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The Movie: The latest ABC drama after "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" to be find itself gaining hit status, "Grey's Anatomy" started off as a mid-season replacement in its first season, resulting in only nine episodes. Currently in its second season, the special episode of the series that just aired after the Super Bowl got a massive audience - 38.1 million. The show also just won Best New Series at the WGA awards. The show's other best element is that it finally found consistent work for Ellen Pompeo, a wonderful actress who has brightened up moments in small supportng roles in such films as "Old School", "Moonlight Mile" and others. Pompeo stars as Dr. Meredith Grey, a new doctor following in the footsteps of her famous mother, Ellis (Kate Burton), who now suffers from Altzheimers. Her roommates turn out to be a pair of fellow doctors: Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight, who looks an awful lot like Sean Astin to me). Other fellow fresh docs in the Seattle hospital include: Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) is Miranda's boss, which she finds out after she has a fling with him. Also supervising the newcomers are Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and the Chief of Surgery, Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). While Pompeo has an enjoyable on-screen presence and manages to show vulnerability and drive equally well, the entire ensemble shares the spotlight quite well, with highlights such as Oh's ambitious fellow newbie and others. The show's cast also has good chemistry with one another, and the series does a mostly fine job of developing relationships (such as the one between the Pompeo and Dempsey characters) without making the show seem like a soap. In fact, the show develops both the relationships and the workplace environment quite well, keeping the overall feeling grounded and at least reasonably realistic. Additionally, while the show is primarily a drama, there are moments of comedy on occasion that lighten the mood without taking away from the overall emotion of the episode. Overall, I found this show to be very enjoyable. The characters are well-developed, real-feeling people. There are definitely quite a few moments of drama every episode, but the show isn't crisis-after-crisis, and generally allows some breathing room. Holding it all together and carrying it well though, are the characters and the actors. The performances and the writing that backs them up are what makes the show engaging and stand out in a genre that's certainly been done. Season 1 1. 1- 1 101 27 Mar 05 A Hard Day's Night 2. 1- 2 102 3 Apr 05 The First Cut Is the Deepest 3. 1- 3 103 10 Apr 05 Winning a Battle, Losing the War 4. 1- 4 104 17 Apr 05 No Man's Land 5. 1- 5 105 24 Apr 05 Shake Your Groove Thing 6. 1- 6 106 1 May 05 If Tomorrow Never Comes 7. 1- 7 107 8 May 05 The Self Destruct Button 8. 1- 8 108 15 May 05 Save Me 9. 1- 9 109 22 May 05 Who's Zoomin' Who? The DVD VIDEO: "Grey's Anatomy" is presented by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality is quite good, as the image remained crisp and well-defined for the majority, with only a couple of slightly softer moments seen here-and-there. Some minor edge enhancement and a couple of slight artifacts were visible, but the image was almost entirely free of issues. Colors appeared natural and accurate, with no smearing or other faults. SOUND: "Grey's Anatomy" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The presentation generally remains forward-oriented, as one would expect from a drama like this. Still, surrounds occasionally offer some ambience and other tidbits. Audio quality was certainly satisfactory, with crisp dialogue, music and sound effects. EXTRAS: Two audio commentaries are included for the pilot: one with creator Shonda Rhimes and director Peter Horton and the other with actors Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight. The actor's commentary is iffy, although the actors admit that they're not familiar with doing commentaries. Heigl and Knight start off the track, and they joke around quite a bit and, despite seeming lost, do have fun and try to attempt to add a tidbit of info whenever possible. The commentary from Horton and Rhimes fares better, as it offers more information on casting, scenes cut and the look of scenes. Additionally, the second disc offers an 11-minute "behind-the-scenes" piece, a series of cut scenes from the pilot (11 minutes, with optional commentary), 5 deleted scenes and an "avant-garde" trailer. Final Thoughts: "Grey's Anatomy" offers characters that are engaging and developed well, solid storylines and a more grounded, realistic feel than shows in the genre usually have. The DVD set offers a few nice supplements and pleasing audio/video. Recommended. |