Harry and Gabrielle on Syphilis!

"Who's Zoomin' Who"

Original Airdate: 5/22/05

Wow.  Season one.  It seems like such a long time ago.  This was our first script for the show and as with all first scripts, you’re just a little bit nervous.  What cool stories can we come up with? Can we capture the voices of the characters?  Will it be dramatic enough?  Will it be funny enough?  Will Shonda like it? 

Fortunately after a few weeks in the writers room with our brilliant colleagues, we felt pretty confident about our stories:  Richard’s possibly career threatening optical tumor,   Meredith forced to confide one of her dark secrets to Derek;  Burke’s oldest friend discovering he not only has an ovary, but a cheatin’, knocked up wife… 

But George, what should we do with George?  Hmmm..   How about… Syphilis!!

Nobody at the network had a problem with Richard’s story, or the Burke story,  but we’ve got to admit the syphilis was a tough sell. We  had to convince the powers-that-be that our storyline would not only be dramatic, it would be FUNNY.  Fortunately, Shonda had our backs.  We’re Grey’s Anatomy after all, genital highjinks is our specialty!

We ended up creating  a David Letterman-esque “Top Ten Reasons We Can Give George Syphillis List” and sent it with our episode outline to the studio and network.  Finally, they were convinced and we were in business.   It wasn’t until we actually sat down at the computer that we had a twinge of doubt.  Could we really make a disease that results in open sores and possible insanity, funny?.

You’ve seen the results, so we’ll leave it to you to decide but we think TR and Sara Utterbeck (Olivia) were amazing in their respective roles.  George getting the shot in the butt scene still makes us laugh and when George attacks Alex in the locker room, awesome.

Of course, what we should’ve realized is that Monday morning no one would be talking about syphilis, they’d be talking about Addison.  The final scene of the episode, when Addison just comes up out of nowhere was amazing to write and awesome to shoot.  (In fact the first time Kate Walsh said, “And you must be the woman who’s screwing my husband?” I, Gabrielle, almost ruined the take because I couldn’t stop myself from squealing, “nooooooo….” as I watched the monitor in video village.  And I knew it was going to happen! Harry looked at me like I was crazy, (Okay, I, Harry, have to admit I was also kind of squealing in a very manly way on the inside).

So, anyway, here below, made public for the first time anywhere, is the super-secret “Top Ten Reasons We Can Give George Syphilis List” we sent to the network.   Enjoy!

TOP TEN REASONS WE CAN GIVE GEORGE SYPHILIS:

1. Syphilis goes AWAY.  It’s a serious STD.  If untreated it causes madness and death – however- once diagnosed it can be treated and cured with ONE SHOT OF PENICILLIN.

2. Rockdale County – an upper middle class community – had an outbreak of syphilis among white fifteen-year-old college bound girls.

3. It has a nickname: “The Syph”

4. 9/21/04 – breaking news – sharp increase in cases of syphilis in New York state.

5. 70,000 incidents a year – that’s 192 a day and 8 an hour.

6. An Epidemiologist from the CDC, stated an outbreak of syphilis among Surgical Interns is completely reasonable and plausible event because of the following:

a. Our characters move in a closed network of people.

b. Long hours, lots of stress and little contact with people outside the hospital can lead to having unprotected sex with people you work with.

7. Syphilis has catchy prevention campaign slogans such as:

a. Look What’s Back! Syphilis!

b. Stop the sores.

c. Making every penis a healthy penis.

8. The anti-syphilis campaign has TWO mascots:

a. A healthy cartoon penis.

b. Mr. Phil, a red cartoon syphilis lesion

9. ER hasn’t done it.

10. Did we mention that syphilis is completely CURABLE with ONE shot?!

-Harry and Gabrielle

Comments

[Michelle]

I hate to break it to you guys but ER has indeed done a STD plotline.
Back in season 1 in the Episode titled "Into That Good Night" Carter spent the whole episode wondering if he had contracted an STD from a patitent there and he had. I don't remember what it was but it was an STD like George had.

[PamelaJaye]

>Meanwhile, our office is so obsessed with GA... we are now tracking down songs from season two and placing them on the iTunes on our community server

Hopefully you've noticed the Music section of this very website, where all the songs are listed for each ep.

