Unlike other popular TV series, the medical drama Grey's Anatomy has yet to lose its footing in the ratings battle. The acclaimed drama, which averages about 19 million viewers in the US a week, has gone from being a show based on a shaky premise with a cast of unknowns to becoming a cultural phenomenon. It's like ER meets Sex and the City, a delicious combination of pathos, sex,
tragedy and medical intrigue at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital. It's surprisingly funny but also touching.
The series is now into its third season in Hong Kong, and its producers are sticking to the formula that has made the show a global hit, developing the characters and compelling viewers to care about the ups and downs of Meredith, Izzie, Christina and poor, beleaguered George.
In the second season's finale, Izzie - played by Emmy winner Katherine Heigl - unplugs her fiance to force the hospital to give him a new heart only to have him die after the operation - and Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) has a tryst with Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) but his wife Addison (Kate Walsh) finds out about it.
It's these kind of scenarios that keep viewers glued to the screen week after week - and the off-set drama doesn't hurt, either. Just as season three was about to screen in the US, Isaiah Washington, who plays Dr Preston Burke, was embroiled in a controversy after calling co-star T.R. Knight (George) a 'fag'. While that kerfuffle eventually died down, Washington's contract was not renewed at the end of the season.
Controversy aside, the cast is surprised by the success of Grey's Anatomy, the brainchild of writer and creator Shonda Rhimes.
'I think the writers are doing a much better job this year than they have; they have really found a groove with all the characters and all these things for the past couple of years have come together,' says Dempsey. 'It's really kind of shocking the amount of attention that's now given to us.'