24. Sandra Oh was supposed to play Miranda Bailey.
Rhimes had wanted Sandra Oh for the role of Miranda Bailey. However, Oh had different thoughts.
“At that time I was practicing asking for what I wanted in my life, which I still practice today. And I saw the part of Christina Yang and I wanted to do that part. So even though Shonda wanted me to come in for the part of Bailey, I said, ‘No I want to come in for Christina.'”
23. Meredith donated her liver to her father to hide Ellen Pompeo’s pregnancy.
Ellen Pompeo got pregnant in the middle of Season 6 filming, so writers had her donate part of her liver to her father on the show (Thatcher) so that her character could be on bed rest and also hide her baby bump under the hospital blankets.
22. Pompeo and Dempsey didn’t know that McDreamy was married before shooting.
The entire premise of Meredith and Derek’s relationship forms over the fact that Derek is actually married when they first get together. However, neither Dempsey nor Pompeo knew this about their characters before shooting. They found out halfway through Season 1.
21. Real surgeons are there for the operating scenes.
While there are surgeries shown on the show, they are done by real surgeons. Executive producer Jim Parriott said:
We have a really terrific medical producer, Linda Klein, who stages these operations and brings in real surgeons so the handwork you see a lot of the time is a real surgeon tying a knot.
20. Kate Walsh, who plays Addison Shepard, thought Derek and Addison should have ended up together.
“The best thing for everybody involved, I feel, is that Derek and Addison really should be together.”
19. Jessica Capshaw auditioned for the show three times before landing the role of Arizona.
Capshaw auditioned originally for the role of Nurse Rose, which she didn’t land. She came back and auditioned for the role of Sadie, which she also didn’t land. She finally landed the role of Arizona.
18. The organs shown on the show…they’re real.
Apparently, they mostly come from cows.
17. Isaiah Washington was fired from the show for using a homophobic slur against a co-star.
According to reports, Washington used a homophobic slur referring to T.R. Knight and was then fired by Rhimes. People were not happy when he returned to the show briefly in 2014.
16. T.R. Knight was killed off as George because he quit.
T.R. Knight resigned from the show because he felt George was not given enough screen time.
