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Grey's Anatomy's Showrunner and Ellen Pompeo React to The Shortened Season Due to Coronavirus


Grey’s Anatomy season 16 is coming to an end sooner than expected. On March 27, ABC announced that the medical drama will not resume production on the final four episodes of Season 16, meaning the season will end Thursday, April 9, with episode 21 serving as the finale.

After learning that the current season of Grey’s Anatomy will officially be cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ellen Pompeo and showrunner Krista Vernoff took to Twitter to reassure upset fans the impromptu finale will still be a “satisfying” one.

Though some fans are disappointed, the good news is the new finale episode, titled “Put on a Happy Face,” will be jam-packed with drama and a new potential love story. According to the description, “Hayes asks Meredith a surprising question, Owen makes a shocking discovery,” and “Link tries to convince Amelia to take it easy during the final stage of her pregnancy.”

Plus, Vernoff promised fans that any lingering question will be answered next season in a new Twitter statement. (The series had already been renewed for Season 17.) “We are disappointed that we don’t get to complete our storytelling this season,” she tweeted on March 27. “The good news? 1621 plays like a satisfying finale! It’s not where we planned to end, but it’s beautiful & the questions that linger we will answer next year. #GreysAnatomy #StayHome”

Ellen Pompeo, who has played Dr. Meredith Grey for the past 15 years, also reacted to the show’s shortened season via Twitter.

“When you hear the full season of #GreysAnatomy is not going to air,” she tweeted with a throwback pic of Meredith.

Although clearly not ecstatic about the news, the actor is looking on the bright side. For one, Killing Eve, starring her former co-star Sandra Oh, is returning earlier than planned!

Pompeo even teased a fan after they asked if this means the season finale will not be “full of people dying.”

“That’s what that means,” she quipped.

Grey’s Anatomy is just one of many TV and movie productions that shut down in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. They’re also among a number of medical dramas that donated supplies to hospitals amid the pandemic.

“At Grey’s Anatomy, we have a back-stock of gowns and gloves which we are donating as well,” Vernoff said in a statement to Good Morning America on March 19. “We are all overwhelmed with gratitude for our healthcare workers during this incredibly difficult time, and in addition to these donations, we are doing our part to help them by staying home.”





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Grey's Anatomy Stars Ellen Pompeo and T.R. Knight Reunited After Justin Chambers' Controversial Exit


Warning: This post contains spoilers for Grey’s Anatomy.

Ellen Pompeo knows that Grey’s Anatomy fans have been going through it lately. For weeks, the show has teased the fate of Dr. Alex Karev, after it was announced that actor Justin Chambers was exiting the long-running ABC hit. During this past week’s episode, which aired on March 5, the powers that be finally revealed Karev’s absence: He left Seattle, his job, his friends, and his wife Jo to reunite with Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and the twins she gave birth to from embryos the couple froze many, many seasons ago when she was battling cancer…

Some fans were so upset with the “out-of-character” exit for one of the last remaining original five surgical interns, they actually wished he’d been killed off, instead. You know, George O’Malley style, not McDreamy style.

Leave it to Pompeo, who has played the titular Meredith Grey since the show debuted in 2005, to provide her fanbase with a much-needed pick-me-up. The actress posted an Instagram on March 6 with T.R. Knight, who played the lovable O’Malley for five seasons. “Old friends are the BEST friends @t.r.knight…but like we aren’t old…we’ve just known each other for a very long time yes yes that’s it….,” she wrote in the caption, alongside a photo of the pair on a hike in Los Angeles.

George’s death (in the premiere episode of season six) is one of Grey’s most gut-wrenching—and that’s really saying something for this show. He was hit by a bus trying to save a woman and was unrecognizable at the hospital until he wrote “007” on Meredith’s palm with his finger. Alas, the doctors of Seattle Grace couldn’t save him and it was devastating. Honestly, we’re still not over it all these years later.

…Just like fans probably won’t get over Karev’s exit anytime soon. Pompeo also posted an Instagram defending the way the Grey’s Anatomy writers handled the controversial farewell. “For me personally for Karev to go back to the beginning…was the best possible storyline,” she captioned a video montage of Meredith and Karev’s greatest hits. “It pays homage to those incredible first years and the incredible cast…that created a foundation so strong that the show is still standing. So let’s not be sad. As our fearless leader DA always says let’s PULL UP and celebrate the actors the writers and the fantastic crew who make this show come to life every week.”

If this is the end of Karev’s time as Meredith’s “person,” at least we have the ‘Gram to remind us that George and Mer’s friendship never really died.





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Ellen Pompeo Defends Alex Karev's Controversial Goodbye on Grey’s Anatomy


Warning: Major Grey’s Anatomy spoilers ahead.

