Grey's Anatomy - singing episode

[JasonEvans]

Worst
Idea
Ever!

I don't mind regular shows doing a musical episode every now and then, but to do it during an extremely emotional episode that already featured one of the main characters fighting for her life and the life of her baby... really awkward.

I also found it off-putting that the first couple songs they sang were "Chasing Cars" and "How To Save A Life" both of which became hits after being featured on Grey's Anatomy a couple years ago. Ummm, yeah, you already used those songs. Is this really the limit of your creative juices? I mean, this is the show that actually had the stones to use the "Lotion in the Basket" song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ToNZHG5KHw) a couple years ago as background music. Now you can't even take a risk and use songs you didn't already make famous? Really? My, how the mighty have fallen.

Oh, and then there was the singing itself. Some of the actors were good singers -- Sara Ramirez (Callie) and Kevin McKidd (Owen) were especially good -- but most of them were just awful. Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) and Eric Dane (Mark) were mercifully given only a couple singing lines each, but it was painful to listen to them. Patrick Dempsey didn't have a single line of singing that I could tell... whew!

And why did they bring Kate Walsh back only to give her a little, tiny, unimportant role in the episode. Maybe I missed it, but she hardly seemed to play much of a role in saving the baby other than to embarrass the female hottie that is Karev's new girlfriend. Ummm, and exactly how good a doc is that woman if she did not know what to do if an injured pregnant woman went into pre-term labor? Seems like a pretty basic part of being an OB in a hospital if you ask me. What was the point in making her character seem incompetent anyway? Lame!

Of course, I looked and the ratings were huge for this lousy episode -- up 30%/2.4 million people from last week. So, I am sure Grey's will make a point of singing and killing off (not quite) main characters again in the very near future. Woo hoo... I cannot wait :\

-Jason "by the way, my testosterone level dropped by 43% as a result of admitting that I watch this show" Evans

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Worst
Idea
Ever!

I don't mind regular shows doing a musical episode every now and then, but to do it during an extremely emotional episode that already featured one of the main characters fighting for her life and the life of her baby... really awkward.

I also found it off-putting that the first couple songs they sang were "Chasing Cars" and "How To Save A Life" both of which became hits after being featured on Grey's Anatomy a couple years ago. Ummm, yeah, you already used those songs. Is this really the limit of your creative juices? I mean, this is the show that actually had the stones to use the "Lotion in the Basket" song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ToNZHG5KHw) a couple years ago as background music. Now you can't even take a risk and use songs you didn't already make famous? Really? My, how the mighty have fallen.

Oh, and then there was the singing itself. Some of the actors were good singers -- Sara Ramirez (Callie) and Kevin McKidd (Owen) were especially good -- but most of them were just awful. Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) and Eric Dane (Mark) were mercifully given only a couple singing lines each, but it was painful to listen to them. Patrick Dempsey didn't have a single line of singing that I could tell... whew!

And why did they bring Kate Walsh back only to give her a little, tiny, unimportant role in the episode. Maybe I missed it, but she hardly seemed to play much of a role in saving the baby other than to embarrass the female hottie that is Karev's new girlfriend. Ummm, and exactly how good a doc is that woman if she did not know what to do if an injured pregnant woman went into pre-term labor? Seems like a pretty basic part of being an OB in a hospital if you ask me. What was the point in making her character seem incompetent anyway? Lame!

Of course, I looked and the ratings were huge for this lousy episode -- up 30%/2.4 million people from last week. So, I am sure Grey's will make a point of singing and killing off (not quite) main characters again in the very near future. Woo hoo... I cannot wait :\

-Jason "by the way, my testosterone level dropped by 43% as a result of admitting that I watch this show" Evans
Not so much into the singing. Reminded me of the singing cop show from a decade or two ago that lasted about two or three episodes before being canceled. Eh. I thought the singing itself was OK, but beyond singing Happy Birthday to family members (like to my Dad today!), I keep my pipes quiet. Oh, I do mangle the National Anthem at games, but only those around me complain :rolleyes:

In the previous show, I kept saying "Callie, put your seat belt back on. Put your belt on!" So I knew where they were heading before they got there... So obvious. Sheesh.

