world : George was 007 , the unrecognizable victim of the horrific heap crash . His dying in the fifth time of year finale ofGrey’srepresented a real moment of variety for the series , as the stakes were lift to an exclusively unlike story with the first significant red ink of a independent mould member in an entirely permanent way .
George had always been the adorable , cordial trivial brother eccentric character , always dear for a laugh and a hug and words of comfort when they were needed .
He was also a damn good doctor , no matter of whether he was able to admit it to himself . Even if he did n’t have the best of lot in relationships , he was still impossible to hate , a true friend who would always be there .
unluckily for Grey ’s , T.R. Knight would not always be there .
His sorry and complicated behind the scenes exit after five years on the serial leave one of the most remarkable opening the series had to skin to fill . No character has ever really been able to replace him - but then again , that ’s exactly how it should be .
13. Ruined: Brooke Smith
Sometimes , characters are introduced who may have had an original intention , but are ultimately relegated to dish up the aim of furthering another character ’s journey .
In the other years ofGrey ’s , Erica Hahn is perhaps one of the most rank example of this plot of ground equipment conversion – and one of the least successful , at that .
As a romantic interest for the spitfire Callie Torres , Hahn proved to be only the unseasonable choice . With a complete lack of chemistry , a grating personality , and not much of a script to go off of , Erica Hahn break to become much of a screen bearing worth paying attention to .
Perhaps that is the fault of the writer , for never develop her in any meaningful manner . However , perhaps the fault can also be attribute to actress Brooke Smith , whose performance never seemed to fall into place with anyone she share the screen with , but digest out most of all against Sara Ramirez ’s Callie .
12. Saved: Eric Dane
make a sympathetic character out of someone who apparently begin the serial as the other man – to his beneficial friend , no less – is certainly no easy effort .
However , somehow , Mark Sloan became one of the most dear doctors to ever roam the halls of Seattle Grace Mercy West – so darling , in fact , that the hospital would be part renamed in his retentiveness after his premature death .
On the outside , Mark – affectionately known as McSteamy – is all appealingness and bluster ; but on the inside , he reveals a deep vulnerability and raw emotion , often glimpsed over the course of his tragically fatten relationship with Lexie Grey .
Through his friendship with Derek Shepherd , adjudicate and test as it may have been , witness also descend to know a whole other side of him , one that could be supportive and faint - hearted in equal measure .
Thanks to Eric Dane ’s nuanced performance , Mark Sloan became so much more than the McSteamy audiences initially wrote him off as .
Instead , he became one ofGrey’smost iconic male characters .
11. Ruined: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
amorous relationships onGrey’shave essentially become a dime a twelve at this point in time – and honestly , they have been for a while . However , perhaps one of the most ill think out Romance launch Izzie Stevens falling deeply ( and chop-chop ) in love with heart patient Denny Duquette .
Their story had some sweet moments in the get-go , but any likely note value that the plot line may have in the first place offer was before long crisply undercut by later seasons using Denny in the role of a ghost . Certain specially tasteless fit – including Izzie engaging in a romantic human relationship with Denny ’s ghost – just made matters even worse .
Jeffrey Dean Morgan may have done as best as he could with the material he was given , but his Denny was personal appeal - free and mete creepy .
This made his drive connector with the much younger Izzie come across as awkward from the start .
10. Saved: Chandra Wilson
To put it just , Chandra Wilson has drop fourteen seasons onGrey’sas nothing short of a powerhouse , and the four Emmy nominations she take in for the role of Miranda Bailey more than attest to that fact .
However , no matter the critical acclaim she received , her portraiture of the constantly noetic and marvellously inspiring Bailey is systematically neglect – and it ’s about time that change .
Perhaps more than any other character reference on the serial publication , Bailey is committed to doing what is right , no matter what the cost . She agitate like pit for every patient she has , and she fight hard as she could to save a marriage that was alas destined to give out .
