An Anatomy of Grey's Anatomy
An Anatomy of Grey's Anatomy
One Sunday evening years ago, I was flipping through the channels in search of the brand new series House. For some reason I thought it was showing at 21:00 on Sunday, even though I very well knew that Fox Broadcasting broadcasts its nightly news at that hour in central time zone. Nonetheless, I thought I found the right channel, because there was this show with a bunch of people in medical coats. That must be it, the oft-talked show that has been generating buzz all week long.
An hour later, I was puzzled as all heck. Where was the bearded, gimpy doctor that all the critiques raved about? It turned out that I had just watched the pilot episode of Grey's Anatomy. Stranger yet, I actually liked this new show. Ever since that day, I have been watching Grey's Anatomy religiously. It is funny and catchy. I liked how Meredith Grey narrates throughout the show explaining the little meanings of life as she saw it through the experiences of her life and her friends', hence the title.
Although Grey's Anatomy was never my absolute number one favorite show, it was high up there on my list along with 24 and CSI. Of course now I don't watch CSI anymore due to last year's Thursday primetime shakeup.
Fast forward a couple years from 2005, a smooth 51 episodes later. I still like the show. Sure, it no longer has the same cachet as it carried in the first season. It still is funny at times, but it seems like they have shaken up the staff writers. Either that, or it could be possible that ABC guided the show's existing staff writers in a new direction after finding out that their audience comprised a significantly more proportion of young women than previously projected in target audience research. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that in the advent of character development and its intricate relationships, the show has evolved slightly into a medical drama version of Desperate Housewives. It is now an extremely girly show!
Of course, that didn't bother me a whole lot. At least not enough for me to completely dump the show. I just wonder now what will the staff writers do once all the characters have slept with each and every other characters. Will the producers bring more hot guest stars like they did with Chris O'Donnel last season?
In any case, let's get back to the point. Another reason why I liked this show outside of its artistic values is because it had very minimal product placement. Compare it to Seinfeld or Friends, Grey's Anatomy is the untainted virgin free of corporate product placement. Of course I don't consider medical equipment really a product placement when the premise of the show is set in a hospital setting. And GE has been good with not slapping their oversized brand icon on every medical equipment prop. In fact, I hardly ever see its brand at all, except during the closing credits.
Well, this virgin is no more. You, like I and many other fellow human beings, have gone to hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices countless of times. So why don't you think back of hospital and clinic surroundings as a reference? What do you remember most about the decors on such walls? For me, it has mostly been informational diagrams of certain anatomic parts, like the reproductive systems, lungs, etc. Sure, these posters were provided by the pharmaceutical companies. For example, there might be a huge poster showing the anatomies of both a healthy sinus and one that has severe allergies, with a small line at the very bottom indicating lightly that the poster was provided by Nasonex. In other words, minimal advertising in the hospitals due to doctors' code of ethics.
Where am I going with this? When I was catching up with Grey's Anatomy recently when I finally watched the "Wishin' and Hopin'" episode, something caught my eye that really disturbed me. I stopped the frame and looked hard. I dug deep into the recesses of my subconscious mind so that I may put a finger on it. Here is the frame I am talking about:
Notice anything strange? No? Look over Meredith's shoulder on her left (our right). Yeah, over there, the big blue sign. That extremely oversized image. I mean, look at it! It is just as big as that janitor's cart? Do you recognize the sign? I didn't initially. But it took me a long time to figure out. Since I'm not a woman, I know little about birth control. I mean, I know the medical concepts surrounding it and how they function in a woman's body depending on the general types. But I surely didn't know the popular brands out there. After much research, I finally found it!
Ring a bell? That thing on the show is a striking resemblance to a logo of a birth control device magnified hundredfold! Watch the regular advertisement on the air here.
Ugh!!! Grey's Anatomy has finally snuck in a huge product placement! The show is no longer pure, and it is a little bit upsetting. Now I just hope that the show is not going down a slippery hill and maintain its good qualities.