Attention, Grey’s Anatomy fans: Ellen Pompeo has weighed in on the show’s controversial farewell to Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), and she says hard pass to fans who wish the writers would’ve killed him off instead of sending him to live with Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl).

In last night’s episode, Alex sent letters to Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), his new wife, Jo (Camilla Luddington), and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) explaining that his ex from over 10 years ago had his babies and that he’s going to make a life with them. Many fans were against it, but Pompeo called it the “the best possible storyline” in a new Instagram post.

“Hi here I go again … Thank YOU! You are truly the best most passionate most loyal fans anyone could ever ask for,” she wrote. “Because of you we got to make great tv… because of you we got to make television history!”

Pompeo goes on to thank the writers “for giving Alex Karev the best send off” and calls him “the most amazing character.”

“For me personally for Karev to go back to the beginning…was the best possible storyline,” she continues. “It pays homage to those incredible first years and the incredible cast…that created a foundation so strong that the show is still standing. So let’s not be sad. As our fearless leader DA always says let’s PULL UP and celebrate the actors the writers and the fantastic crew who make this show come to life every week. No matter what the challenge or how tired we all are in the end…you keep us going…That is worth dancing it out over! So much love and gratitude to you all. Xo E.”

In January, Chambers announced his exit from Grey’s Anatomy. “There’s no good time to say goodbye to a show and character that’s defined so much of my life for the past 15 years,” he said in a statement. “For some time now, however, I have hoped to diversify my acting roles and career choices. And, as I turn 50 and am blessed with my remarkable, supportive wife and five wonderful children, now is that time.”

He added, “As I move on from Grey’s Anatomy, I want to thank the ABC family, Shonda Rimes, original cast members Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens, and the rest of the amazing cast and crew, both past and present, and, of course, the fans for an extraordinary ride.”



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Ellen Pompeo Just Revealed Her Dream Plot for the Grey's Anatomy Series Finale


Grey’s Anatomy returned to ABC this week for its season 16 (16!) premiere. There doesn’t seem to be a finale in sight for TV’s longest-running medical drama—which Dr. Meredith Grey’s fans are surely relieved to hear. But if and when the lights go out at Seattle Grace Memorial Hospital, star Ellen Pompeo has an epic plan for the series finale.

On a visit to The Late Late Show With James Corden, Pompeo said she’d like the Grey’s Anatomy series finale to be a reunion like TV has never seen. Her dream finale wouldn’t just bring back Dr. Cristina Yang (played by Sandra Oh) or McDreamy (played by Patrick Dempsey). She’d want the entire original cast to return.

“I’d love to have some of the old cast come back,” she said. “But that probably won’t happen. But that would be the most amazing way to end.”

The reason it might not work out? There would be some logistical hurdles to clear if every single character returned, thanks to show runner Shonda Rhimes’s legendary plot twists. “Some of them were killed on the show,” the actress noted.

And, Pompeo added, even the woman who brought us Meredith Grey for almost two decades can prescribe the wrong ending. “The ending, the final episode, matters so much,” she said. “And the fans are never going to be happy no matter what. Sopranos, Game of Thrones, they’re pissed no matter what you do. So, there’s a lot of pressure on that final episode.”

But anything can happen on Grey’s Anatomy, so why not explore wild plot directions including the resurrection of the original cast? After all, this is the drama that gave viewers secret long-lost siblings, surgeries that doubled as bomb detonations, and musicals set at a hospital.

“You know, the fun thing about doing a show for 16 years and having a loyal, amazing, fantastic audience is we can really just play and have fun,” Pompeo said. And if any fandom could accept a crazy finale with open arms, it’s the legions who’ve been checked into Seattle Grace Memorial’s dramas from the beginning.

Catch Pompeo’s entire Late Late Show interview below.

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Ellen Pompeo Says the 'Toxic' Environment on Grey's Anatomy Almost Made Her Quit


Ellen Pompeo has spent 14 years (and counting) on Grey’s Anatomy, but in a recent interview she revealed she almost cut her time on the hit show short because of a “toxic work environment.” Speaking to Taraji P. Henson for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Pompeo revealed there were once “serious culture issues” on set. (Pompeo has played the show’s lead character, Meredith Grey, since the medical drama premiered in 2005.)

“It’s funny, I never wanted off the bus in the year that I could get off,” Pompeo says. “The first 10 years we had serious culture issues, very bad behavior, really toxic work environment. But once I started having kids, it became no longer about me. I need to provide for my family.”

She goes on to explain that she focused on making lasting changes on the show and seeing more results after season 10.

