TVSquad

(S06E10) In the last episode of 2009, Grey's Anatomy combines Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years all in one eventful episode. I'm still not in the holiday mood, but the show got me there, except for the fact that they played Christmas music on New Years. Christmas music should stay between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What happened to Alex in this episode? This would probably be the hardest time for a husband who doesn't have his wife for their first Christmas together. Wasn't he invited to Christmas Dinner? At least Meredith could have mentioned that he was stuck at work?

(S06E09) "According to Google, you don't exist" - Cristina Yang

We've reached a maximum capacity on Grey's Anatomy where all the billed characters showed up for a few seconds on the show then disappeared; even the bartender showed up. This left a lot of characters segregated to the side. Meredith returned and was out of the loop for most of the episode, stuck in a room practicing her craft on a plastic dummy.

We also found the return of Izzie and the introduction of a new cardio doctor, Dr. Teddy Altman. While I grew to like Teddy, I really wished that Izzie would just go home and never come back.

(S06E07) This week's episode of Grey's Anatomy focused on Derek and evolved the character as someone that's not just McDreamy. The show should start with Patrick Dempsey talking more often. I didn't realize how mellow his voice was, though saying the words "calm," "quiet," and "peace" automatically sound calming. I hope he narrates a Disney movie soon.

If the show continues to be strong with character driven development per episode, I suggest keeping Meredith bed ridden. She's already forgiven her father and has strengthened her relationship with her sister. Let's evolve the rest of the one-dimensional characters while she stays in bed.

Let me take that one step further -- Grey's Anatomy is great without Izzie or Meredith.

For the first time since the announcement of her temporary departure from the show, Katherine Heigl wasn't in this past week's episode of Grey's Anatomy and Ellen Pompeo, who's on maternity leave, was only featured in two very brief scenes that book-ended the hour.

The episode expertly blended the Seattle Grace docs with the Mercy Westers and featured a very cool Rashomon-esque story (CSI did the same thing a few years ago).

(S06E04) I love how Grey's Anatomy can bounce between serious and hysterical moments. Old people wanting penile implants, bears attacking a groggy Alex, and a witty jab at CSI in the first ten minutes of the show counterbalanced with Mercy West drama, Christina being ignored, and Lexie's father arriving at the hospital hacking blood.

One interesting point that clears up one question is how much the residents make. According to Izzie, she and Alex barely make $30K a year. I'm not sure if that's combined or individual, but it makes me solidify why a) Lexie lives with Mark and b) Christina and Callie are still roommates.

(S06E03) The paranoia kicked in on Grey's Anatomy with the fears of merging with Mercy West. Everyone was on pins and needles wondering whether or not they would get cut. Tonight's episode focused mostly on Lexie and Christina's reactions on how to guarantee themselves positions in Seattle Grace. I still don't see why they were worried because they are good at what they do and even if they got cut, they could easily find jobs.

We also see how much of a loving husband Alex is, being concerned for his wife's health and making sure that she takes her medications.

If only it were permanent. (Commence booing and hissing at your leisure.)

Turns out that Meredith Grey's temporary departure from Grey's Anatomy this coming sixth season (Ellen Pompeo is going out on maternity leave) won't be the only character taking leave from the halls of Seattle Grace. Katherine Heigl's chock-full-o'-cancer Izzie Stevens will be going MIA for a few episodes as well.

If you're like me, the how and why doesn't really matter because this is just delightful news (my dislike for Heigl and her outbursts is no secret), but the details and spoilers are after the jump if you really want to know.

Season six of Grey's Anatomy is going to be odd. Getting past the fact that T.R. Knight isn't coming back, Ellen Pompeo is pregnant. Shonda Rhimes has mentioned that Meredith will not get pregnant to coincide with Ellen so we'll either get How I Met Your Mother-esque bump hiding, or Meredith will disappear for a while.

The only Grey left is Lexie Grey, Meredith's half-sister. Although her relationship with Mark is interesting to watch, could she carry the show's title albeit temporarily?

(S05E24) "If you're not scared, you're not paying attention." - Bailey

I took a few hours off in between last night's two hour Grey's Anatomy finale. I knew it was going to be two posts since it was two episodes and so I sat and watched the first one, wrote it up, grabbed a few hours of sleep, and woke up trying to figure just what was going to happen in this episode before I watched it. Everything was so nicely set up (the first hour really could have served as a finale too) and once again, Grey's Anatomy caught us all off guard with what's arguably its biggest cliffhanger yet.

