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oncetherewasaway May 23 2007, 12:30 PM
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 The Scoopage



Anyone watch that Grey's Anatomy video blog? - Posted May 19th 2008
I remember seeing a brief tease during a commercial break for this during last week's ep of Grey's Anatomy, but at the time I didn't think much of it. The idea of a video blog featuring the executive producers (Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers) of Grey's struck me as something I'd expect to see as a bonus feature on a DVD set. Besides, how much were they actually going to reveal anyway? The answer? Not much. That being said, I went and watched all three parts despite my reservations. So if you don't feel like losing 20 minutes of your life, read on for some slightly spoiler-ish scoop on the future of your favorite Seattle Grace doctors.................cont’‘’d
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/05/19/anyone-w...omy-video-blog/


Shonda Rhimes: In the Limelight - Dec 28th 2007
When you hear the name "Shonda Rhimes" what words come to mind? I'm pretty sure those words are "Grey's" and "Anatomy." .............cont’d
http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/12/28/shonda-r...-the-limelight/



Shonda Rhimes Glamour Woman of the Year - November 9th, 2007
The Hit Maker - Shonda Rhimes, writer, producer, McGenius
“As an African American woman, she’s accomplished so much. She walks into the room and I just see possibility.” —Grey’s Anatomy actress Chandra Wilson (Dr. Miranda Bailey).................cont’d
http://www.glamour.com/news/woty/articles/...1/shonda_rhimes


Newsweek - Oct. 15, 2007
My Journey to the Top - These 11 women came from many different backgrounds, but they all had big dreams. The path to power meant facing obstacles and their biggest fears.

Shonda Rhimes

I come from a family of readers. We had "book Sundays" in my house where my entire family—I have five brothers and sisters—all sat around and read. I always thought that I would end up being a novelist. I was making up stories and recording them into a tape recorder and my mom was transcribing them before I knew how to write. Then, when I was 17, I saw Whoopi Goldberg live on Broadway and George C. Wolfe's "The Colored Museum." Both made me absolutely fall in love with the theater. After college, I went to film school almost on a whim. At that point, I fell in love with writing and realized that was how I was going to tell stories...............
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21162321/site/newsweek/page/10/

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On Isaiah Washington, playing it close to the vest - September 26, 2007
"Grey's Anatomy" executive producer Shonda Rhimes keeps a tight lip when it comes to the former cast member.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...ack=2&cset=true


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Grey Co. goes 'Private' - September 26, 2007
'Anatomy's' co-captains insist they won't let spinoff status limit the new show.

TO spend time with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, the executive producers who run "Grey's Anatomy" and its spinoff, "Private Practice," is to be introduced to their linguistic particularities.
There is, for example, "Grey Co.," the term they've devised to describe the tonnage of work that goes into overseeing the production, merchandising and musical supervision of "Grey's Anatomy," the immensely successful ABC drama-soap.

Those duties belong to Beers, who has a background in film, as opposed to Rhimes, the primary writer and creator of both "Grey's" and "Private Practice."

Also in common conversational usage is "the bubble," the place Rhimes and Beers disappear into in order to get everything done, and "the family" -- the actors, writers, production people and staff who also live in the bubble. They are also attuned to language mistakes made by people from outside the bubble. The controversial actor Isaiah Washington was not "fired" for homophobic utterances, they "chose not to renew his contract," Rhimes said.
And as for the common perception that the pilot episode of "Private Practice," revolving around Dr. Addison Montgomery (played by Kate Walsh) and her move to Santa Monica, was embedded within a two-hour episode of "Grey's" last May, that is not correct.

"It was evaluated as a pilot," Beers said recently over lunch. "When it wasn't really a pilot."

"I always bristle when people say it was a pilot," Rhimes added. "I'm like, 'No, it was an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy.' I feel like no one's ever seen 'Private Practice.' They will."

In fact, they will tonight (ABC, 9 p.m.). Because it has sprung from "Grey's," "Private Practice" is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the new season.

It also bears an exceptional burden because of the culturally influential way that "Grey's" is popular. Off-screen, the soapy hospital show has made outsized stars of its cast -- including Walsh -- who have charmed audiences on-screen with their repetitious speech patterns and catchphrases (e.g., "seriously," "whatever" and the "Mc-" prefix).

The two show runners' work has doubled. "The idea is to be able to create an atmosphere in which I can free her up," Beers said, "so that she can do what is absolutely necessary in these situations in which she is, literally, the only person who can do it."

With the new show, that means, Rhimes said: "Everything with 'Private' is in my head. I have to find a way to communicate that to the writers."

