sara ramirez

(S05E03) "Yeah yeah - the hair. It's one of the many things that makes me happy." - Meredith

This wasn't the best episode of Grey's Anatomy, but I think it got back to a lot of the core reasons that made this show good in the first place. The focus has finally returned to Meredith and Derek, which was sorely lacking last season. This show just doesn't make sense to me when the tension between those two is ignored or pushed aside for one of the bajillion other relationships going on.

Beyond that, there was plenty of humor - another thing that had been lacking. So I'm feeling good about where this season is going to take us and as I said - it starts with Mer and Der.

(S05E01/S05E02) "The person that invented the phrase 'happily ever after' should have his ass kicked so hard." - Meredith

Another September, another Grey's Anatomy season premiere. Hard to believe that we're already into a fifth season. But you know what isn't hard to believe? That we're still dealing with the same "Meredith and Derek - will they or won't they" mess. Grey's has reached the point that regardless of what happens, I'm going to keep watching it because I've invested too much of my time to walk away now. I really am a fan of the show, which is why I don't feel bad when I say that this was quite possibly the most ridiculous season premiere ever. It was all over the place like some strange metaphor for all the ups and downs Mer and Der have had over the years. A random army doctor, two limousine accidents, ninja attack icicles... and god, the cherry on top - Denny Duquette. Really?

"The pager is sacred. Sacred sparkle." -- Izzie

A sparkly pager, some quick-drying cement, and a field of candles all play into tonight's 2-hour episode -- the Season Four finale of Grey's Anatomy. Has it really been only four seasons? Because it seems like so much more.

Anyway, tonight we learn a little more about some of the interns' history. For one thing, via a therapy session (and why can't I have Amy Madigan as my therapist?), we learn that young Meredith saw her mom slit her wrists, then had to wait for her to pass out before calling 911.

Meredith says her mom wanted to die, but by the end of the episode, she figures out that she really didn't want to die. Being a brilliant surgeon, her mom would have known the faster road to death entailed slitting her carotid artery.

Brooke Smith from ABC's Grey's Anatomy has just adopted a little girl Ethiopia. So, move over Brad and Angelina!

Smith, who plays Dr. Erica Hahn on Grey's, already has one daughter Fanny (five-years-old) with her cinematographer husband Stephen Lubensky. Back in October, Brooke Smith told People that she would consider adopting, "You know, why not?"

According to People, Smith and her husband have traveled to Africa on numerous occasions. In fact, she and Lubensky filmed a documentary about the conservationists in Zimbabwe.

(S04E15) "Tell her... tell her the train is leaving the station and she better get on it... yeah." - Webber

I don't know what to think anymore. You know, at the end of Grey's Anatomy when you see the title card for Shonda Rhimes' production company? Have you noticed what it is? Shondaland? It's a roller coaster. How appropriate. I mean, don't get me wrong. Even though I feel like everything on TV is still getting sort of a free pass to some extent due to post writer's strike "hey, at least it's new" syndrome, this was actually a great episode... for the most part. Which I suppose could be interpreted as getting a free pass due to "hey, at least there was a lesbian kiss" syndrome.

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(S04E14) "Hey, everything I did was consensual. In fact, some of 'em even begged for it." - Sloan

I'm gonna start at the end. Why? Because I loved it. More often than not Grey's Anatomy gets awfully convoluted; full of itself even. It makes me just want to yell at the TV and scream, "Get to the point already!" Then Dr. Wyatt did just that. She cut the crap! She finally came out and made an obvious statement. We don't get those too often on Grey's. It was refreshing. Makes me feel like I'm not crazy.

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(S04E13) "It's like I never left." - Addison

She's baaaaaack. The triumphant return of Addison. And yes I do mean triumphant - this was arguably the best episode of the season and it's funny if you think about it. Had the WGA Strike not happened, Private Practice wouldn't have gotten shelved until the fall season (only 9 season one eps aired), and Kate Walsh wouldn't have had all that free time to guest star. With her return came the Grey's Anatomy I remember. Snappy dialogue, good character development, and lots of laughs. Despite the annoying recurrence of all the cases eerily mirroring what's going on in their respective doctors' lives, I loved this episode.
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At the end of the Grey's Anatomy season finale, many fans wondered if T.R. Knight, who plays George, would be returning to the show comes next season. Without spoiling it too much for those who still haven't watched the finale, George's future is left open-ended.

