Hospital Show Addiction

Once I start watching a show, I tend to watch it until the end. Many shows end a lot sooner than I would like. But others start to lose quality in their later seasons and out of some weird sense of loyalty I keep watching. This is the case with two Thursday night dramas.

First, is "Grey's Anatomy." Like almost everyone else, I loved Grey's when it premiered. But by the beginning of its third season, I started to get a little annoyed with the characters. By last spring, I was completely hating the show, yet, I still tuned in when the fourth season started last week. Now, with the second episode of the fourth season I am feeling the same way. The McDreamy/Meredith relationship has reached the point where they have had more bad times than good, and still act like they are fated to be together. It is hard to root for a couple who met a year ago, spent most of it with other people, and never seem to be happy when they are together. Last week, the show tried to acknowledge this by portraying Derek as "addicted" to Meredith even though she is bad for him. This same episode tried to use Mrs. Burke to illustrate how Meredith/McDreamy are different than the Christina/Burke relationship, or at least how Burke is different from Derek. This is becacuse he was willing to leave Christina for not loving him "enough" - something Derek can't do the same to Meredith. Personally, I thought this a little anti-female. I understand the concept, but it comes off as though a woman with any type of issue is bad and will just hurt men. Meanwhile the men on this show are given a free pass for any behavior and still considered desirable.

The other major storyline on Grey's is of course, the George/Izzie affair. I don't know what to say about it that hasn't already been said by others. The relationship came out of nowhere and feels more like it was put in for the soap opera effect than any real character development. One minute Izzie was mourning over Denny and the next she was in love with George. One minute George was in love with Meredith, than he was in love with Callie, now he wants Izzie? This problem is especially annoying when we are reminded only a year has passed since the series started. It is a bit like when the 20th hour of "24" rolls around, and you remember everything has been in one day. If three years had actually passed since Grey's started, all the relationships would be slightly believable. When it happens in one year, it is ridiculous. At this point, the only slightly interesting thing on Grey's are Alex and Bailey. So of course, they are given nothing to do.

The second show I watch out of obligation is "ER." This is a show that ran out of original stories, good characters, and shock value years ago. Everything I see on it has been done before. A main character in the hospital fighting for their life? Dozens of times. A new chief trying to improve the mediocre ER? This has not only happened several times in recent seasons, it has been a major plotline before. A sick kid who is dying? Again, dozens of times. It is almost hard to even get depressed about it. And yet, like with Grey's Anatomy, I keep watching every Thursday.