Grey's Anatomy is an American medical dramatelevision series that premiered on American Broadcasting Company as a mid-season replacement on March 27, 2005. The series has aired for sixteen seasons, and focuses on the fictional lives of surgicalinterns and residents as they evolve into seasoned doctors while trying to maintain personal lives. The show's premise originated with Shonda Rhimes, who serves as an executive producer, along with Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Krista Vernoff, Rob Corn, Mark Wilding, and Allan Heinberg. The series was created to be racially diverse, utilizing a color-blind casting technique. It is primarily filmed in Los Angeles. The show's title is a play on Gray's Anatomy, the classic human anatomytextbook. Episodes have been broadcast on Thursday nights since Grey's third season. The first two seasons aired after Desperate Housewives in the Sunday 10:00 pm EST time-slot. All episodes are approximately forty-three minutes, excluding commercials, and are broadcast in both high-definition and standard. Episodes are also available for download at the iTunes Store in standard and high definition, and Amazon Video, with new episodes appearing the day after their live airings. ABC Video on demand also releases episodes of the show, typically one to two days after their premieres. Recent episodes are available on ABC's Android/iTunes app or at ABC's official Grey's Anatomy website, and on Hulu. In 2010, ABC signed a deal allowing Grey's Anatomy episodes to be streamed on Netflix. Grey's Anatomy was among the ten highest-rated shows in the United States from the show's first through fourth season. The show's episodes have won a number of awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Series, a People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Drama, and multiple NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Drama Series. Since its premiere, Buena Vista Home Entertainment has distributed all seasons on DVD. There have been several special episodes recapping events from previous episodes, and two series of webisodes. On April 20, 2018, ABC officially renewed Grey's Anatomy for a fifteenth season, making it the longest running drama ever for the network. On May 10, 2019, ABC renewed the show for a sixteenth and seventeenth season.
