“Grey’s Anatomy” may have a cult following now, and it will forever be a part of ABC’s iconic “TGIT” lineup from back in the day (if you know, you know). But the show’s beginning certainly didn’t reflect that.In fact, according to show creator Shonda Rhimes, it was a shocking and tragic event that inspired the show in the first place.
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As you know, the medical drama centered around doctors who work at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in Seattle, Washington. The show has since made history since its inception in 2005, becoming the longest-running primetime medical drama on television. Now, in a March 10 interview on Serena and Venus Williams’ “Stockton Street” podcast, Rhimes revealed that the groundbreaking show came about due to the tragic 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001.
“9/11 had happened. And I said to myself, ‘If my life ended tomorrow, what will I regret having not done?’ And the answer was to be a mom,” she explained. “So, nine months and two days after 9/11, my daughter was born. I adopted a daughter, and it was amazing.”
She went on to explain that having a baby meant she spent a lot of time at home and watching a lot of TV. After channel surfing for the umpteenth time, she realized that there was nothing on that really held her interest. From there, the idea of “Grey’s” was born.
“I watched a lot of TV for the first time then, and sort of thought, ‘I don’t see anything on TV that I really want to watch.’ And so ‘Grey’s’ was literally a show that I wrote because I wanted to watch that show. I learned how to write TV by writing that show,” she said.
Rhimes later added, “There’s a lot of things I tried. There’s a lot of things I didn’t know if it would work. And what was great was the thing in my head was the thing that audiences really wanted to see.”
She also noted that she has no clue how and when the beloved show will end, but she’s absolutely certain that she’ll get the input from the show’s OG actors before closing the fictional doors of Grey Sloan for good.
Catch Rhimes’ full interview below.
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