Don’t you just love those TVGuide people? Well, according to Matt Roush over there at TVGuide.com, Grey’s is going to get a TWO HOUR season premiere, which is being written by the best of them all (no offense to the other writers, of course, because we love love love them too), Shonda Rhimes. Season Five of Grey’s Anatomy is currently set to premiere on Thursday, September 25 (barring any strikes, of course).

Here’s some sad news for the evening: It sounds as though the fifth season of Grey’s Anatomy, which was scheduled to start shooting today (June 25), may be holding off until after they see if an actor’s strike will be taking place. It’s a strange decision, to be sure (why wouldn’t they want to try to shoot as much as they can before a strike would possibly happen, like with the writers?), but if a strike is happening, we’ll probably know by July 1, since the actors’ contracts are up on June 30. Sister show Private Practice, on the other hand, has been in production for a month now and has completed at least three episode of the show’s second season. So what’s up with Grey’s? (Apparently, some other hit ABC shows like Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty have also stopped production.)

Stay tuned for updates.

Remember that thing a few months ago that completely disrupted our television season? That thing known as the Writer’s Strike? Yah, well, be prepared, because while the writers may be content (for now), the actors are growing increasingly frustrated. “Judgement Day” is coming quickly, and on June 30, 2008 we will be finding out if the actors are going on strike. Why are the actors striking now, you ask? Well, it’s basically for the same reasons that the writers went on strike: internet media, among other things. They’ve been trying to reach an agreement for months now, so as to completely cut out the strike part, but so far, an agreement has not been reached.

Can the industry really handle another strike, though? The writer’s strike went on for fourth months. That left over six months of television with no new television programming, shut down movie productions, and more. And that was just the writers. If the actors strike, well, then, NOTHING can happen. No filming, no rehearsing, no nothing.

So, how is this going to affect Grey’s? I hope it’s obvious. They start filming the fifth season on June 25…five days before the strike begins, if it happens. Once again, we’re going to have a season that is cut short. September 25? Yah, that probably won’t be our premiere date. We’d probably be lucky if October 25 was our premiere date. But that’s looking at it as though it is going to last as long as the writer’s strike, which it may not. It could start and end on the same day, in which case nothing will be disrupted.

It is hard, however, to get behind an actor’s strike, after seeing what the writer’s strike did. Most people (including me) supported the writer’s strike; writers don’t make very much money. Actors…well, they do. And, of course, they are entitled to their rights and getting money they deserve. But when they already make $300,000 an episode or more (like our astounding Grey’s cast), is an increase of 8 cents for every DVD really a big deal? Apparently it is to them, and I want to support them. But it is hard to.

But only time will tell what’s going to happen here.

 Loading ...

Welcome to Covering All the Shades of Grey. Formerly “Read All the Shades of Grey.” Formerly “Grey Gossip.” Formerly “Seriously Spoiling.” But, now, we are Covering. And we’ve got an all-new location. And an all-new name, which I think fits the site so much better. What’s in store on the new Covering site? Hopefully a lot! Hopefully more editorials (including guest editorials), more images, more everything. I’m excited; I hope you are too. Be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you think of the all-new Covering!

NOTE: This is an editorial. It reflects the author’s opinion alone. You may not, and probably don’t, agree with it, and that is your choice.

