Reception
The first season's ratings were consistently high, ranking first in its timeslot and leading its closest competition by 7.2 million viewers. It delivered ABC's best audience retention following Desperate Housewives, was the highest rated show amongst 18-49 year olds in 13 years since The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and produced ABC's strongest series performance in the hour in more than four years. Commenting on the first season's high ratings, Magna Global USA media analyst Steve Sternberg stated: "Roughly 80 percent of households during prime time only have one TV set on. People are looking for shows they can watch with other household members. And just as Desperate Housewives reaches a broad audience - younger, older, male, female - so does Grey's Anatomy." The season finale was watched by 22.22 million viwers, and was ranked the ninth in viewership.
In regard to the first season, Walter Chaw from Film Freak Central said the show was "so odious, so repugnant, that it's impossible not to have predicted its newly-minted role as the most popular program in the land." The Washington Post's Tom Shales was critical of the early series, finding it reminiscent of ER and commenting that: "The show is much more a matter of commercial calculation than an honest attempt to try something fresh and different". He called Rhimes' script for the pilot episode "nothing but a casserole made of equal parts ham and corn", writing that overall: "It's a 'new' show only in the sense that Dr. Frankenstein's monster was a new man." Kate Aurthor for The New York Times deemed the show a hybrid of Ally McBeal, Sex and the City and ER, writing of the news that it had become the highest-rated midseason drama in 12 years that: "When you parse its ratings, Grey's Anatomy underscores one of the real lessons of the current season - men will watch shows with a female lead. That goes against conventional wisdom, which dictates that it's easier to get women to watch shows aimed at men." Review Stream gave positive reviews regarding the pilot episode, "A Hard Day's Night", due to the undeniable chemistry between Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey from the series' first scene. Regarding Miranda Bailey's appearance in the pilot, ReviewStream.com stated "She's such a small woman but wait until she speaks". HomeTheaterInfo.com, however, had a mixed perspectives on the pilot, noting that the storylines were similar to fellow ABC series Desperate Housewives, but also "brilliantly written, extremely well acted and directed to near perfection". New York Daily News named Grey's Anatomy a "winner" in response to its first season, whereas Newsday expressed a positive opinion by stating "You simply can't stop watching."
Sandra Oh won Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series at the 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2005, for her portrayal of Cristina Yang during Grey's Anatomy's first season. The season also resulted in a number of awards nominations: At the 2005 Directors Guild of America Awards, Peter Horton received a nomination for the Best Directing in a Drama Series, for his work on "A Hard Day's Night". He was nominated for the same award and episode at the 57th Primetime Emmy Awards, which also saw Grey's Anatomy nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, and Oh was nominated Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Patrick Dempsey was nominated for Best Actor – Television Series Drama at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards, where the show was also nominated Best Television Series – Drama. The Producers Guild of America Awards in 2005 saw the season again nominated for Best Producer in a Drama Series, while that year's Satellite Awards saw the show nominated for Best Television Series – Drama, and Oh nominated for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Dempsey was nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series at the 12th Screen Actors Guild Awards, where the whole cast were also nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
Read more about this topic: Grey's Anatomy (season 1)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
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“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
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“I gave a speech in Omaha. After the speech I went to a reception elsewhere in town. A sweet old lady came up to me, put her gloved hand in mine, and said, “I hear you spoke here tonight.” “Oh, it was nothing,” I replied modestly. “Yes,” the little old lady nodded, “that’s what I heard.””
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)