Grey's Anatomy is Back... Is There Anyone Left Who Cares?

Grey's Anatomy is back. I was one of the millions glued to my set on Sunday nights, way back when. "Seriously?" has seriously become part of my daily vocab and there may have been no greater fan of the return of Patrick Dempsey. But instead of being giddy with Grey's glee, I have to ask myself: Do I still care? Does anyone?

Back in the day, I was devoted to my GA relationship. I tucked in with a glass of wine in the evening, eager for my (Mc)steamy date with the Seattle Grace crew: Meredith hadn't become the crotchety commitment-phobe yet, Derek had that awesome mop of hair and a badass Airstream camper, Izzie and Krev had great sexual tension, Bailey was wonderfully acerbic, Sandra Oh's Christina even more so, and George was adorably awkward. I welcomed ex-wife Addison and ex-friend McSteamy—hell, I even embraced the addition of the pleasantly plumper Callie (take that twig people!). But four seasons later, the constant on-and-off again Meredith and Derek bickering is bitterly worn out (can at least one of those two grow a set?), Bailey's marital problems piss me off (oh right, a woman can't be kick-ass at her job AND have a happy family life), the George and Izzie fauxmance is worse than their flop of a sex-life (BTW is it hospital policy that all the interns and residents must sleep with one another instead of—gasp!—dating outside the ER?). Plus, who can stand the one-note newbies: mean-old Hahn and whiney little sis Lexie? How dumb do the writers think they can make these characters behave before once-happy viewers pull the plug on the show? Paging Dr. Kevorkian.

Creator Shonda Rhimes has been telling every media outlet that will listen that Meredith and Derek will get back together for good this time (even though the broke up AGAIN in the last ep). And while I remain skeptical that Grey's can sweep me off my feel like it used to (I've been burned too many times before), maybe our writer's-strike break is just what our relationship needed. Maybe after a little space, we can renew that spark, to respect each other and realize what we had was special and work it out. If not, there's always my first love, Lost.