Pompeo as Meredith Grey

Byron Cohen via Getty Images

“After Season 10, we had some big shifts in front of the camera, behind the camera. It became my goal to have an experience there that I could be happy and proud about, because we had so much turmoil for 10 years,” she says. “My mission became, this can’t be fantastic to the public and a disaster behind the scenes. Shonda Rhimes and I decided to rewrite the ending of this story. That’s what’s kept me.”

What’s more, “Patrick Dempsey left the show in Season 11, and the studio and network believed the show could not go on without the male lead. So I had a mission to prove that it could. I was on a double mission.”

Ellen Pompeo talking to Kelly McCreary while directing an episode of Grey's Anatomy

Pompeo directing an episode of Grey’s Anatomy

Mitch Haaseth via Getty Images

Pompeo has spoken out about wage disparities in Hollywood before, which she knows about firsthand: She says at the beginning of the series Dempsey was paid almost double her salary. “He had a television quote. I had never done TV,” she explains.

“I didn’t even realize until we were renegotiating season three,” she says. “No one was offering that up.”

Last year Pompeo became the highest-paid actress on a TV drama when she inked a $20 million deal for the show’s fifteenth and sixteenth seasons. And she’s still focused on changing the culture behind the scenes. “I haven’t been challenged creatively at all,” she says of the show. “Every once in a while we do an amazing storyline. But for the last five years, I’ve had other milestones that we were trying to achieve behind the camera.”



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Kelly Ripa Is Feuding With the Bachelor Franchise—and Ellen Pompeo Just Chimed In


Here’s a feud I didn’t see coming: Kelly Ripa versus The Bachelor versus Ellen Pompeo. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Haven’t read the Internet today? No worries. Here’s a full breakdown of this drama, which doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

It all started on Tuesday’s episode of Live With Kelly and Ryan, during which Ripa made a few disparaging comments about the Bachelor franchise. “You know how I feel about this show. It disgusts me,” she said. “And I thought that I was disgusted because I couldn’t stand the idea of 25 exceptional women fighting over one ordinary fella, in my opinion. You know how we feel, ladies! We are too special to be arguing over a guy.” Her words were prompted by news that Hannah Brown, the current Bachelorette, would be appearing on Live With Kelly and Ryan that Thursday (meaning today, May 16).

Ripa’s diss sparked responses from some key players in Bachelor Nation, including its creator, Mike Fleiss, long-running host Chris Harrison, and Colton Underwood, the most recent Bachelor.

“Look out #BachelorNation ⁦@KellyRipa⁩ is coming after you and your ‘disgusting’ Monday night habit,” Harrison tweeted, while Underwood posted, “How mad is Kelly Ripa going to be when The Bachelor wins an Emmy this year?”

Fleiss’s comment, however, is receiving the most attention. “Easy, @KellyRipa … #TheBachelor franchise pays your salary,” he tweeted on Tuesday, shortly after Live With Kelly and Ryan. (Both Ripa’s show and The Bachelor are on the same network, ABC.)

According to a source who spoke to People magazine, Harrison’s, Underwood’s, and Fleiss’s petty tweets aren’t deterring Ripa in any way. “It seems the fear of rejection runs deep over there,” the source said. “Do these guys really want to bring attention to the fact that people should stop and look more closely at the completely outdated misogynistic nature of this show and its offensive premise of demeaning its participants?”

The insider continued, “[Harrison and Fleiss] can’t handle lighthearted criticism from a successful woman who has been on TV longer than their contestants have been alive. Kelly’s time at Live predates these shows by years, so if anything, her success in syndication and promotion of these shows pays their salaries.”

This all came to a head on Thursday, when Brown appeared on Live and jumped to the Bachelor franchise’s defense. After Ripa reiterated that she isn’t a fan of “women fighting over a guy,” the Alabama beauty queen responded with, “I didn’t really follow the show, wasn’t a big fan. But being a part of the show, it’s not women fighting against each other. Really, some of my best friends came from the show and were really supportive. When you have a group of 30 people together, there’s going to be people who don’t like each other. That’s simple facts.”

Brown added, “Ultimately, it was one of the most empowering things that I ever have done because I had to push myself and grow as an individual. And I did. And I think that’s why I decided that I wanted to be the Bachelorette and wanted that so bad.”

Later, in an interview with Access, Brown said that Ripa is “entitled to have her opinion.”

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Interestingly, the person who has the last word in this situation (for now) is Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo, who backed up Ripa on Twitter.

“Okay @fleissmeister… that’s some handle bro! Your show does NOT pay @KellyRipa salary,” she wrote. “Also we don’t attack successful women on our network and men certainly cannot take credit for their success. Don’t get me started on your show cuz I’m a savage…. #bachelorsoooowhite.”

Kelly Ripa hasn’t directly responded to Fleiss’s, Harrison’s, or Underwood’s comments, but we’ll update this post if she does.



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