James Pickens Jr. Reflects on The Longstanding and Continued Success of GREY’S ANATOMY as Ellen Pompeo Waves Goodbye

There are some big developments coming up this week on GREY’S ANATOMY, with the departure of Ellen Pompeo, who plays Dr. Meredith Grey. But James Pickens Jr., who plays Dr. Richard Webber, knows that the veteran show has perfected the ability to be both proud of its past, and poised for the future. The game-changing episode titled I’ll Follow The Sun, which airs Thursday, Feb. 23 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app, focuses on Meredith’s last day at Grey Sloan, with the other doctors planning a goodbye surprise. GREY’S ANATOMY, which is in the midst of its 19th season, has experienced many major cast upheavals in the past – from Sandra Oh, to Katherine Heigl, to Patrick Dempsey – and Pickens believes the overall philosophy of the series has cemented its durability. “We had an executive producer back when we filmed the pilot who was very prophetic,” Pickens recalled. “He said, ‘you watch – when this pilot airs, this is going to change the way folks watch the hour-long drama.’ And we were kind of like, ‘yeah, okay, sure.’ ” But then the first episode aired. “I remember we started out on a Sunday, as kind of like a mid-season show, and at that time DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES was the juggernaut, and we were their lead-in,” Pickens said. “Once we started getting real feedback, it just started to accelerate, and it has continued that way.” Does Pickens remember which producer it was who expressed such certainty about the impact of GREY’S ANATOMY? “Jim Parriott,” Pickens said. “Jim was the one who said it. We all went out and had dinner that evening, to kind of celebrate and say, ‘well, let’s see what happens.’ But he said it with such confidence. He said, ‘this show here, this is something else.’ And he couldn’t have been more on the money with that. He hit the nail right on the head.” GREY’S ANATOMY has become such a TV mainstay that it’s easy to forget how groundbreaking it has been, not only at the beginning, but on repeated occasions through the years. “We use the term ‘diversity’ quite a bit now, but back in 2005, it was not a cliche,” Pickens pointed out. “It was Shonda (Rhimes, series creator) who said, we need to step out of the box here, and tell TV stories in a different way than we have before. I think that’s one of the things that has kept the show relevant, is the fact that we tell everyone’s story. I can’t say enough about Shonda. The foresight she had on how she wanted to tell these stories was just amazing.” Pickens said that he and Rhimes still marvel at what GREY’S ANATOMY has become. “I still speak with her from time to time, and I’ll ask her, ‘did you really think it was going to happen like this?’ And she’ll say, ‘no, Jim, did you? You’ve been with it as long as I have.’ I’ll say, ‘no, I had no idea.’ It has been a hell of a ride.” And there are still many more stories to tell in a post-Meredith world! “It started out as a hospital show, but it has morphed into something a lot more than that,” Pickens said. “I do reflect on it a lot. I had done some series before, that had some longevity, but nothing like this. I mean, most actors go their whole careers and never experience anything like that. And at that point in my career, when the show began, I was, you know, quote unquote, a mature actor. So I already knew that these kinds of roles are few and far between. So to be able to grab hold of lightning in a bottle like that is more than I ever could have dreamed of. I truly feel blessed every day.”