Gossip columnists like TV Guide's Michael Ausiello and E!'s Kristin Veitch have been leaking out information about George's future. Question is are those spoilers right? Especially when T.R. Knight claims that he still doesn't know what his future on the show is?

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Crew members of The Shield ran into some real-life resistance while trying to film in a gritty neighborhood in L.A.
  
• Sara Ramirez of Grey's Anatomy is after a pop music career, with the help of the makers of a Monty Python musical?
  
• The Pussycat Dolls will finally choose their new member tonight. I'm on team "the girl with bangs."
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

When Sara Ramirez made her first appearance on Grey's Anatomy, I asked myself who was this newcomer and why did she get such a role (note that I knew the importance of Callie before she appeared on the show since, well, I admit it, I'm a spoilers addict!).

Looking at her profile, the term "newcomer" may not be the best to describe her as she has been in the business since 1998 when she played a small part in the movie You've Got Mail, starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Then again, the term "newcomer" may be suitable as before Grey's Anatomy, Ramirez never had a major role in a movie or TV series. However, she had already made her mark on Broadway.

(S03E18) Greetings and a myriad of salutations to all. I'll be covering Grey's Anatomy from here on out as Joel was recently pushed into a large body of water by a careless, mute child. He's currently residing in some sort of "not quite dead yet" limbo and from what I've been told, the internet access sucks. So you've got me in the meantime and after what we saw last night, it looks like Grey's is back on track following the conclusion of the "Meredith can't swim" story.

(S03E17) So, I'm watching this climactic ferry-accident-arc episode, and there's a lot of stuff going on. Meredith is still cold and dead. She's also dealing with patients from her past in some sort of afterlife, all of whom are encouraging to fight for life. Izzie and her passive-aggressiveness is called on the carpet yet again by Callie. They start a bypass on Meredith to warm her up, since according to Webber, she's not dead until she's warm and dead. She's still in limbo. Derek is yelling at, then trying to save Ellis. At one of the commercial breaks, I thought to myself, "Whew. Glad this is almost over."

Then I looked at the clock on my microwave, and it said it was 9:38.

This was not a good thing.

(S03E15) As Al Bundy used to say, "Great Lucifer's ghost!"

This is going to be a pretty intense arc, isn't it? Sandwiched in between a ferry wreck and lots of oddball traumas are the interpersonal issues of the entire SGH staff. Oh, and water. Lots and lots of water.

(S03E14) As I listened to the suddenly-lucid Ellis Grey yell at her daughter Meredith, telling her how ordinary she's being and how being in love is making her soft, all I could think of was: "Boy, what a bitch!" I mean, she "wakes up" after five years, and she's already berating the only person who took the time to take care of her?

But then I saw the scene where Webber comforts Ellis and tries to tell her what their life together would have been like -- even though he knew it was never to be -- I could see where that disappointment came from. She wanted to be "ordinary" in the way her daughter was. But because she was more Yang and less Meredith, it just was never going to happen that way. This episode brought a bunch of relationships into focus, but the main one here is Meredith's "gift" of getting Ellis back, if only temporarily.

(S03E13) Many thanks to Keith for covering the show while I was in L.A. The other day, I caught the episode I missed; looks like Shonda Rhimes and company did a great job of dealing with Mr. O'Malley's death, the Burke-Yang cold war, and the cutsey fighting of Meredith and Derek. Oh, and they even briefly hooked Addison up with Alex again. Nice.

But the biggest revelation, at least to me, is how personally involved Bailey got with the O'Malleys, and how she actually took a cue from the always-involved Izzie. That carries over to this week's fairly straightforward episode. "The Nazi is back," says Derek when she forces the four potential Chiefs of Surgery to sign off on her free clinic idea. But it's a different Nazi... one that feels more than she used to, while being ballsier at the same time (note how she told Burke that he owed her after sandbagging her during the whole tremor period).