March 27, 2005: Grey's Anatomy premieres on ABC. Although it launched the career of Ellen Pompeo, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight and Isaiah Washington, aided the rise of Sandra Oh (who got cast after her acclaimed appearance in the film Sideways), and revived the career of Patrick Dempsey, its biggest effect was making a behind-the-scenes star of creator/writer/producer Shonda Rimes, who now "owns" Thursday night on ABC to an extent that NBC once did in the 1990s.
Born in 1970 in Chicago, and raised in the suburbs, Rimes volunteered a a hospital as a teenager, and went to a Catholic high school, hence her show was set at a Catholic hospital, Seattle Grace. She worked on a documentary about baseball legend Hank Aaron, and then co-wrote the Oscar-winning film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.
ABC gave her a shot, and on March 27, 2005, Grey's Anatomy, named for an old medical textbook, premiered. Pompeo played Dr. Meredith Grey, the show's narrator and main character. The daughter of a renowned female surgeon, who was brilliant but emotionally abusive, she begins the series as a surgical intern at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital (later Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital, and afterward Grey+Sloan Memorial). She eventually obtains the position of a surgical resident, and later, the position of an attending surgeon. In 2016, she attains the Chief of General Surgery position.
The night before her first day at Seattle Grace, she has a one-night stand with Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). He turns out to be an attending there, known to the female employees as "Dr. McDreamy." Eventually, they settle into a relationship, get married, adopt a child, and have 2 of their own, before he dies as the result of a car accident.
She develops a close friendship with Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), and, to a lesser extent, with Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight).
In 2007, the show got its 1st spinoff, Private Practice, featuring Walsh, as Montgomery, returning to private practice in her native Los Angeles. Thus did "Shondaland" become a "universe." That show ran for 6 seasons.
In 2010, Rhimes' idea for a news show, Inside the Box, was not picked up. In 2011, a "Doctors Without Borders"-type show called Off the Map, was picked up, but lasted just 1 season. In 2012, the period drama Gilded Lilys was not picked up. But, that same year, she struck gold again, with Scandal. This was an anti-West Wing: Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope, a political crisis management expert -- who happens to be fooling around with Fitz Grant (Tony Goldwyn), the President of the United States. The show ran through 2018.
From 2014 to 2020, ABC aired How to Get Away with Murder, starring Viola Davis as Annalise Keating, a defense attorney and a university professor in Philadelphia, whose students cover up two murders: First, that of her husband's mistress; then, that of her husband. Later seasons tackled new cases. The Catch, Still Star-Crossed and For the People all lasted 2 seasons or less. But Station 19, set in a Seattle firehouse, lasted 6 seasons, and its subject matter allowed it to have crossovers with Grey's.
Rimes then delved into historical fiction. Bridgerton, debuting in 2020, is based on the book series by Julia Quinn. It is set during England's Regency era, 1811 to 1820, when King George III was mentally incapacitated, and his son, the Prince of Wales, was Prince Regent in his place. When George III died after nearly 60 years on the throne, the Prince Regent became King George IV.
But this is alternate history: In this version, George III established racial equality throughout the British Empire, and even granted aristocratic titles to people of African descent, because his wife, Queen Charlotte, had African heritage. (In real life, this has long been rumored, but has been found not to be true.) The lead couple are Lord Anthony, the 9th Viscount Bridgerton, played by white English actor Jonathan Bailey; and his wife, Lady Agatha, played by Indian-English actress Simone Ashley.
Grey's Anatomy has been renewed for the 2022-23 season.
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March 27, 2005 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The NHL season was canceled, because the team owners chose to lock the players out for the entire season, taking a temporary big loss to have bigger gains later.
There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 89-85 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Houston Rockets, 83-70 at the SBC Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 96-89 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 34 points.
* And the Washington Bullets beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 95-94 at the KeyArena in Seattle.
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