One Sunday evening years ago, I was flipping through the channels in search of the brand new series House. For some reason I thought it was showing at 21:00 on Sunday, even though I very well knew that Fox Broadcasting broadcasts its nightly news at that hour in central time zone. Nonetheless, I thought I found the right channel, because there was this show with a bunch of people in medical coats. That must be it, the oft-talked show that has been generating buzz all week long.
An hour later, I was puzzled as all heck. Where was the bearded, gimpy doctor that all the critiques raved about? It turned out that I had just watched the pilot episode of Grey's Anatomy. Stranger yet, I actually liked this new show. Ever since that day, I have been watching Grey's Anatomy religiously. It is funny and catchy. I liked how Meredith Grey narrates throughout the show explaining the little meanings of life as she saw it through the experiences of her life and her friends', hence the title.
Although Grey's Anatomy was never my absolute number one favorite show, it was high up there on my list along with 24 and CSI. Of course now I don't watch CSI anymore due to last year's Thursday primetime shakeup.
Fast forward a couple years from 2005, a smooth 51 episodes later. I still like the show. Sure, it no longer has the same cachet as it carried in the first season. It still is funny at times, but it seems like they have shaken up the staff writers. Either that, or it could be possible that ABC guided the show's existing staff writers in a new direction after finding out that their audience comprised a significantly more proportion of young women than previously projected in target audience research. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that in the advent of character development and its intricate relationships, the show has evolved slightly into a medical drama version of Desperate Housewives. It is now an extremely girly show!
Of course, that didn't bother me a whole lot. At least not enough for me to completely dump the show. I just wonder now what will the staff writers do once all the characters have slept with each and every other characters. Will the producers bring more hot guest stars like they did with Chris O'Donnel last season?
In any case, let's get back to the point. Another reason why I liked this show outside of its artistic values is because it had very minimal product placement. Compare it to Seinfeld or Friends, Grey's Anatomy is the untainted virgin free of corporate product placement. Of course I don't consider medical equipment really a product placement when the premise of the show is set in a hospital setting. And GE has been good with not slapping their oversized brand icon on every medical equipment prop. In fact, I hardly ever see its brand at all, except during the closing credits.
Well, this virgin is no more. You, like I and many other fellow human beings, have gone to hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices countless of times. So why don't you think back of hospital and clinic surroundings as a reference? What do you remember most about the decors on such walls? For me, it has mostly been informational diagrams of certain anatomic parts, like the reproductive systems, lungs, etc. Sure, these posters were provided by the pharmaceutical companies. For example, there might be a huge poster showing the anatomies of both a healthy sinus and one that has severe allergies, with a small line at the very bottom indicating lightly that the poster was provided by Nasonex. In other words, minimal advertising in the hospitals due to doctors' code of ethics.
Where am I going with this? When I was catching up with Grey's Anatomy recently when I finally watched the "Wishin' and Hopin'" episode, something caught my eye that really disturbed me. I stopped the frame and looked hard. I dug deep into the recesses of my subconscious mind so that I may put a finger on it. Here is the frame I am talking about:
Notice anything strange? No? Look over Meredith's shoulder on her left (our right). Yeah, over there, the big blue sign. That extremely oversized image. I mean, look at it! It is just as big as that janitor's cart? Do you recognize the sign? I didn't initially. But it took me a long time to figure out. Since I'm not a woman, I know little about birth control. I mean, I know the medical concepts surrounding it and how they function in a woman's body depending on the general types. But I surely didn't know the popular brands out there. After much research, I finally found it!
Ring a bell? That thing on the show is a striking resemblance to a logo of a birth control device magnified hundredfold! Watch the regular advertisement on the air here.
Ugh!!! Grey's Anatomy has finally snuck in a huge product placement! The show is no longer pure, and it is a little bit upsetting. Now I just hope that the show is not going down a slippery hill and maintain its good qualities.
Labels: adverts, culture, television
posted by StHalcyon at
10:54
2 Comments:
I definitely didn't notice that until you pointed it out. This past week I saw the SAME POSTER on Thursday's Scrubs. It's a conspiracy!
You betcha it is a conspiracy! Anybody else noticed how characters on TV all of a sudden love the drink that gives you wings? Ted on How I Met Your Mother drank Red Bull. Matt on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip loved drinking that stuff. When will it stop?!?
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