Grey’s Anatomy is celebrating its 20th anniversary as Season 21 plays out on the 2025 TV schedule. The series started as a midseason replacement and quickly became a hit with fans, skyrocketing creator Shonda Rhimes to fame. Her multiple series over the years have proven the strength of her creative decision-making, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t had to fight. Rhimes said she’ll be “forever bitter” over the pushback she got for one classic episode, and I’m so glad she won that battle.
“Song Beneath the Song” — more casually known as Grey’s Anatomy’s musical episode — aired on March 31, 2011, and to this day it allegedly remains one of Shonda Rhimes’ favorite episodes of the medical drama. That’s likely why it still bothers her that the higher-ups were iffy on the concept at the time, as Rhimes told EW:
We did have to fight to do the [Grey’s] musical episode. I’ll be forever bitter about that, because it wasn’t that big a deal. It wasn’t that hard. We knew how to make the show. I will be forever bitter about the fact [I had] to fight for that.
The music was written into the “Song Beneath the Song” plot, as Sara Ramirez’s Callie Torres is badly injured in a car accident and has an out-of-body experience as the doctors try to save her life. In her state of semiconsciousness, everyone is singing. The episode features some of Grey’s Anatomy’s most iconic needle drops like “Chasing Cars” and “How to Save a Life.”
The episode didn’t get the reaction that Shonda Rhimes likely wanted. Critics and fans largely don’t consider it one of Grey’s Anatomy’s best episodes, and while I will always support trying something different creatively, I admit to feeling a little thrown-off by the unique concept at the time.
However, it’s still disheartening to hear that the network didn’t trust Rhimes’ vision. By 2011 she had seven seasons and nearly 150 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy under her belt. Add in the fact that the cast boasted several actors who’d been on Broadway, including Sara Ramirez, who won a Tony Award in 2005 for their role in Spamalot, and it seems like it was the perfect opportunity for Shonda Rhimes to take a big swing.
I’m honestly curious about what the network’s argument was against doing it, because there have been several great musical TV episodes over the years. Just look at It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s “The Night Man Cometh,” “My Musical” from Scrubs or Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s infamous “Once More, With Feeling” from Season 6.
Now in its 21st season, Grey’s Anatomy continues to employ actors who can sing, including Kevin McKidd and Chandra Wilson, so who knows — maybe we’ll get a musical episode redo one day.
Until then, Grey’s Anatomy (its first 20 seasons) is one of the best shows to binge on Netflix right now, with all 21 seasons available to stream with a Hulu subscription. New episodes continue at 10 p.m. ET Thursdays on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.