As tough and passionate as she may be , Wilson has also worked to permit viewers see the gentle side of Bailey all along , including in substantial moments such as constitute her baby after the late George – who was , as she herself admitted , her favorite of the residents .
9. Ruined: Caterina Scorsone
Grey’shas been a show with a whole lot of nonadaptive fellowship since it first beam , whether it be the Greys or the Averys or the Burkes . Parent - tike relationships have been especially pregnant , if not instantly opprobrious .
There has also been some sibling to sibling tensity over the years , with Meredith struggling to take her all of a sudden extend family on more than one occasion .
However , no sibling came with a more frozen welcome than Derek ’s self - destructive sister , Amelia .
cross over from the tepid spinoff series , Private Practice , Amelia brought with her interminable amount of baggage and likewise sempiternal scenery chewing from her portrayer .
Caterina Scorsone is often tax with in truth traumatic subject thing , ranging from addiction to the loss of a new-sprung child , but her acting has never been unassailable enough to have a bun in the oven the load . match face-to-face much stronger actors , such as Patrick Dempsey and Kevin McKidd , there was never a way in which she could decently vie .
8. Saved: Patrick Dempsey
Grey’smay be bang for lurid twist and tragic losses , but the sudden end of Derek Shepherd was a twist that truly no one saw coming – and candidly , one that the show has n’t yet bounce from creatively .
A perfectly flawed foil to Meredith Grey ’s lead , Derek Shepherd was charming and vulnerable , intelligent , and unsure .
He was also full of so much goodness and empathy that he truly personify what it means to not only be a good doctor , but a safe man . He made passel of uncollectible choices , but he showed self-reproach each and every time - and grow all the better and strong for it .
Flawed male leads are fairly coarse on television nowadays in the age of the antihero , but what sets these characters apart from one another is often the strength of the actor ’s portrayal .
It ’s backbreaking to imagine any other actor pervade Derek ’s fiber with such warmth and pain in the way that Patrick Dempsey did . It ’s also so beyond safe to say that the show is lesser without him .
7. Ruined: Sarah Drew
Playing the prissy , serious , reserved graphic symbol is never an easy effort – especially nowadays in the historic period of snap judgments while livetweeting . April Kepner has been a thorny character from her introduction , persnickety and pietistic and judgmental of nigh everyone she come into impinging with .
Over time , she loosened up , engaging in a very messy relationship with Jackson Avery that left them both changed for the worse . As she grew less reserved , her judgmental nature only grow , and her melodramatic behavior along with it .
April has endure a lot of loss , range from the nonstarter of engagements and marriages , to the loss of her new-sprung tiddler .
Yet no matter how striking the scenarios may be , and how tragical the view and opinion she is meant to press out , Drew ’s acting has never raise beyond the level of melodrama , grade from overwrought to underperformed with startling frequency .
6. Saved: James Pickens, Jr.
Dr. Richard Webber is an often regrettably overlooked character . As he was a mentor to the group of young occupant we followed through their journeys , he was easygoing to sweep off and not consider to be deserving as much attention as the eternal rest of the ever - changing crew .
However , over the course ofGrey’sfourteen seasons , Dr. Webber has systematically served as the serial ' aroused center , always ready with advice and counseling .
Even as he dealt with his own struggles – his alcoholism and its shock on his career , his wife , Adele ’s , Alzheimer ’s , and his regrets and memories of his affair with Ellis Grey – he is always willing to stretch a aid paw and a tolerant tidings .
Through the vastly underrated performance of James Pickens , Jr. , Richard brings a necessary feeling of reason and rationality .
He also convey dignity to a serial that is often so very far transfer from those same things .
5. Ruined: Jessica Capshaw
You ’d be hard pressed to find a show on boob tube filled with a larger number of beautiful , selfish mass doing ugly , selfish thing thanGrey ’s Anatomy . Over the years , almost every single case has done something so worthless and so out of their own ego - involvement that you ca n’t help but suffer the desire to settle down for them .
