ABC's Grey's Anatomy Named Recipient of Eighth Annual 'TV Land Future Classic Award'

Cast Received Honor at TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV Airing Wednesday, March 22

SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 20 - ABC's critically-acclaimed hit drama, Grey's Anatomy, was awarded this year's TV Land Future Classic Award tonight at the TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV in Santa Monica, CA. Creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes, along with the cast of Grey's Anatomy, accepted the honor on behalf of the show. The award -- which TV Land unveiled in 1998 and is presented annually -- recognizes the one new show from the past calendar year which best exemplifies the qualities of an emerging television phenomenon that will endure for years to come. The TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV will air on TV Land and simulcasts on Nick at Nite on Wednesday, March 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

"Grey's Anatomy embodies the qualities of a true television classic," states Larry W. Jones, President, TV Land and Nick at Nite. "The show's complex and emotional storyline, as well as its amazing cast has made it one of the most important television shows to come along in years. TV Land would like to thank ABC, Shonda Rhimes and the entire cast and crew for making every episode of this series a weekly event we look forward to with anticipation. Of all of 2005's freshmen shows, TV Land is thrilled to present Grey's Anatomy with the 2005 TV Land Future Classic Award."

"We are honored that TV Land has chosen Grey's Anatomy as their Future Classic Award recipient," states Shonda Rhimes, creator and executive producer of the series. "TV Land has quickly established itself as a great home for the most loved series to air on television. As we continue to build upon a great start to Grey's Anatomy, we are thrilled to be honored by this institution and look forward to one day joining their elite line up of fantastic television shows."

Grey's Anatomy is a primetime, hour-long drama centering around a group of new surgical interns battling the job, each other and life in general on a daily basis at Seattle Grace Hospital, the toughest surgical residency program west of Harvard. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is a woman trying to lead a real life while doing a job that makes having a real life impossible. She and fellow first-year interns Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) were students yesterday. Today they're doctors and, in a world where on the job training can be a matter of life and death, they're all juggling the ups and downs of their own personal lives.

The interns fight to maintain friendships in this most stressful and competitive atmosphere. Meredith's medical ambition is overshadowed by a troubling secret: her mother, a noted pioneering surgeon, is suffering from a tragic and devastating illness. Cristina is a study in contradiction; highly competitive and driven, she eschews any favors in order to make it on her own. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens, the small-town girl who paid for medical school by modeling in her underwear, battles for respect amongst her peers. George O'Malley is the warm but insecure boy next door who always manages to do or say the wrong thing -- even in the O.R. Worse, in spite of his obvious attraction to Meredith, he's treated as "just one of the girls." And Alex Karev, the intern every intern loves to hate, masks his working class roots with arrogance and ambition.

The interns are guided by an established team of doctors who are determined to shape them into skilled surgeons or break them: Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), the senior resident responsible for training them, masks her softer side with a demeanor so tough that she's the nicknamed "The Nazi." Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) is the flirtatious but wildly talented surgeon. Meredith thought he was her soul mate when the two began a forbidden sexual relationship, and is shocked when she discovers he is married to Dr. Addison Shepherd (Kate Walsh), a new doctor at the hospital. Preston Burke's (Isaiah Washington) arrogance is second only to his skill with a scalpel. He meets his match in Cristina when they begin a less romantic but equally forbidden relationship of their own. Overseeing them all is Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), Seattle Grace's paternal but no-nonsense chief of surgery who harbors some secrets of his own concerning Meredith's mother.

Grey's Anatomy focuses on young people struggling to be doctors and doctors struggling to stay human. It's the drama and intensity of medical training mixed with the funny, sexy, painful lives of interns who are about to discover that neither medicine nor relationships can be defined in black and white. Real life only comes in shades of grey.

Shonda Rhimes (Introducing Dorothy Dandridge) is creator and executive producer. Mark Gordon (Saving Private Ryan), Betsy Beers (Casanova), James Parriott (The American Embassy) and Peter Horton (thirtysomething) are executive producers. Grey's Anatomy is a Touchstone Television Production.

Comprised of various members of the TV Land staff, the Future Classic Award selection committee reviews episodes of all new shows premiering throughout the entire year. The committee then votes on the one show that TV Land feels best exemplifies an emerging classic series that would one day fit its broad mix of award-winning line-up ranging from The Andy Griffith Show to Good Times. Shows considered by the committee are based on the following criteria:

* Each show must have premiered between January 1 and December 1, 2005.

* No returning series are considered.

* Each show must be regularly featured in prime time.

* Each show must be a drama, sitcom, or sketch comedy series.

Previous winners of the Future Classic Award are Sports Night, The Sopranos, Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle, American Dreams, Arrested Development and Desperate Housewives.

The fourth annual TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV is presented by M&M'S(R) Brand Chocolate Candies. Other major sponsors include Capital One, Dell and Nestle's HOT POCKETS(R) Brand SUBS.

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TV Land Productions was created in 2003 to develop original programming that complements the network's successful acquired programming slate. TV Land Productions has also produced The TV Land Awards Show: A Celebration of Classic TV (March 2003, 2004 and 2005), the Emmy-nominated The Dick Van Dyke Show, Revisited, the network's first original special for broadcast, which premiered on CBS in May 2004, the Emmy-nominated Still Brady ... After All These Years reunion special in September 2004 and Chasing Farrah (Spring 2005), the original reality series that followed iconic Hollywood actress and sex symbol Farrah Fawcett. Over the last year, the network premiered a variety of original series and specials in 2005 including: TV Guide and TV Land Present: The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments, Living in TV Land, TV Land Confidential and Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg. For more information about TV Land's original Wednesday night line-ups, visit http://www.tvland.com .

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SOURCE TV Land
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