There's A "Grey's Anatomy" Tell-All Book And We Found Out So Many Secrets

“If you get killed off this show, does that mean somehow that Shonda hates you?”

On today's episode of BuzzFeed Daily, we broke down the top pop culture headlines AND discussed the drama of Grey's Anatomy — both on and offscreen. You can listen below or scroll down to read more about the interview!

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So let's dive right into it! Recently we talked to Entertainment Weekly Editor-at-Large Lynette Rice about her new Grey’s Anatomy tell-all book, How To Save A Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy. Here's some of what we learned:

BuzzFeed Daily: Grey's Anatomy just began its 18th season, making it one of the longest-running TV dramas of all time. Your book, How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy, was released a few weeks ago and it covers all of the drama, both on and off the set. But before we get into the book, let me ask: Are you a Grey's superfan? What perspective were you coming in with when you started this book?

ABC

Lynette Rice: I'm not a superfan. I don't think I'm a superfan of anything because — I'm sure it's the same with you guys — as a writer who covers television, there's so much I have to watch. But I always did watch the show. I like to call myself an "originalist" — I loved the original cast of the show, but I was also one of those viewers that gave up on it after McDreamy died. And I mean, I don't know if I was resentful, but I was just like, "Does this have anything for me?" And then I came back to it. But I've never been a superfan, and I'm also of the mind that it's time for the show to end. 

So when this came to me, it actually just kind of fell in my lap. I got an email from a Crown editor who now is my agent. I was his first client and he said, "Would you want to do this?" I'm like, "Sure, I could try." And so I had to put together a proposal. And even as I was writing that proposal, it felt very recapp-y to me. You know, recapping all these big headlines in the history of the show. And I'm thinking no one is going to frickin' be interested in this. So when it went out to the publishing houses, I was shocked that there were actually multiple bids for the book.

BuzzFeed Daily: That makes a lot of sense. And I think one of the main reasons Grey's has remained in the zeitgeist for such a long time is because of like the near-constant offscreen scandals too. Obviously, we all remember when Katherine Heigl dramatically left the show in Season 6. But what are some of the lesser-known behind-the-scenes moments that our audience may not have heard about, and any that made you really excited as a fan of the show? (Not a superfan, but just a fan.)

ABC

LR: As a reporter covering television, you always hear about shows that are tough to work on, like Friends, for example. Very early on, you heard that they were pulling all-nighters in the writers' room. They would just work forever. And I remember hearing early on that [Grey's] was a tough show to work on. And most recently, Ellen [Pompeo] did an interview a couple of years ago with Variety, and she quite literally said Grey's was a disaster behind the scenes for the first decade. 

So some of that was, of course, the headlines. But the other thing was about how production just ran away from them. And it's funny now thinking about that in the wake of what's happening right now in Hollywood, that we might see a union strike because of the long hours and what it's doing to the crew. That's the kind of stuff that happened on the show, and the actors contributed to it. If they wanted to stay in their trailer, they stayed in their trailer, and I talked to a couple of crewmen who acknowledged that that's what was happening. There was no real leader on the set. So that really contributed to these hours that were just unbearable.

BuzzFeed Daily: So you also dove deep into Patrick Dempsey's exit from the series in Season 11 and the drama surrounding that in the past. It's been covered as sort of a "he said, she said" situation — Dempsey said his exit "unfolded in a very organic way." Meanwhile, an executive producer of the show said "he sort of was terrorizing the set. Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him." Was there anything you learned that could help clarify what happened?

ABC

LR: I definitely learned that he figured out virtually overnight: "Maybe I made the wrong decision signing a two-year extension to my deal." Because when this all came down that he was in year one of his two-year extension. And I think once that happened, then there was a realization of "Maybe I shouldn't have done that." And so he was a guy who recognized that "I maybe made a mistake," but also, he's ever mindful of the power that he wields on that set, and he used it in his favor. He used it to rock the boat, and that became difficult, especially for somebody like Ellen, who's there working very long hours, so she doesn't need to hear other people complain about how they just want to go home. I mean, because she's working her ass off. And so that's what made life difficult and translated to a very unhappy work environment on the set.