Also, when it's correct, www.tunefind.com will give you all the song titles *linked directly to iTunes* for conveniently supporting the artists while feeding your hunger fom more Grey's music

(I don't work for either Grey's, Tunefind or iTunes -- I just think they are a cool combination) (and I wish I worked in your office!)

[Melissa]

I absolutely loved your Top 10 list on why George should get Syph. Everything was great! But please, please, PLEASE play the 1st episodes from Season 2 next week! It's better to keep going in order than to jump around. I need to see "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"!!!!!

[Sidewinder]

I love #9! But ABC must've marketed it well, or you guys must've done a great job, because I never thought about associating Grey's Anatomy with ER as "another hospital show" until I saw it in a newspaper article. I actually got a bit confused, thinking, what's ER got to do with Grey's Anatomy? Keep it up!

[Lauren and Sarah]

Great Story Line!!! Of we know ALMOST every word in the whole First Season but it still makes us laugh!!

[miller13]

As if it hasn't been embarassing enough when I meet new people and tell them where I'm from, "Really Rockdale? Were you there during the big "outbreak" wink, wink?" Now I find out that the story made it all the way to Hollywood?:)

[missdramalady]

Caroline:

The Pit is the ER.

[a concerned viewer]

Hey Harry & Gabrielle,
You guys seem pretty cool, especially since you orchestrated "little Jimmy & the twins" and poor Syphboy receiving his dose of penicillin with three women observing (kind of foreshadows the Superbowl epi shower scene). I love that episode, but I have to confess, I almost always stop it before the Wicked Witch from the East (East being NY in this case) struts in. This epi marks the end of simple happy times at Seattle Grace, and it makes me sad, because Season 2 majorly sucked. Yes, that's right, the magic of Season 1 wore off. Season 1 was about chemistry between the interns, chemistry between Mer/Der, Bailey and her interns, and the like. You don't mess with chemistry. Shows that do that (in recent times, I'm thinking "Will & Grace" & "Alias") end up in the TV graveyard. Yet someone messed with the chemistry (and I'm not accusing you guys, it was probably Shonda), so in Season 2 we rarely view flirty Mer/Der scenes (and have you missed their sizzling chemistry? just watch the NY&Co. videos, they are HOT together, not to mention Season 1 of your own show), there is less of the interns together, and more "outsiders" who frankly bore me. Burke & Cristina bore me together--I like them individually, but not together. Addi & Derek make me bored and angry and petulant. Izzie & Denny make me want to climb into my TV (opposite of that pivotal scene in the horror film "The Ring") and cut Denny's LVAD myself to save us all from another pathetic scene. Finn & Mer make me want to grab a razor and shave COD's pornstache (I like Finn, but with Mer he's merely a plot device, admit it). Seriously, watching her knit alone is more interesting than watching her birth a horse with him. And don't even start me on George & Callie... Point being people, someone tinkered with the fragile chemical makeup of my favorite show, and I'm worried, because if the chemistry isn't restored for Season 3, well, I guess Grey's may go the way of Commander-in-Chief. Bring back the chemistry, please!!! More scenes of the interns together, less extraneous characters, and if you must keep Addie around, let her have chemistry with someone who's not Der (Mark? Alex?). It's revealing that most people I know can watch Season 1 over and over and fall in love all the more, but when we rewatch Season 2 (we have our ways, be it Tivo, pirated DVDs from Chinatown, downloading from websites) we lose the love and start to wonder why we're so invested in this show.

Please Harry & Gabi (may I call you Gabi? thanks!), I implore you to rescue Grey's from soap opera-dom and restore it to the intelligent, sexy, fun show of Season 1. I have faith in you because you gave us Syph Boy. You can do anything. Thank you!

[Jake Lipson]

Alright, so I have been obsessed with Grey's Anatomy for over a year now, and have been trying to get my mother to watch it for quite some time. She's a doctor and previously watched ER for many years, though she quit doing that a few years back and I thought she might appriciate Grey's.

Alas Sundays at 10 were too late for her, but she happened to come in the room when I was watching the syph episode this week. She'd come in and out before watching a few clips, but she was right at the beginning of it this time. So she sat down, liked it, and is now asking me to show her the earlier episodes on DVD. I love how easily it is to hook people on this show -- one episode and they can't get enough. Thanks.

Great episode, by the way.

