television: Grey's Anatomy's groove

I resisted watching Grey's Anatomy at first, in part because they used The Postal Service song "Such Great Heights" in their promotional ads. Being a long time fan of the band--I had a bootlegged copy before the cd even came out--I was a little miffed at their music being used to sell a show. At any rate, I did get hooked. I will admit, however, that the show had hit a rough patch since the ferry boat/ Meredith nearly dying incident last season. As a fast paced drama, the show was always in danger of burning too quickly through story lines. A conventional prime time drama would have drug the Meredith/George tension for at least another season, for example. Grey's had dealt with it by the middle of season 2. While the pacing of the show means it goes through some plot points quickly, it also is a slow moving soap opera. It took 2 and half season to progress a year in the time line of the show. The balance between churning through narrative and exploring season long narrative arcs is always a delicate one. I think the problem with the episodes post ferry boat incident was four-fold: 1) Rhimes saw a way forward for Addison's character, but it meant spinning her off into a different show. 2) Rhimes wanted to explore George and Izzy's relationship, which meant moving them forward in some respects, but not in others. Hence, both of them are now stuck in a repetitive low self-esteem loop, that Izzy, at least is working out of. George, I'm not so sure about. I do have to say, I love his loopy interactions with Lexie. It reminds me of how goofy our little interns were at the start of the series. 3) Rhimes had to write Dr. Burke out of the show, causing all sorts of narrative momentum problems since soap operas, by nature, don't do well with wrapping up story lines. 4) Rhimes has problems with season long narrative arcs. She can churn through small plotlines well, but she can struggle at times with the large continuous ones. This inability is why she keeps on breaking up and putting Meredith and Derek back together. (I think a lot of show runners have this problem actually. See Luke and Lorelei from Gilmore Girls.) The best parts of season three were when Derek and Meredith were trying to be a couple. I loved her snoring problem, and the interactions with her stepmother. Here was a woman who was trying to grow up and figure out what being with someone meant, step by little step. It was cute, and good for Derek too because it meant that he had to figure out how to be a partner in a relationship rather than just being with someone. Then, we get the ferry boat incident. Sigh. I hate what sweeps will do to a show. One of the best by products of the writer's strike, from a viewers' perspective, is that it has caused the writers (of all shows) to write the best episodes possible without the stunt stuff usually expected during sweeps.