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As of this week, viewing ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" in its entirety would fill up roughly 19 sleepless days of your life.
The long-running medical drama, created by Shonda Rhimes, continues this week with its 450th episode, titled "We Built This City," more than two decades after its debut in March 2005. It's another staggering milestone for the show and increasingly rare one in today's television landscape that favors short seasons and shrinking show lifespans.
The show overcame two major Hollywood work stoppages -- the 2007-2008 writers' strike and the 2023 dual Hollywood strikes. And as Hollywood's current unemployment crisis lingers and the push to rebuild Los Angeles as an entertainment production capital continues, the show is a striking example of a lasting economic and creative footprint, employing thousands of actors, directors, writers and crew members over the years, many who have been able to build entire careers on this one show -- last season, the show had roughly 1,100 crew, actors and background actors, according to a spokesperson for Rhimes' production company, Shondaland.
"We feel extraordinarily fortunate that the show started here and has been able to stay here and that we've been able to provide people with years and years and years and years of employment, have been able to provide new opportunities to people," Rhimes said at a celebration for the milestone on the show's set earlier this month. "In a world in which this kind of show is not being made anymore, it's really exciting that we are still making it and people are still watching it."
Betsy Beers, Rhimes' longtime producing partner, added: "We've always been really committed to the idea of growing within the company. We love to breed talent. You're watching people learn and grow, while allowing them the opportunity to root themselves in one place."
Meg Marinis, the show's current showrunner, for example, was hired right out of college as a writers' production assistant as the drama was heading into its third season. She worked her way up and was tapped to oversee the show ahead of its 20th season in 2024.
Celebrating the show's run at this stage can be a mind-bending numbers game -- about 900 gallons of fake blood have been used over the show's...