[devil84]

I like Sara Ramirez's singing. I've even had the song ('The Story') stuck in my brain today. And I liked the basic plot line of the last episode. But I didn't like singing in the operating room while lives of their best friend/co-worker/patient and her baby hang in the balance. Or any other time during the show, for that matter.... *sigh*

And yeah, bringing back Kate Walsh for a bit part was strange, but I have a feeling they're setting something up. (At least, I HOPE they're setting something up!) The ineptitude of the one doctor was unbelievably far fetched.

But it appears that Sara Ramirez has an album recently released on iTunes prominently featuring The Story. Hence the Glee-ification of Grey's to shamelessly promote her album.

There are a number of other ways of working in her songs into the show, but this just wasn't it, IMHO.

[Newton_14]

I am a music guy and I hated the episode. They killed the drama. It could have been a very powerful episode much like when George died, but having all the singing ruined it totally for me.

It just killed the emotions to the point where in the end when we learn she is not brain dead, it was kind of like "oh, she lives". Agree also that bringing Kate Walsh back and not having her play a vital role in saving the baby was wasted time.

There were so many, strong, emotional themes to tap into with this episode, and they missed the mark badly.

And for gosh sakes can we please get Izzy back?:cool:

[sue71, esq]

Hated. This. Episode.

It felt gratuitous- "Glee is successful so we need to do it." Episodes w/ music are fine. I actually thought this was going to have recorded music playing throughout. I never realized the characters were going to be singing until I watched it (yeah I'm dense). Bad idea. I agree that if they were going to try something like this, it should've been in an episode where it could've taken center stage over the storyline. In this episode, the storyline should've been the focus.

[JasonEvans]

Not so much into the singing. Reminded me of the singing cop show from a decade or two ago that lasted about two or three episodes before being canceled.

Cop Rock. It lasted 11 episodes, but was a massive failure.

I am glad so many folks agree with me about the suckitude of this episode. Shondra Rhimes should have hired Joss Whedon to write this episode and the songs in it. He is a genius at weaving music into a storyline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Horrible%27s_Sing-Along_Blog).

--Jason "the story of Callie and the baby could have gone on over 3 or 4 episodes... I don't get it" Evans

[sue71, esq]

--Jason "the story of Callie and the baby could have gone on over 3 or 4 episodes... I don't get it" Evans

The previews for the next episode seem to imply that Callie is fine (well she didn't have a scratch on her, go figure) but the baby is in trouble.

I'm still somewhat amazed they crammed everything they did into the last episode, and more so that they both lived. Seemed a bit too easy with a bow on it at the end.

[Jarhead]

Grey's Anatomy has jumped the shark on more than one occasion, but they make a habit of returning to do it again.

[SuperTurkey]

Shondra Rhimes should have hired Joss Whedon to write this episode and the songs in it. He is a genius at weaving music into a storyline (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Horrible%27s_Sing-Along_Blog).

The Buffy Musical, campy though it was, wasn't bad either.

[JasonEvans]

Grey's Anatomy has jumped the shark on more than one occasion, but they make a habit of returning to do it again.

Yeah, when Meredith went suicidal a couple seasons back, I mentioned that it had Jumped the Shark (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?6-Gray-s-Anatomy). Then, two years ago, when they brought back Denny's ghost in Izzy's head, we had a long discussion (http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?12556-Grey-s-Anatomy-Has-Officially-Lost-It) of how horrid the show had gotten.

We seem to have this discussion about every 18 months. Sigh.

--Jason "so, it jumps the shark over and over again... but we all keep on watching" Evans

[Exiled_Devil]

I like Sara Ramirez's singing.