The "Private Practice" episode viewers will see tonight is quite different from what 21.2 million of them watched in May. That episode cut back and forth between the action at Seattle Grace Hospital, where dark arcs were nearing their season-long conclusion, and the slapstick-y doings at the colorful Oceanside Wellness Group, where Addison went on vacation to visit her old medical school friends. Critics largely bashed it; many fans expressed horror.

"I did not like the Addison thing AT all," wrote one participant at greyswriters.com, where Rhimes and the other writers blog their episodes. "Bring her back to Seattle and do not pursue that as a show PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE."

Rhimes said she reads every posting. "I don't want to say that I take what the people say and directly apply it to the show," she said. "But I do read everything and take it in. You know what I mean?"

Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment, said he thought the two-hour "Grey's"/"Private Practice" pilot/whatever ended up being "a lot of exposition and not enough story." It introduced six new characters, played by familiar faces such as Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman and Tim Daly and quickly tried to outline them. "I think we jumped in a little bit too aggressively," McPherson said.

In tonight's episode, Addison seems less wacky and more like the strong, sarcastic Addison from "Grey's"; Merrin Dungey is out as Naomi, her best friend, and Audra McDonald is in. ("Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald," Rhimes said.)

Tinkering with "Private Practice" in public was their unique problem. Many pilots are recast, reshot and sometimes reconceived entirely, but it happens in relative privacy, since so few people have seen the original. Did they feel limited in what changes they could make? "I think we asked ourselves that question," Rhimes said. "And the answer had to be no. If this is going to be a separate show, it had to be the best show possible."

Looking at how they've run "Grey's," McPherson said he has faith. "I think they're so demanding of themselves from a creative standpoint -- story and character -- that they're never going to sit there and, you know, bask in the limelight of it all," he said.

Rhimes and Beers met five years ago, when Rhimes was a screenwriter looking to get into TV, and Beers was president of production at Mark Gordon Co. Rhimes made the rounds, talking to production companies. "This is going to sound wrong, because they were all very nice," she said with a laugh. "I only really liked Betsy and Mark."

Rhimes was late for their first meeting. "They both looked at me, and they were like, 'You're late.' And I was, like, 'Oh, they're gonna tell me the truth.' "
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/...adlines-entnews

Betsy Beers serves as executive producer and Shonda Rhimes serves as creator and executive producer on ABC's "Private Practice."
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-09/32795418.jpg





Rhimes to Put Fun Back Into "Grey's Anatomy" - Sunday, August 12, 2007
"Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes has promised to bring her award-winning medical drama back to its fun roots after an unsettling third season took a darker journey into death and infidelity alienating some viewers in the process.
In an interview with Associated Press, the star TV producer says that every single show on television that people love to watch experiences a moment when suddenly fans begin to disagree with the creative direction of the show and that happened to "Grey's Anatomy" in the second half of its third season. ........cont’d..........
http


Ausiello Report - Live Press Tour Diary: ABC, Day 2
PRIVATE PRACTICE PANEL
4:02 pm: The most anticipated session of the tour begins!

4:07 pm: First Isaiah question! On Washington heading to NBC, Shonda Rhimes says, "He's a very talented actor. I hope he does very well on Bionic Woman." I waited two weeks for that?!

4:09 pm: Will the talking elevator be back on Private Practice? "I don't know. It's something we're still playing with." Translation: It's been muzzled!

4:10 pm: On the backlash to last season's final batch of Grey's eps, "I take really seriously what the fans say. I love that the fans feel this strongly about the show... Do I feel that we went wrong last season? No. It was the journey we were planning to take all along. Was it a darker journey? Yes."

4:12 pm: Rhimes "understands" the Gizzie backlash. "I'm not saying George and Izzie is the love story of the century. People make mistakes. Is this a mistake? Maybe, maybe not."

4:13 pm: No plans for a crossover between Grey's/PP.

4:18 pm: We interrupt this press tour session for BREAKING NEWS on David Greenwalt's sudden exit as show-runner of CBS' Moonlight: Sources just confirmed to me that the ex-Angel auteur bolted for medical reasons. Specifically, exhaustion. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Private Practice session, already in progress.

4:21 pm: OMG -- someone check hell for icicles! Shonda Rhimes just gave us a spoiler! "We do see [Addison] tender her resignation to Richard in the first episode of Private Practice."

4:25 pm: A reporter just mispronounced Rhimes' first name, calling her Shondra.

4:26: Wow, Shonda has death-ray vision! Who knew?

4:32 pm: Chris Lowell signed on to PP before he knew VM's fate. "I only signed a one-year contract on Veronica Mars."