BuzzFeed Daily: You focus in general on a lot of the major cast departures from the show: Dempsey; Isaiah Washington; Katherine Heigl; Jessica Hinton, who played Stephanie Edwards. Does it feel like there's a common thread behind what led to all of these? Or is this just a normal amount of drama you'd see on a network show after 18 seasons? (Although a lot of these came way before the 18th season?)

ABC

LR: Well, I mean, there are several points of entry. 1.) This is a series with serialized storylines, so this is what should be happening. You have to turn over the cast to keep the conflict and drama going. So from that point of view, yes, it makes sense. At the same time, it seems like many of the departures come with so much intrigue about them. This isn't just like Sandra Oh, and "We're so sorry to see her go, let's plan a year in advance for that big, wonderful goodbye," which is what she got. 

There are several examples where the departure was very abrupt and left more questions than answers. The most recent example was when Justin Chambers left — that was very abrupt and we didn't even see it. We got the statement that he was leaving. We finally saw his final episode, and he wasn't even there. We just heard his voice. 

And the creative choice that they made to say that he left this woman, who they really did a great job with for a couple of seasons to convince us that he really loves, and then instead, he left her to go back to Izzie and his kids... I mean, that just didn't make sense.

BuzzFeed Daily: It didn’t, and I have to say so as someone who watched it. I heard about a lot of rumors behind the scenes of that because it left a bad taste in your mouth, like, "Oh, it seems like they don't like Justin Chambers, because why would they do this to him?" Did you hear about anything on that front?

ABC

Yes, just as many rumors with him as there were with Patrick. Ultimately, it comes down to what I can report. And I wasn't able to report it. But yes, I heard stories. We have an old saying in Hollywood: "Where there's smoke, there's fire," and almost always what you heard, there was truth to it. And this isn't necessarily the way that a beloved character goes away in the 18th season.

Once again, it's feeling like it's the last year. Look, we just got Kate Walsh. We're getting more. The ex is coming back and visiting us. It would be outstanding if Katherine Heigl came back. But I don't even think you can now because of the way they sent Justin Chambers off. You can't have her come back without having Justin coming back. I mean, they'd figure out a way, but it wouldn't feel right. And that bums me out because I really would like to see her back, but I don't know if it will. 

So we always kind of wondered there for a while — we being the reporters that cover Grey's — if you get killed off this show, does that mean somehow that Shonda hates you? Yes and no. She didn't hate Eric Dane. And in fact, I remember she wrote a lovely goodbye column for EW at the time, [about] how much she loved Eric, Jay, and that character? And ultimately, maybe things weren't pretty with the way that Patrick left the show, but the only way you can close out that character is by killing him. Any other solution wouldn't have felt organic with his relationship with Meredith. [Shonda] set them up as the perfect couple. She set him up as the perfect man. So if she suddenly had him leave her and go move to Washington, DC, or something — which was a possibility — and then had them break up, that wouldn't feel right. So this was the only way to get him off the show is you got to kill him. 

We also discussed Kim Kardashian's Saturday Night Live debut.

Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Even though some people threatened to boycott the episode, it ended up getting higher ratings than even the previous week’s season premiere.

It’s not a total surprise — as Kim pointed out in her opening monologue, she’s used to having hundreds of millions of fans watching her every move (as opposed to SNL’s generally less than 10 million viewers).

And while not everyone loved the jokes in her monologue — especially the ones about O.J. Simpson — a lot of people were surprised by Kim’s performance. One fan even tweeted: “Who had ‘Kim K does a decent job hosting SNL’ on their 2021 Bingo Card?”

Moving on, Timothée Chalamet recently revealed that someone he considers a hero once gave him two rules for his career: no hard drugs and no superhero movies.

Timothée Chalamet @RealChalamet

WONKA ✨✨🍫

07:34 PM - 10 Oct 2021

Twitter: @RealChalamet

So far he’s avoided superhero movies, though he did admit to auditioning to play Spider-Man a few years back, and hasn’t completely shied away from big-budget, high profile roles. Later this month Dune will hit theaters, and Timothée just posted the first photo of himself as a young Willy Wonka in the upcoming movie musical Wonka.

As always, thanks for listening! And if you ever want to suggest stories or just want to say hi, you can reach us at [e-mail].