I gave up on Greys around the second shark-jumping, but the wife likes it still. This episode intrigues me, because Ramirez is a Tony-winning musical performer. She won for her performance in Spamalot. I always like when actors with real singing chops get a chance to put it out in prime time. Like Lea Michelle and Matthew Morrison on Glee (when they aren't autotuned to death) its really nice to have great singers on the TV who aren't Idol copies.

[bjornolf]

I gave up on Greys around the second shark-jumping, but the wife likes it still. This episode intrigues me, because Ramirez is a Tony-winning musical performer. She won for her performance in Spamalot. I always like when actors with real singing chops get a chance to put it out in prime time. Like Lea Michelle and Matthew Morrison on Glee (when they aren't autotuned to death) its really nice to have great singers on the TV who aren't Idol copies.

My wife told me that she'd read somewhere that Ramirez had been bugging management for a singing episode since she first joined the show. I guess this was the easiest way to do it. If she's having an out of body experience, it would explain why she'd see crazy stuff like people singing. I don't think they were implying that the surgeons were ACTUALLY singing, just that that's what Callie saw from her injured, drug-induced, death's door perspective.

And, as Jason said, it could have been worse. They could have made Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane sing a duet, ala Pierce Brosnan in Mama Mia. I love Brosnan as an actor, but OH MAMA that was painful to listen to. :D

[JasonEvans]

My wife told me that she'd read somewhere that Ramirez had been bugging management for a singing episode since she first joined the show. I guess this was the easiest way to do it. If she's having an out of body experience, it would explain why she'd see crazy stuff like people singing. I don't think they were implying that the surgeons were ACTUALLY singing, just that that's what Callie saw from her injured, drug-induced, death's door perspective.

And, as Jason said, it could have been worse. They could have made Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane sing a duet, ala Pierce Brosnan in Mama Mia. I love Brosnan as an actor, but OH MAMA that was painful to listen to. :D

At first, I thought it was just Callie's injured brain perceiving people singing around her. Certainly, Callie was seeing visions of herself singing.

But, there were several times where there was singing going on and Callie was nowhere to be seen in the scene. There were singing scenes while Callie was under deep anesthesia.

I guess we could have been seeing Callie dreaming about singing or something like that but it seems far-fetched and just does not make sense. The singing was just nonsense. That is my story and I am sticking too it.

-Jason "sigh -- this is at least Grey's 3rd or 4th JTS moment" Evans

[devil84]

One of the things I really like about Grey's Anatomy is the writers blog, Grey Matter, where they explain the behind-the-scenes decisions and events surrounding the writing of the show.

They explain the "why" of the singing episode here (http://www.greyswriters.com/2011/03/shonda-rhimes-on-song-beneath-the-song.html). The writers love musicals and the actors have talent.

OK, I like musicals, and I like hearing talented people sing. But Grey's is a drama that has talented writers and talented actors. It doesn't need the gimmick of a musical episode.

I guess that we keep watching because we see enough writing/acting talent to keep us coming back, even when it jumps the shark.

[bjornolf]

I guess we could have been seeing Callie dreaming about singing or something like that but it seems far-fetched and just does not make sense. The singing was just nonsense. That is my story and I am sticking too it.

-Jason "sigh -- this is at least Grey's 3rd or 4th JTS moment" Evans

Well, she seemed to be having an out of body experience, as in she was dying (hence showing her standing over and beside herself throughout the episodes). If that were the case, then it wouldn't matter, as far as her perception, whether or not she was under anesthesia as far as her seeing people singing. I agree that I wasn't a huge fan of it, but I guess it makes SOME kind of sense in that light. You have the story that it's nonsense. I have this obsessive need to make sense out of things that don't make sense. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. :D

Speaking of which, with all the JTS moments that Grey's throws out there, I'm starting to wonder if this is one of those rare shows that just can't be done in by a JTS moment. MASH was one of those shows, and many people thought it had killed itself several times. They're TEFLON, baby! (well, I know they shouldn't push it TOO hard, and teflon might be a WEE bit over the top, but you get my point...)