Grey's Anatomy makes some radical changes

One of the fascinating things about the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy since its premiere in 2005 is that there is usually just as much drama going on behind-the-scenes as there is on-screen. Cast upheavals (both expected and unexpected), gay slurs, lesbian storylines started and stopped and star Katherine Heigl pulling herself from Emmy consideration as a passive-aggressive slap to the collective faces of the creative team on the show. Whew!

Things are no different as the sixth season began last week and EDGE's Jim Halterman took the opportunity to talk with Executive Producer Krista Vernoff about the show and all the changes that have happened as well as where the show is going with some of the gay-themed storylines. The off-set drama so far this season includes star Ellen Pompeo starting maternity leave and missing a large chunk of episodes and co-star Heigl also taking five episodes off to shoot a movie.

An unhappy Knight

And, of course, the absence of T.R. Knight's George O'Malley was the focus of the season premiere with George's death being the focus of most of the episode. In the season finale this past May, the character, who has been with the show from the pilot, heroically pushed a woman out of the way of an oncoming bus. This event happened off-screen so the revelation that the badly hurt John Doe patient in the finale could eventually be revealed as George. The potential deaths of George as well as Heigl's cancer-ridden Izzie were part of the cliffhanger for the season with their fates revealed in last week's season premiere.

While Knight was underutilized last season, the revelation that George did actually die wasn't a surprise to viewers or the producers since it had been announced months ago that Knight would not be returning to the show. Asked if there has been a noticeable change on the Grey's Anatomy set without Knight (and George), Vernoff responded, "How has it been not having him around? He was very unhappy in his job and so I feel very relieved for him because he doesn't have to be here anymore. In the writers' room, it has been sometimes sad because we don't have George. Sometimes we go 'Oh, I want George to play that storyline!'"

Despite not having original cast member George on the show's landscape any longer, it has become something of a blessing in disguise for everyone involved. "I think that in many ways T.R. not being here is a relief because people should be free to pursue their joy so it's changed, for sure, to not have the original five interns and that was a pretty great thing and so it seems to be a rebirth. With death comes rebirth."

A new romance

Grey's also created some negative buzz last season when they romantically paired Erica Hahn (played by Brooke Smith) and Callie (Sara Ramirez) but there were big road bumps to come. After the relationship was consummated on the show, it was revealed that Callie was insecure about pleasuring another woman and went to Mark Sloan (the hunky Eric Danes) for a hands-on lesson in oral sex. Once it was revealed that Callie had pleasured Erica due to the coaching, the powers that be fired Smith and the characters' relationship was quickly extinguished. Vernoff explained that the leading factor to the end of that story was due to chemistry. "What you intend when you start a story and where a story ends up has everything to do with the chemistry between the actors. There have been stories we have done where we thought we were bringing characters together for one or two episodes and they ended up a couple for a season. Then there have been stories that we genuinely thought we were bringing characters together for one or two episodes and they ended up a couple for a season."

Vernoff also explained how things sometimes work from the journey from work done in the writers' room to the mouths of the actors saying the lines of each script. "We make decisions in the writers' room and then the actors illuminate and change those decisions."

While fans were on both sides of whether the Callie/Erica pairing was working on the show, they were justifiably concerned when Callie started a flirtation with new cast member Arizona (played by Jessica Capshaw) post-Erica's departure. In regards too approaching the new relationship, Vernoff said, "Did the writers get a chance to right the wrongs that occurred with the earlier lesbian relationship? I can't say we learned a lesson because we took that ride the best we could when you consider everything that we were working with, I say very delicately but what I can tell you is that we love, love the character of Arizona Robbins, we love the actress and we feel that those actresses have extraordinary chemistry together and that's key."

Thankfully, the Callie/Arizona relationship definitely sparked more chemistry and positive fan response and, as a result, Capshaw was quickly made a series regular on the show. In fact, the death of Knight's character should give the new couple an opportunity to delve into some new drama since Callie was once married to George before she began dating women and she had an extreme reaction to finding out he had died.

While non-viewers of the show could easily jump to the conclusion that the character of Callie has been used to jump from hetero to homo relationships in a haphazard fashion, the show actually made the transition naturally and realistically over a good amount of time with Callie initially just as confused as viewers may have been when she first started responding to the attention from another woman.

The good news, however, is that Grey's Anatomy is committed to giving the Callie/Arizona relationship just as much attention as the other relationships on the show and, more importantly, wants to make this one work. "What we've been saying is here is an opportunity to really explore this relationship in a way that we had sort of hoped to do with Erica and had to abort for a variety of reasons." So far, as Arizona and Callie experience the growing pains found in any new relationship, Grey's Anatomy seems to be getting it right.