‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Fans Want Show to Ditch ‘Filler’ & ‘Procedural’ Tones & Focus on Characters

Grey’s Anatomy is one of the most-streamed series on television, regularly topping the Nielsen charts with billions of minutes watched by audiences on Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix. But perhaps a part of that success comes from the “nostalgia” some fans feel for the earliest seasons of the medical drama.

On the show’s Reddit fan page, some fans discussed the current state of the show, halfway through its 22nd season, and lamented that a lot of the luster has been lost over the years — even if they have no intention of ever quitting the still-current broadcast run.

In a thread titled, “Rant,” one person who’d been watching since the beginning of the series wrote, “I used to just feel like I got so much more out of it. The stories were more emotional and gripping, now it’s just filler in between whatever disaster happens next.” They also questioned the realistic nature of so many disasters happening to the same group of characters again and again, adding, “I feel like I’m being pandered to.”

Most recent, of course, was the Season 21 finale explosion that rocked the hospital and left a doctor dead. It also resulted in a summer of suspense as fans looked for any clue as to who might’ve been a casualty of the calamity.

The poster continued, “Remember, when the episodes of Gray’s [sic] introduced us to artists like Tegan and Sara, Metric, and Brandi Carlile? The soundtrack for each season was a really big deal, now even the music is meh. I keep tuning and hoping to see more than just another class of interns that nobody gives a crap about. It’s not juicy anymore.”

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Other fans quickly chimed in to agree that they’re not getting the same enjoyment out of the new episodes that they once did, for similar reasons…. with hopes that some of the throwback magic might make a comeback.

“I still love the show but it doesn’t have the same entertainment value to me as it once did. It’s becoming way too much like an after-school special. I don’t mind when they bring what’s going on in the world to the show, but they used to do it in a way that was entertaining. They really don’t show many surgeries anymore, and that’s what I loved about the show and when they do it’s fast little clips of them in the OR. No sitting up at the edge of the seat with anticipation of what’s going to happen,” one fan wrote. “I will probably watch Grey’s Anatomy until the end because I still love the show. I just wish it would bring back some of the old elements.”

That comment got an immediate second from another fan, who wrote, “I guess I’m just chasing nostalgia for what I can never go back to. I’m sure I’ll be watching it until they take it off the air as well though. Just like my mom watching her General Hospital every day at 85. I just wish they’d stop taking their fans for granted.”

Said another fan, “Early Grey’s had that raw, emotional edge, and the music was such a huge part of it. It feels way more procedural now than character-driven.”

What “old elements” of the show would you like to see return to Grey’s Anatomy?

Grey’s Anatomy, Thursdays, 10/9c, ABC