Grey's Anatomy is an American medical television series that premiered on American Broadcasting Company (ABC) as a mid-season replacement on March 27, 2005. The series has aired eleven seasons, and focuses on the fictional lives of surgical interns and residents as they gradually evolve into seasoned doctors, while trying to maintain personal lives and relationships. The title is a play on the name Gray's Anatomy, an English-language human anatomy textbook originally written by Henry Gray. The show's premise originated with Shonda Rhimes, who serves as an executive producer, along with Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Krista Vernoff, Rob Corn, Mark Wilding, and Allan Heinberg. The series was created to be racially diverse, utilizing a color-blind casting technique. While the show is set in Seattle, it is primarily filmed in Los Angeles, California.

The series' protagonist is Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who originally is accepted into the residency program at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital. Meredith is assigned to work under Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), along with Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Dr. George O'Malley (T. R. Knight), Dr. Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), and Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). Following O'Malley's death and Stevens' departure, the hospital's merger with Mercy West brings in Dr. Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and Dr. April Kepner (Sarah Drew), in the sixth season.

The surgical wing is primarily supervised by Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.), who is eventually replaced by Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and, later, Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd). Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) is chief of pediatric surgery, Hunt is chief of trauma, and Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) is an orthopedics attending. Dr. Shepherd was the chief of neurosurgery. He was later replaced by his sister, Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone).

Dr. Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) departs at the conclusion of the third season, after a failed relationship with Dr. Cristina Yang, and is replaced by Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith), who leaves the show during the fifth season, and later Dr. Teddy Altman (Kim Raver), who departs at the end of the eighth season. Introduced at the end of the first season is Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), who leaves the show at the end of the third season, in order to launch her own spin-off medical drama, Private Practice. Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) also enter the show in the second season, while Mark Sloan dies in the premiere of the ninth season. Meredith's half-sister, Dr. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), appears in season three and dies at the end of season eight. Dr. Arizona Robbins is given series-regular status at the beginning of the sixth season. In the ninth season, a new set of five recurring interns were introduced, with four Dr. Josephine "Jo" Wilson (Camilla Luddington), Dr. Shane Ross (Gaius Charles), Dr. Stephanie Edwards (Jerrika Hinton) and Dr. Leah Murphy (Tessa Ferrer) becoming series regulars in the tenth season.

Grey's Anatomy is the highest-rated drama in the key 1849 demographic. While the ratings have fallen over the past few seasons, it was once among the overall top-ten rated shows in the United States. Grey's Anatomy has been well received by critics. Considered an impact on culture, the series has received numerous awards, and has also been included in various critics' top ten lists. It is the recipient of the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series Drama, and multiple Emmy nominations, including two for Outstanding Drama Series. The show has produced several specials, as well as distributed all seasons to DVD, and released a collection of merchandise. In 2012, Grey's Anatomy was named the fifth-highest revenue earning show, in terms of advertising per half-hour.

On May 7, 2015, ABC renewed the series for a twelfth season that will air during the 201516 television season.[1]

Shonda Rhimes, the series creator, wanted to make a show that she would enjoy watching,[2] and thought it would be interesting to create a show about "smart women competing against one another".[3] When asked how she decided to develop a medical drama, Rhimes responded:

The series was pitched to the ABC, who gave the green light, and the show was picked up as a mid-season replacement for Boston Legal in the 2005 television season.[5]Francie Calfo, executive vice president of development at ABC Entertainment, commented that ABC was looking for a medical show that was unlike the others airing at the time. She pointed out that [m]edical shows are hard, and it was hard trying to figure out where ours could be different. But where everybody else is speeding up their medical shows, [Rhimes] found a way to slow it down, so you get to know the characters. There's definitely a strong female appeal to it."[3]

"ER is high-speed medicine. The camera flies around, adrenaline is rushing. My show is more personal. The idea for the series began when a doctor told me it was incredibly hard to shave her legs in the hospital shower. At first that seemed like a silly detail. But then I thought about the fact that it was the only time and place this woman might have to shave her legs. That's how hard the work is."

Rhimes initially conceived Grey's Anatomy as a statement against racism. She endeavored to create a show that featured a racially diverse cast that allowed viewers to relate to characters regardless of race.[6] While creating characters, as well as writing the first script, the series' writers had no character descriptions in mind, and hoped to cast the best actor available for each part. Rhimes has explained that if the network did not allow her to create characters this way, she would have been hesitant about moving forward with the series.[4] Female roles in particular were developed as multi-faceted characters. Rhimes offered her insight on this: "I wanted to create a world in which you felt as if you were watching very real women. Most of the women I saw on TV didn't seem like people I actually knew. They felt like ideas of what women are. They never got to be nasty or competitive or hungry or angry. They were often just the loving wife or the nice friend. But who gets to be the bitch? Who gets to be the three-dimensional woman?"[4]

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