I have a question. Maybe you can answer. Maybe you can’t. I may not want to hear that answer, if you have it. But, my question is: Why is Hollywood’s new ragdoll Katherine Heigl? What do I mean by this? I mean, why is it that everyone picks on her and calls her a bitch and whatnot? What, exactly, did she ever do?
Case in point: a new article on celebrity gossip website “What Would Tyler Durden Do.” The headline? “Katherine Heigl: Still a Bitch.” The article goes on to talk about how Katie withdrew herself from the Emmy nominations this year because she felt as if she wasn’t given good enough material to warrant an award, and didn’t want to risk taking the award from someone who really deserved it. Of course, this site (WWTDD), spins it to make it look as though Katie is blaming the writers. So, obviously, the writer of this article does not watch Grey’s Anatomy. Let’s take a look back at Season Four for Izzie…
The first half of the season was dealing with the affair with George, Callie’s finding out, and the aftermath of that. The second half of the season (”Season Four, Part Two”) dealt with Izzie’s aftermath of realizing she didn’t love George and moving on and, subsequently, needing to grow up (like the rest of the characters). And her screen time, in case you didn’t notice, was cut considerably.
Katie wasn’t doing this to blame the writers for sucking (which they didn’t), she was doing this so that someone can get the award that she feels deserves it more than her. This was a kind, selfless act.
When did Katie become the bitch? Why does everyone feel the need to pick on her and misconstrue and twist her words to make her one? It sounds to me, and to most fans and the cast and crew of Grey’s Anatomy, that she is a down-to-earth person. A kind person. A selfless person. True, the notion that she’d want out of her contract at Grey’s is upsetting and quite frankly does anger me. I love Izzie, and Grey’s Anatomy would literally be a totally different show without her. But she’s just trying to further her blossoming, booming career - which obviously shows that audiences and studios don’t view her as the bitch either.
So, tell me, what did she ever do but try to be a great person, a great friend, a great actress? Did she stick her foot in her mouth? Is that all? Because, frankly, we all do it, and she shouldn’t be judged for that.
Katherine Heigl is a great actress. She’s hilarious and beautiful and could probably be anyone’s best friend (I know I’d love that!). So, just…what the hell?

Things are slow around the Shades of Grey network lately, I realize, but things should hopefully be picking up - and soon! According to Kristin at E! Online, Grey’s Anatomy will go back into production for season five on June 25! Yay!

I know there has been a lot of speculation as to just how many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy we’ll get this year. First, the rumor was 30 (or more), after it was heard in an interview with Patrick Dempsey. That was quickly put to rest, however, by both ABC (I checked myself) and Ausiello at TVGuide. Both said the episode order was at 24 episodes. But now, I’m reading on TVGuide that Grey’s may in fact have an expanded (well, 24 was already expanded, so even more expanded…) season of 26 episodes! This came from James Pickens, Jr. who plays Chief Webber, who says he thinks they’re doing 26 episodes next season to make up for what they lost with the strike last season.
I’ll try and get this confirmed. Nevertheless, it is great news!
(Now if we could just get them to bump it a little more so we could beat season two’s 27 episodes…)

UPDATE [6:34 PM]: I was just told by an ABC spokeswoman that the episode order is currently only at 24.

Could it be Mer? Here’s the scoop from TVGuide’s Michael Ausiello.

Grey’s scoop, please! I hear someone may be preggers — and that someone shared a red-hot smooch in the finale!
Now that the Grey’s finale has aired, can you tell us which kiss was the “major” one that Shonda Rhimes was talking about? Based on her morning-after post-mortem, I think she was referring to Mer/Der’s big smooch. Personally, the Alex/Izzie kiss was the only one that made me lean into the TV.
I just watched an interview with Patrick Dempsey where he mentions that the next season of Grey’s Anatomy will be 30-34 episodes long. Any scoop on that? Really? He said that? My sources are telling me it’ll be closer to 24 episodes.

Plus, here’s Ausiello’s grade on the finale.

B+ (Ellen Pompeo has never been better. Ditto Justin Chambers. Loved the final shot. Shonda Rhimes, consider thyself redeemed.)

Well, our ratings went up an entire million people from last week, according to TVGuide. This is really, really good. That puts the ratings at 16.5 million. In relation, last season’s finale, Didn’t We Almost Have it All?, had 22 million viewers. So, yes, we were a few million down from last season, but we were way up ratings-wise in relation to Season 4, Part 2.
Now, the real question is: how many people will return in the fall? Will we see our ratings go up, stay the same, or decline? I’m hoping for one of the first two.