Grey's Anatomy

Yesterday we were saddened, but not surprised, to hear that FOX's once-dominate medical drama, House, will end when Season 8 wraps up this spring. While we're mostly mourning the loss of Hugh Laurie from our regular TV viewing schedule, we also had to wonder whether this bodes badly for our long-running medical favorite, Grey's Anatomy.

Now, we don't think House's end means Grey's is out the door next. Unlike its crankier counterpart, Grey's still holds its own in the ratings, and, according to Shonda, ABC president Paul Lee has said he wants Grey's to last another 10 years. It is also worth noting that House’s end was at least in part a creative decision on the part of its executive producers, while Shonda Rhimes has gone on record saying that even if she ends up deciding to leave Grey’s at some point, it might not be the end of the show. We're not convinced that we'll actually be tuning in to the Seatte Grace-Mercy West docs in 2022, but all that does bode well for Grey's Anatomy's immediate future.

However, the contracts of the original Grey's cast members are up at the end of the season, and there's still no word on which, if any, of the originals will be back. Yes, that includes Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey) and Patrick Dempsey (Derek Shepherd), along with Sandra Oh (Cristina Yang), and Justin Chambers (Alex Karev).

In fact, Patrick recently told Access Hollywood that "we have six episodes left to this season," and he still "[doesn't] know what’s happening" after that. We also know that Shonda Rhimes wrote the Season 8 finale so that it could work regardless of which actors do, or don't, return.

House was in a steeper ratings decline than Grey's, but the hefty paycheck that came along with its big name stars didn't help its case, and Grey's has a similar problem. Ellen Pompeo is one of highest paid actresses on TV, and Patrick Dempsey pulls in even more than she does.

While House clearly could not go on without its titular character, the more ensemble based Grey's Anatomy could conceivably work even without MerDer; Lexie (Chyler Leigh) could even take over as the "Grey." Given that the original cast's contracts are clearly still up in the air, we have to worry that the ABC Powers That Be might think that our fave stars just aren't worth the price tags anymore.

We hope not! No matter what anyone says, it wouldn't be Grey's Anatomy without some of the originals around.

Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on ABC.

Source: Access Hollywood