[Andy]

When I first saw the end of this episode my jaw hit the floor. I was SHOCKED. Shocked! Brilliant storytelling. Also, I love how "End of the World Party" was used in the episode (it added to the comedy.) It was also great how George stood up to Alex for once.

P.S.: Betsy Beers, you are awesome, I love you.

[Dirty Mistress]

I have to root for Meredith here. She loves Derek. He's a good guy, when he's with her. He and Addison just don't work anymore.

Sometimes divorce really is the better option, especially while both parties are still young and attractive and have hope of finding someone else. Otherwise, they grow old and distant and that's the worst kind of loneliness.

Please let Meredith and Derek be together. Let him make up for all the times he hurt her. Make him work really hard to earn her trust. But don't send them down separate paths. The show just wouldn't be the same.

And the Vet has his pride. He's not blind. He knows what's going on. So does Addison. Too many people are hurting. The only way to set it right is to put the people who love each other most together.

I too have had experiences with other shows were the broke up the one couple I cared about, and no matter how well-done the show was, it was never the same after that. I just stopped watching - not deliberately - it just happened that way.

[Mugizi]

"(Okay, I, Harry, have to admit I was also kind of squealing in a very manly way on the inside)."

Heh Heh!

[Mugizi]

(1) I think what makes Grey really unique is the wonderful attention paid to character.

In a lot of TV shows the characters are awesome and funny and noble,... but they aren't really UNIQUE.

They're just kind of generic and nothing REALLY differentiates one character from another.

They have only superficial differences but the under lying TONE is the same.

I feel this way about shows like Seinfeld or Friends or Sex and the City.

While these shows were great, they did not do as good a job in defining their characters and truly exploring them.

I LOVE how the characters in Grey always stay true to form.

Alex is a bit of an a**, and even though he might occasionally be nice, in the end he will always go back to the tough, cynical person we all know and hate/love.

Cristina might gradually open up and soften, but deep inside she will always be the difficult and competitive Cristina.

George is a really, really, really great guy. You can't help but love him. But SOMETIMES he really does need to grow a pair.

I LOVE how the show allows its main characters to have all these deep flaws but never stops rooting for them to win.

(2) My favorite couple is Burke/Cristina.

Not only are the actors great, but their relationship is REALLY fun to watch.

They're both just so complex and tortured and yet utterly sympathetic.

You can't help but root for them, even though you know they might not make it.

Can Cristina give BUrke the support he needs?

What is the back story with Cristina's mom anyway?

Can Burke learn to live with Cristina's ... evasiveness, or will he give her an ultimatum?

And if he does, what will she do?

The writing and acting on this pair make them just riveting to watch.

(3) Grey is always teetering on the edge of becoming a soap opera.

Personally I am fine with this, but I am guessing there are a lot of paper who would never watch for precisely this reason.

For this reason, I did not really like the finale episode.

I felt the prom bit was just "too much" and the Mer/Der sex just felt ... dirty and inappropriate.

I mean, he is still married, she has the vet, and they just slink off and go and do it(losing the panties in the process!).

It just struck me as a bit implausible from what we've seen about Mer and Der.

Der is supposed to have some principles and we've seen Mer trying to slow down her sex life.

An unexpected passionate stolen kiss would have been more effective and got the message across.

(4) My favorite episodes of the season were "Into you like a Train" and the first super bowl episode.

I just noticed that both of those got nominated for Emmys!

Good work Shonda and Krista!

In particular I think the Superbowl episode was one of the greatest hours of television I have ever seen.

It kept me glued to my seat, great tension, great little moments. Cristina Ricci, Kyle Chandler, "Pink Mist", Burke:"I can't think while you're here.", the explosion, Derek asking about Meredith and the chief's wife knowing who he really meant, Izzy's inappropriate reactions, it was just really great. Oh, not forgetting George and Bailey and Derek and the brain surgery.

(5) I have never been a big fan or Mer and Der.

I like them individually, but I really don't see what the big fuss is about them together.

Perhaps the fact that I am a man and only realy started watching in season 2 might have something to do with it.

In any case, the whole Mer/Der/Addison triangle has definitely dragged on for far too long.

Its time to put an end to it and resolve it one way or the other.

The thing is Kate Walsh is such an awesome and HOT actress that I don't want you to write her off.

Addison should just admit that it is over and everyone should move on.