4:34 pm: Recent PP addition Kadee Strickland didn't see Wedding Bells' cancelation coming. Really? Nobody showed her the Nielsens?

4:39 pm: Rhimes acknowledges, "It was a difficult season for us behind the scenes."

4:42 pm: Rhimes' attention will be "evenly split" between Grey's and PP.

4:43 pm: Gaggle stampede -- and I'm leading the charge!
http://community.tvguide.com/blog/TVGuide-...eport/700000049 Ausiello Report - 07/26/07 8:10 PM
Shonda Rhimes Breaks Her Silence on Isaiah!
That sneaky Shonda Rhimes tried to escape! I saw it with my own eyes. Immediately following the press tour panel for Private Practice, Rhimes -- while stepping down from the dais -- attempted to duck backstage before the gaggle stampede could swallow her up. There was just one problem: There was no backstage for her to head to. The black curtain she tried to penetrate was actually covering a wall. There was no way out. As a result, she was forced to answer direct questions about a topic that she has thus far been able to avoid (save for that brief statement last winter): Isaiahgate. Gotta give her credit, though. Once she realized her back was to the wall -- quite literally -- she handled the interrogation with candor and grace.

How difficult was it for you to have to let Isaiah go, on a personal level?
Shonda Rhimes: It wasn't. It was a decision that was a long time in coming, and it felt like it was the right decision for all of us.

Given everything that transpired during the hiatus, did you feel the need to give the cast a pep talk on the first day back?
Rhimes: No. They're a group of real professionals who really rose to the occasion last season, and really delivered some amazingly powerhouse performances at a time when we were all sort of having an emotionally hard time. So, I feel like, no, we're a family. Nobody needed a pep talk.

So, the decision to fire Isaiah was not something that was imposed on you?
Rhimes: The great thing about [ABC Studios head] Mark Pedowitz and [ABC president] Steve McPherson is they never imposed anything on me.

So you agreed with the decision?
Rhimes: Of course I did.

Would you have written the season finale differently if that stuff hadn't happened during the season?
Rhimes: I wrote the season-ender exactly as I planned to write the season-ender. What's kind of amazing is the season-ender finished the story of Preston Burke that really paid tribute to that character and the talent of Isaiah Washington in a way that made sense. But also went exactly where our show was planning to go anyway.

You were quoted as saying it was disturbing the thought that one black actor could be replaced with another. Do you have any second thoughts about saying that, particularly in light of the recent recast on Private Practice?
Rhimes: No, I think there's a point there. I think that Preston Burke, the character that audiences have come to know and love for three seasons, it's very different. And at a time which there was some talk of, 'Let's cast this actor or that actor... " sort of naming a bunch of black actors... as if the only thing that was important about the character of Preston Burke was his race. That was disturbing to me. It's a very different situation from the enhanced [two-hour episode of Grey's], which was our version of a pilot. Pilots get recast all the time. Ours just happened to air. It wasn't a matter of needing to find another black actor. It was a matter of, Audra McDonald is the person we want.

Do you understand that there were people that interpreted this as you turning a homophobic incident into a racial incident?
Rhimes: I do now. Absolutely. But I do think that [specific] discussion was disturbing to me -- as disturbing as the entire incident that happened for T.R. and Isaiah.

In retrospect, do you wish you had spoken out sooner about the whole thing?
Rhimes: Here's the thing. I know for you guys it's incredibly frustrating that I didn't say something. And I'm kind of sorry, because I know you guys have stories to tell. For me, the story we have to tell is the story of the show, and my instinct when something like this happened is to sort of close the doors and hunker down with people that are my family and protect them as much as possible. The outside world became far less important to me than those people that I work with every day. And making sure that those people that I work with are OK. I wasn't worried about the outside world. The outside world's not something that I can control. But the people I work with every day were. And I really was spending my time dealing with that, not dealing with whether or not I should make a statement.

When was the moment when you realized, 'You know, we're going to have to make a change here?'
Rhimes: Again, I feel like this is stuff that happened in our family, and I don't want to give specifics on sort of how and what happened. But there was a moment when I was sure and felt good and comfortable about the decision and that it was the right decision to be made for everybody.

How are things between you and T.R. now?
Rhimes: We're good. I feel like everybody is working really well together. T.R. is doing some amazing work. We're moving forward. We're excited about the stories we're telling this season. It feels like they're fresh... and we're going with the idea that we want to have a little bit more fun this season.