(S05E23) "I'm your tumor. You're talking to yourself." - Denny

Just when I was finally starting to get sucked back into Grey's Anatomy, when I had finally come to terms with the ridiculous Denny/Izzie sex, when I had finally said, "hey, I actually like where they went with this," he had to come back one more time to ruin it all. After last week, I thought we had seen the last of Denny Duquette. Izzie told him to go and he went. But it's like Denny said - he's Izzie's tumor and as long as she still has the brain lump, Denny's gonna keep getting a tan down at Izzie's imaginary beach. I think I speak collectively for the entire population of Earth when I say thank god Izzie chose to get the surgery.

I appreciate a show that takes the time to have decently written dialogue, well timed music cues, and good use of set. A show like Grey's Anatomy needs a 100th episode celebration every week. When a show actually uses characters correctly, it can succeed.

I appreciate that this episode had characters that normally don't interact interacting. Seeing Mark/Meredith, Derek/Izzie, Lexie/George all interacting made me realize that the hospital is smaller than one thinks. You work with these people, you think you'd talk to them once in a while.

Clearly, the wedding was going to take a left turn. I was happy to see that the stress of work didn't affect anyone and they were all happily attending the wedding. So does every wedding end with sex after attending?

EW.com's Michael Ausiello posted this blind item yesterday: "A major female character on a popular and highly rated hour-long drama series will learn that she's pregnant next month."

Other tidbits: The expectant character isn't thrilled to be pregnant. The timing, both personally and professionally, is really bad. The baby daddy's going through some stuff. And the bun in her oven may have company.

Ok, let's speculate here. My first thought is that it's Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy, since her real-life alter-ego Ellen Pompeo actually IS pregnant. But the timing isn't all that bad. She and Derek are getting married. They can use a distraction with Izzie's cancer taking center stage. And although he's had some issues, Derek seems to have pulled it together.

(S05E20) "Someone will be singing 'Wind Beneath My Freaking Wings'" - Meredith

Why does ABC have to mention that Grey's Anatomy has some of the best storylines on television? If that is true, that must mean that Private Practice has the worst. The episode was good, but the long wait got me jaded.

The show does better when Meredith isn't the center of the show. Even with her as the narrator, she succeeded only as a model for Izzie and a mediator between Derek and Mark. Speaking of which, Lexie was hysterical the whole episode. I thought it was so obscene that she kept eating something different in every shot that she was in. Sure they mentioned that she broke out, but couldn't the makeup team add a lump or two? I didn't see one thing wrong with her face.

Is it just me or there seems to be a baby boom in Hollywood this TV season? This is probably the 73rd post we've written here at TV Squad this year about a TV actress being pregnant, wondering how it will affect the show she stars in.

When the two lead actresses of How I Met Your Mother announced they were pregnant, the writers decided not to write the pregnancies in and go for the "hiding the belly under big clothes or things" option instead. They even shot the season finale months before they would have usually done so they could have the two actresses in reasonable shape.

People announced that Grey's Anatomy lead actress Ellen Pompeo is pregnant with her first child, while reminding us that Chyler Leigh, who plays Pompeo's half-sister, is due in May. We know that Shonda Rhimes decided not to have Lexie be pregnant but what about Meredith?

Warning! The rest of this post contains spoilers about upcoming episodes.

Could Meredith be getting another half-sibling on Grey's Anatomy? According to Entertainment Weekly's Mike Ausiello, it's very likely.

In his latest installment of Ausiello TV, he notes that late last year, executive producer Shonda Rhimes began quietly looking for a male actor to play a mysterious new recurring role. The person had to be both bi-racial and in his late 20's.

Although we won't know for sure until next season, it seems likely that the character might be the product of the affair between Meredith's mother and the Chief, as their affair was 20-some years ago.

A few other things spring to mind:

Do doctors really sleep around this much? I mean, we know that Sloan, Callie, Izzie, and all the rest of the staff currently employed at Seattle Grace have bedded down pretty much everyone on the show. But apparently, that was happening 20 years ago, as well.