PLEASE.

And ... Addison/Alex could be REALLY hot (just an idea!).

(6) Other great episodes:

"Yesterday" - The one where McSteamy shows up. I am a 100% straight guy, but even I could see his appeal.

"What Have I Done to Deserve This?" - The one where Meredith sees her dad and sleep with GEORGE! GREAT emotion in this one.

I think what made these episodes good was the great character development and learning more about Addison/Derek and Meredith respectively. It really put a lot more depth into these characters when we learned about their past.

Learning about Richard's AA membership and Seeing George's family in the Thanksgiving episode was also really neat.

(7) I really don't have much criticism for the show.

I think the show obviously lives and dies based on the characters (not on the medical stuff for the most part), so lots more episodes exploring their back stories and how they became who they are are clearly called for.

The only danger I see is going too far into soap-opera land with everyone sleeping with everyone else and people behaving like jerks and back stabbing each other with no clear motive.

I think right now it just teeters on the edge and adding too many "soapy elements" ( e.g. more romantic triangles, cheating (without a good reason), unexplained relationship drama) could push it too far and turn off some of the current audience.

(8) I also liked the bit where Burke explains to Cristina that he "practised." The music was also beautiful.("Blues For Sister Someone")

Once again, Burketina == "Awesome."

(9) So I think the most succesful episodes were the ones that really developed and revealed something substantial about the characters.

I hope you continue writing great stories that really keep George acting like George, Cristina acting like Cristina and so on.

I also hope you reveal even more of the character's back story.

For example:

(1) What made Izzy into the person she is? I didn't like her at first, but I warmed up to her a LOT as the the second season went on.

(2) What is Cristina's family like and how did she become who she is? Does she also have some daddy issues?

(3) What is the whole deal with Richard, Thatcher,Ellis and Meredith? I suspect there is a lot more going on.

(4) Where is Alex's family? Where does he live, who does he hang out with(since the other interns mostly shunned him)?

(5) What is the chief's family life? Does he have kids?

Along with the on-going storylines with BurkeTina,MerDer,Izzy's misconduct,Alex's isolation, GeorgeCallie and DerAddison, this should provide enough material for most of season 3 ...! ;)

[Katie]

This is my favorite GA Episode ever. Thank you for writing it very well.

I love your top 10 list - it was a great way to get the storyline passed. I thought it was a great part of the episode, and it brought awareness to things that should be brought to attention.

Thanks again :)

[PamelaJaye]

Yes, Carter did catch something or other (I've been watching reruns this summer)

On the other hand, it wasn't an epidemic at County, the way it was at Seattle Grace (and honestly, the way those people have sex like bunnies, it would almost be irresponsible not to show the possible results)

[Jennifer]

I have so much work I need to be doing, and yet, I find myself back here at the blog. My high school seniors watched a few GA episodes in May (I was teaching about reading images and how text translates to the visual--you blogs really helped them understand the process of idea to page to screen).

Just a few more weeks until Season 2 is out on DVD.

[Lucy]

I'm curious about how Richard called Addison and told her about Meredith & Derek. Derek's phone was ringing all day and he wouldn't answer it. That night he operated on Richard and when Richard woke up he saw Derek with Meredith. So, Addison was already on her way because she told Derek he would have known she was coming if he had bothered to call her back. Am I missing something?

[Anna]

I was thinking that it would be cool to have Izzie's cupckae recipe. I know its not a real recipe, but someone could make one up.

[Cor]

I just hope you maked George and Izzie together! They are the hearts of the show and when they see each other, they will find love forever

[Karen Armstrong]

I am relishing in the fact that reruns are
continuing and I have Season 1 almost worn out already.
I attend what we call a "Hepfest" every year in the Twin Cities. The ladies that started www.liverhope.com (advocacy for HCV) open up this huge home, swimming pool, jacuzzi, all the food & refreshments one could enjoy, for any & all to come from around the U.S.
It is 4-5 days of the greatest get togethers.
Well, seeing as I am the Grey's Junkie, I wasn't in shock when I asked and found out how many other GREY'S junkies exist. I LOVE IT. There are many many Grey's Anatomy's hooked, watchers, and even memorizing the one liners and Seriously...oh my..LOL.
The new word of the decade..Seriously~
Keep it up staff, crew, actors & actresses. YOU have a hit on your hands. Fun with facts and then some.
Thank you again.
always
karen in WI.