Yet even among all that selfishness , one character – and precarious portrayal – stand up out : Arizona Robbins , as portrayed by Jessica Capshaw .
Whether chicane on her long - suffer wife Callie , or occupy in an ugly prolonged detainment struggle , Arizona ’s influence is clearly a toxic one .
Her eccentric may have been important for the increase of theatrical performance of LGBTQ character on television , but Arizona is hardly an ikon deserving praise . Her unworthy flaws , in accession to Capshaw ’s grating performances , make her character near insufferable .
4. Saved: Sandra Oh
" Screw beautiful . I ’m brilliant . If you need to propitiate me , congratulate my mental capacity . “How could you possibly summarize Cristina Yang any well than that ?
Uncompromising , bold , unfearing , and brilliant , Cristina ’s arc from the very head start ofGrey’swas driven by the quest of greatness . driven to become the good operating surgeon she could be , she never let anything stand in the elbow room of achieving her aspiration , even if it meant get go of other aspects of her life , such as primal romantic relationship .
Even as she pursued her calling dreaming above all else , Cristina allow herself moments of vulnerability , both of the heartrending form – her breakdown after Burke forget her at the Lord’s table – and heartwarming variety – as can be image in her inscrutable friendship with Meredith .
Thanks to the strength and sentence of Sandra Oh ’s stellar performance , Cristina cemented herself from the start as one of the show ’s strongest and good graphic symbol to engagement .
3. Ruined: Kelly McCreary
We know , we know – it ’s a soap opera house . surprisal siblings are more or less part of the desoxyribonucleic acid of these kinds of show . Shocking paternity reveals are the simoleons and butter that melodramatic good thrives on . However , the reveal that Meredith had yet another surprise sister was already pushing the limit of what we were willing to accept .
Maggie Pierce would have been an vexing , albeit tolerable character if the cast for the role had been done well .
However , Kelly McCreary ’s public presentation often leaves the viewer with the feeling that Maggie is simply just someone who tries so very hard to gibe in somewhere where she was never mean to be in the first place .
What makes her character the operose to tolerate , however , is the recent development of romantic tensity between Maggie and her step - sidekick , Jackson Avery . As if the amorous relationships on this show were n’t ordinarily toxic and messy enough , do we really have to go getting allGame of Thronesaround here ?
2. Saved: Chyler Leigh
Grey ’s Anatomymay mean to refer to Meredith with its title , but there ’s only ever been one Grey who was always worth rooting for : little Grey herself , Lexie .
If Meredith has always been have it away to be the consistent one who makes bad decisions , Lexie was the one who acted with her heart and almost always chose right on in the oddment .
Buoyed by Chyler Leigh ’s incredible functioning , Lexie offered a center of spark and warmth for the entire casting of character across her integral tenure on the series .
Unafraid of being vulnerable and open with those who mattered most to her , Lexie was perhaps the most profoundly human character on the show , accept everyone scratch and all and struggling with her own ogre along the agency .
Her tragical death was arguably one of the show ’s biggest error , not only for the loss of love and light she offered all around her , but also for the failure to keep the effortlessly talented Leigh as part of the shape .
1. Ruined: Katherine Heigl
From the very beginning , range back to the days of the mathematical group of residents known as M.A.G.I.C. , Izzie was by far the weakest inter-group communication of the chief dramatis personae . Bratty , title , and crisply judgmental , her lineament had few likable moments long before it came to light just how difficult her portrayer could be .
The behind the tantrum drama between Katherine Heigl and Shonda Rhimes is the stuff of Hollywood fable at this period , as is the manner in which Heigl ’s vocation has spiral downward since Izzie exited Seattle Grace all those years ago . Heigl ’s playacting was never strong enough to match up with some of her scene partners ' skills .
Add to it the flimsy characterization that Izzie was give beyond her ego - pursuit , and her refusal to acknowledge her fault in any of the tidy sum she created , and it ’s passably secure to say that Heigl – and Izzie – were perhapsGrey’sbiggest mistake to date .
