Grey’s Anatomy is one of the most popular shows on TV, even 17 years after its premiere.
Series creator Shonda Rhimes is speaking out about executives who told her and producing partner Betsy Beers that the show would fail to reach any form of success.
“It feels really obvious now, I think, but at the time, you have to remember, there had never been a show in which there was a lead character who owned her sexuality on network television,” Rhimes said in a preview of Tuesday’s 9 to 5ish with the Skimm podcast, E! News reports.
On Grey’s Anatomy Season 1 Episode 1, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) slept with Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), a man who she later found was working in the same hospital on the ABC series.
“I remember getting called into a room full of old men to tell me that the show was a problem,” Rhimes added.
“Because nobody was gonna watch a show about a woman who would sleep with a man the night before her first day of work, and they were dead serious.”
Beers said to the men in the meeting after their criticism of the idea that the story was based on her life.
“Shonda looked like she wanted to throw up, which was the appropriate response to this, but I couldn’t help it, and I said, ‘Oh, that’s me. I did that. That’s absolutely me,'” Beers said.
“I remember I was saying that and I just blurted it out, because it was true.”
Rhimes recalled that the same executives “could not get out of that room fast enough.”
“They didn’t know what to do. They were like, ‘These are these kinds of women we don’t like.'”
Grey’s Anatomy has been a huge hit throughout the years, with its current 19th season remaining a solid offering for ABC in the ratings.
The series paved the way for two successful spinoffs: Private Practice and Station 19.
The series will lose Pompeo for much of the current season because the OG is only set to appear in eight episodes of the season, so it will be interesting to see how it holds up.
What are your thoughts on the executives believing people wouldn’t be interested in the series?
Hit the comments below.
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Catch new episodes of Grey’s Anatomy Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.