[beth]

ahahahah. I love the top 10 list. it's great.

[Colleen]

You had to list Rockdale County, huh? They will never live that down....great episode..one of my favorites and I also want to scream every time I see Addison walk into the hospital. I am a little confused on the timing of her arrival, especially since I can't figure out when Chief would have had time to call, but I'll go with it :) I am loving these re-runs this summer, especially since I started watching mid-season 2, so I've had to catch up with the season 1 DVD and then reading about season 2 eps I missed.

[Amy]

Yeah like some others have said Carter did indeed have an STD. But it was like 12 years ago so I can see why you would have forgotten about that!

Anyways, is there anyway you can please persuade ABC to show the first few episodes of season 2? Pretty please with a cherry on top? :)
Like others have said I missed it and have been waiting forever for ABC to reair it.

[Lucy]

Richard is sitting in the room that overlooks the OR and told someone (I can't remember who) that he was in that OR when he found out he would be the next chief. Yet, in his bio on this website it says he was in New York and would be returning to Seattle as Chief. ??? How long has he been chief when the interns showed up?

[Heather]

I hate, hate, hate that Season 2 DVD is coming out on Sept. 12 - a week into school. If I go out and buy it, I will be sitting in front of a television screen for 27 hours straight (plus add on any additional time for special features). I can't remember the last time I was so utterly obsessed with a show. I talk about the characters on Grey's Anatomy like they're REAL people and it's sort of scary sometimes.

Shonda, you are an absolute genius for dreaming up these characters and these relationships and this much history on all of them.

However, I'm trying to figure out what's soooooo special exactly between Meredith and Derek. I love McDreamy and I love happy-Season-1 Meredith but I don't really see why they love each other so much besides the fact that they're both gorgeous, both doctors and have great sex together. I especially don't get it considering that when they're relationship really is starting to develop (the trailer scene), it comes to an abrupt halt in the next episode (awesome Addison arrives). They have no depth, no substance. So I don't get how Meredith can be all, "When I met you, I was done with all the boys and the bars and the sleeping around because I found the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with." How precisely did she come to this conclusion? Where in their happy-infatuated-great-sex-sneaking-around-drinking-wine-watching-sunsets-blissful-first-few-weeks-of-a-sexy-new-relationship phase did they ever have a chance to fall in love with each other?

I only started watching Grey's Anatomy about a little past the midway point of Season 2. And I really, really wanted to understand why Meredith and Derek are so hot together and why so many people love them. And after watching Season 1, I don't see it. There's little snippits of it - like the way Meredith talks about surgery being a high, and how she's so concerned about her career which is why she resists Derek for so long. All these wonderful surgeon aspects of her must be why Derek was so into her. Because when you look at Addison, and see how she's so take charge, so kick ass, such an amazing surgeon - c'mon, Derek must love powerful women. And his persistence and his charm sure must have done the trick for Meredith, but is that really enough for her to fall in love with him? To conclude she would spend the rest of her life with him? Even all that crap he says in the trailer scene about his mom's maiden name, and his favourite stuff - that stuff is utterly sweet and romantic but pure and total garbage. There's no substance and no basis in that either. If he was all hurt and forlorn over Addison, how could he be so happy-go-lucky with Meredith without any hint of being torn, of being afraid to get hurt again? After all, he thought Addison was the love of his life, yeah?!!

It's clear that Meredith is (or has become) the love of Derek's life when McSteamy is being a little devil's advocate and makes it all clear with the whole - "He walks in on me sleeping with his wife in his own room and doesn't even say a word. He sees me so much as talking to Meredith and punches me out." So we need to know more about Derek and Addison, and if Derek was ever passionate about Addison the way he is with Meredith.

Addison loves (or loved) McSteamy (and he equally loved her back). Derek loves Meredith (and she equally loves him back). What the h***. Yeah, when you get married, it should be forever and ever till death do us part, but what's the point of living life in misery when four people can be so easily happy if they just rearranged each other slightly?

Derek is such an a**. He should have just signed those divorce papers instead.

Grey's Anatomy makes my head spin. There's no cohesive thought to this post.

Anyway, I still LOVE all the characters and will be very sad if Izzie goes.