There seems to be a lot of in-fighting at Grey's. Do you think you can do anything differently in terms of managing that set?
Rhimes: Well, I don't know. I've never run a television show before, so I only know one way to run a television show, which is: you have an enormously talented group of people; you become enormously popular way faster than you ever thought was going to happen; and then you swim.

Switching gears, were you surprised by the strong reaction to George/Izzie?
Rhimes: I had a strong reaction to George and Izzie.

A strong negative reaction?
Rhimes: I wasn't sure I was ready for it. I don't think anybody's ready for it. I don't know if George and Izzie are ready for it. He's married, and she said some really harsh things. I feel like if you follow our characters you know that they're flawed, they're human, they make mistakes. Sometimes mistakes are the absolute right decision and sometimes mistakes are the absolute wrong one. It's a really interesting relationship to explore.

Now that Shonda has spilled her two cents, it's your turn. Are you satisfied with her answers? Sound off below!
http://community.tvguide.com/blog/TVGuide-...eport/700000049


TCA: 'Grey's Anatomy' starts fresh - July 26, 2007
And that's just the on-screen tumult.
The dark gloom of Seattle skies turn bright this season for Shonda Rhimes (pictured left), as she brings her "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff to Los Angeles in the form of "Private Practice."
The overcast weather analogy seems appropriate for the past season of "Grey's" in many ways. The tone of the series was ominous in a bunch of episodes, including arcs on the tenuous relationship between Meredith and McDreamy, George's by-the-threads marriage to Callie, Richard's divorce and Burke's ultimate dismissal of Dr. Yang as a life partner.
And that's just the on-screen tumult. ........cont’d..........
http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/2007/07/tca-1.html


'Grey's Anatomy' Creator Rhimes Admits Complicity in Washington Ousting - July 26, 2007
The Isaiah Washington debacle started looking a lot like the Alberto Gonzales flap today when Shonda Rhimes, Grey's Anatomy creator and show runner, finally opened up full throttle on the topic of Washington's departure from the show. The press in attendance still hasn't figured out the difference between not being offered a renewal and being fired, but Shonda Rhimes is suddenly singing a slightly different tune. Something to the melody of, “I did it my way.”
The bottom line is, ABC in the beginning played severing the ties with Washington very diplomatically. There was no effort by the network to drag Washington through the mud, he was simply not being resigned and the reasons were going to remain private. Or as private as widely circulated scandals can possibly be.
Washington had stated on numerous occasions that Rhimes was in conflict with the situation and had offered him support and condolences. The impression being that Rhimes was not okay with the dismissal and had her back to the wall. At the ABC press tour today, Rhimes presented a very different behind the scenes picture that showed she was determined to get rid of Washington before the finale was even filmed.
“The great thing about Mark Pedowitz and Steve McPherson [ABC Executives} is they never imposed anything on me. I wrote the season-ender exactly as I planned to write the season-ender. What's kind of amazing is the season-ender finished the story of Preston Burke that really paid tribute to that character and the talent of Isaiah Washington in a way that made sense. But also went exactly where our show was planning to go anyway. “ Rhimes told reporters during the session.
When subsequently asked if she agreed with the decision to severe ties with Washington, Rhimes stated matter of factly “Of course I did.”
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/greys-anat...mes-a-8755.aspx


Lear votes for online shorts - 'Family' man enlists TV scribes for campaign - Jun. 25, 2007
http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-tvtal...t-utility-right


Shonda Rhimes - By Sandra Oh-
When I met Shonda Rhimes at my audition for Grey's Anatomy in 2004, I thought, whether or not these people like my work, at least she's going to get me. But she didn't just get me, she got everybody. She also got everybody to tune in to the characters and world she created every week.

No one expected it—no one. Overnight she went from independent screenwriter and single mom to a public figure, the guiding force and creative engine for more than 200 employees. Shonda, 37, suddenly had this immense responsibility and pressure, which has changed her life in a way that no one can possibly prepare for.

In real life, she's a rather shy, private person who prefers living in her head to dealing with the myriad producers and studio executives and associations who all want something from her—to write for them, to sell for them, to speak for them.

And watching that introverted, creative and independent spirit struggle and learn so quickly to manage and balance and truly own all that power was like watching a butterfly emerge from its cocoon. She did it with self-deprecating humor, brutal honesty and no small amount of grace.

Somehow, in the midst of all that pressure, Shonda's vision for the characters became more sharply focused, more self-assured. She found that her responsibility was to them and her creative voice. And by remaining true to that voice and singular vision, I think she has created something great. As a fan, I, for one, can't wait to see what happens next.
Sandra Oh plays Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/tim...1616813,00.html
Edited by oncetherewasaway, Oct 20 2008, 12:20 PM.
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