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A Hard Day's Night (Grey's Anatomy)

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Episode no.
  
Season 1 Episode 1

Written by
  
Shonda Rhimes

Directed by
  
Peter Horton

Running time
  
43 minutes

Featured music
  
"Cosy in the Rocket" "Portions for Foxes" "Super Cool" "They" "Dance" "Ready to Rise" "Life is Short" "Into the Fire"

Original air date
  
March 27, 2005 (2005-03-27)

"A Hard Day's Night" is the pilot episode of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, which first aired on March 27, 2005 on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The episode introduces main characters and surgical interns Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Izzie Stevens, Alex Karev and George O'Malley. Other main cast members include Derek Shepherd, Miranda Bailey, Richard Webber and Preston Burke. These five interns become faced with what their future holds as they enter the realm of surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital.

Contents

The episode was watched by an American audience of 16.25 million, and received positive reviews from television critics.

Plot

This chronicles the first 48-hour shift for the new surgical interns. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) meets Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), with whom she had a one-night stand the night before, and discovers he's the new attending and chief of neurosurgery at Seattle Grace, and also her "boss". All the interns are introduced to their resident in charge, Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), nicknamed "The Nazi" for her serious demeanor and strictness. They are also introduced to the Chief of Surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.) and the head of cardiothoracic surgery Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), who catches the eye of Cristina (Sandra Oh). Meredith has trouble with her first case, a teenage girl who's having unexplained seizures. Izzie (Katherine Heigl) dislikes Meredith, as she thinks she's trying to "get ahead" by sleeping with an attending surgeon; it is revealed Izzie had a past career as a model, which is how she put herself through medical school, and she is teased by Alex (Justin Chambers). George (T.R. Knight) earns the nickname "007" after all of his initial patients are pronounced dead.

Meredith is the daughter of acclaimed surgeon Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), who evidently had an affair with Richard years before, while married to Meredith's father, Thatcher. Ellis is now battling Alzheimer's disease and Meredith constantly and secretly visits her.

Production

The voice-over starting the episode did not originally appear in the episode; Rhimes said: "In the editing room, it felt like a piece was missing, so we added it."

Reception

ReviewStream.com gave positive reviews regarding the pilot episode, 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."

References

A Hard Day's Night (Grey's Anatomy) Wikipedia