Fans express mixed emotions about Grey’s Anatomy season 19 debut

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

by Avah Fetzer

Assistant Editor-In-Chief

Spoiler warning: This story includes spoilers and the Jaguar Times encourages you to read at your own risk.

For the last 18 years, Grey’s Anatomy has been known as one of the most popular television series amongst people of all ages. In October of 2022, the show’s 19th season made its big debut, still including quite a few of the original cast members. After a few episodes of the season were released, the show took a break from being aired. In February 2023, new episodes of the season began airing every Thursday evening. However, this time, without the main character, Meredith Grey. Many fans had mixed emotions about the changes the show has seen and feel deeply about the new season.

Staff and students of Bradley either seem to enjoy the character change or wish the cast was the exact same as when the show first began. While the show was very popular in the first few seasons, it seems to have lost a significant amount of viewers over the years. Senior Haley Haines claims she stopped watching the show after Meredith Grey’s husband, Derrick, died. She explains the show “didn’t have all the characters and same feel as before” causing her to lose interest. She explains that after hearing about the new cast, she’s not upset about it but “nothing can top the [original] cast.” While old fans may feel deeply about the drastic change in cast over time, the show would be boring after a while and they would run out of ideas for the plot. After all, there is only so much the characters can do in a medical drama series that has lasted as long as Grey’s Anatomy.

On the other hand, many fans are excited about the changes the show has brought. Switching the characters around means there are new possibilities surrounding the plot of the series. Science teacher Mrs. Tarloff explains that she is “glad they switched it up and brought some young blood in.” She was beginning to get tired of the old cast, similar to many old viewers. The new cast seems to bring more personalities to the show. While the show may be getting old and losing the interest of many, die-hard fans of the series can’t help themselves but to continue to watch it. Jillian Cline (12) thinks the show needs to end due to the length of its run. She continues, “While I say that, I still sit down on my couch every Thursday evening ready with my snack to watch the new episode of TV.” The show is completely different from when it first began, meaning many of the attention-grabbers no longer exist. However, fans who have watched the show for 18 seasons so far feel like they owe it to the series to finish and are optimistic about the new set of interns and genuity and vulnerability of the current doctors.

When a series lasts 18 years like Grey’s Anatomy, the fanbase is going to be all over the place when it comes to feelings regarding the show. Some fans will be bored while others may still be interested. Regardless, the show is still running but can only last so long. It will be interesting to see if the show can withstand anymore seasons after the finale of season 19. If you are interested in watching the season, a new episode airs on ABC every Thursday at 9 P.M. EST. The series is also available to watch on Netflix and Hulu. Happy watching!