Grey's Anatomy

While men who unexpectedly become single parents are often presented as inspirational, women in the same position tend to be vilified. Take Murphy Brown.

The show’s eponymous lead character, a TV journalist, became pregnant in her early forties and soon discovered her baby daddy didn’t want to be a father. So this wealthy, talented, intelligent woman set about raising a baby on her own. Responsible, you might think. At the very least, making the best of things. Not according to then-Vice President Dan Quayle, who considered Murphy to be a scourge of humanity.

Back in 1992, Quayle used the occasion of the L.A. Riots as an opportunity for a little moralizing about family values. While he did at least acknowledge men’s role in creating single parent families (saying, “Failing to support children one has fathered is wrong,”) he focused his criticism on Candace Bergen’s fictional character, ranting: “It doesn’t help matters when primetime TV has Murphy Brown — a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid, professional woman — mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone, and calling it just another ‘lifestyle choice’.”

Yesterday, I wrote about one of the worst bisexual characters I’ve ever seen. By contrast, I want to spend today focusing on one of the best bisexual characters I’ve ever seen: Dr. Calliope (Callie) Torres on Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not a regular viewer of Grey’s; though I understand why many viewers love it, the show just isn’t my cup of tea. But I will absolutely give it credit for its excellent depictions of women, people of color, and queer people, all of which culminate in the nuanced depiction of Callie. Her characterization manages to avoid the stereotypes commonly found in explicitly bi characters, allowing her to be a positive, realistic, three-dimensional bi woman.

With every diagnosis comes a prognosis! We know Grey's Anatomy is back in the fall with another season, but what's going to happen, and where can the show go? The Grand Rounds crew has a few thoughts, and we bet you do too!

We reached the end of season seven of Grey's Anatomy last week with "Unaccompanied Minor," the somewhat explosive finale episode. The Grand Rounds crew is taking a look back over the seventh season today, evaluating what worked, what didn't, and how we felt overall about the season. Did Grey's accomplish what it set out to do? Did our characters develop and grow? What were the high and low points of the season?

Shonda Rhimes promised us a 'mellow' season finale and didn't keep her word! 'Unaccompanied Finale' contained a series of fireworks and revelations to set us up for the eighth season of Grey's Anatomy. Relationships exploded (or imploded, or flowered), truths were told, and our characters got down to doing what they do best: Being completely dysfunctional. Along the way we found who won the Chief Resident's race, and got a healthy dose of plot twists. Find out what the Grand Rounds crew thought of things, after the jump, and weigh in with your own thoughts on the season seven finale!

This week, Grey's Anatomy wound viewers up for the season finale with some last minute character shuffling, a few big revelations, and a surprisingly slow and even sleepy penultimate episode. Is Shonda's promise of a mellow finale with no fireworks and more character development true, or is she setting us up for a shocker?



Find out what the Grand Rounds crew thinks after the jump, and add your two cents! Who's going to be Chief Resident? Is the Alzheimer's trial about to fall apart? And who will we be saying goodbye to next week...

This week on Grey's Anatomy: family building, surgery dramas, and escalations in the race for Chief Resident as the show gets down to the wire. With only two more episodes left to go, and a finale Rhimes promises will be mellower than usual, where is Grey's Anatomy going to take us? Be warned, we didn't hold back the snark this week!



Find out what the Grand Rounds crew thinks of things, and add your own thoughts, after the jump!

This week on Grey's Anatomy: Fraud Edition features a slew of medical ethics violations, some timelapse storylining, and a whole lot of crying. As we pound into the home stretch on the seventh season of Grey's Anatomy, what's coming next for our characters, and what is Shonda Rhimes setting up for? She claims a "mellow" finale but the Grand Rounds crew will eat our hats if that happens!



Find out what we thought of the latest episode, after the jump.

It's the very special musical episode of Grey's Anatomy, and the Grand Rounds team has all kinds of thoughts about what happened this week! Whether you loved it or hated it, there was definitely a lot to talk about this week as the characters battled to save two of their own and came to some important relationship realizations.



Find out what we thought, and add your comments after the jump!

This week on Grey's Anatomy, relationships are moving in all kinds of directions, no one's heard of medical ethics, Lexie and Avery can't seem to keep it in their pants, and a new chapter in baby drama has been opened!



Find out what the Grand Rounds crew thinks below the fold, and tune in with your comments! Be warned: This particular week's Grand Rounds is extremely spoilerific.