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I liked Owen and Arizona as soon as they were introduced. I never really liked Jo but it has nothing to do with Izzie, her character just bores me and in 3 years she's yet to have a memorable, exciting storyline with Alex. But I get what you're saying about some more radical fans getting upset any time a character moves on... I don't think it's necessarily the norm though. I wanted Owen to move on a long time ago, actually, because his story with Cristina got tedious and repetitive. I just think Amelia is a God-awful character being portrayed by a subpar actress, and it makes Owen even less interesting to me.

That's a really interesting way to look at it, actually. I typically like to know that writers have some sort of endgame in mind, but Grey's has always sort of just been about enjoying the ride. A year ago I would say that Meredith / Derek, Callie / Arizona, April / Jackson were all endgame, but now I'm not 100% sure. I still think the later two will end up together (mostly because I think the only reason Derek was killed was for outside reasons, not story) but I really don't know. S12 will be interesting to say the least. We know virtually nothing aside from a new doc joining and Ben becoming a regular, so it's really all wide-open right now. I don't really see it as disgusting lol... lots of men and women sleep with more than one significant other in the same place / bed. That's just life. Cristina is gone, he has to move on. I just dislike Amelia as a character and find she has no chemistry with Owen. Meredith is moving back into her mom's home, where she slept with Derek, George and countless one-night-stands (during season 2). Lexie also slept with Mark, Alex and Jackson there. Either way though, I agree that I don't want to see Amelia living in that house.

Okay, well Spoilers for HIMYM are below for anyone who hasn't seen its series finale: HIMYM finale is probably among the most fan-hated endings in recent memory. Basically the entire series was building up Ted (the main character) getting married to the love of his life (hence the title.) We finally met her in the final season, and in the series finale we discover she's died, and he ends up going back to the bitch who he spent a great deal of the series on again / off again with. Ugh. I just know Amelia is going to be living in that house. I absolutely don't want to see that. Meredith / Maggie together would be nice, but jeez these are adults - surgeons, no less - they can afford to get their own apartments.

Are you surprised though? Fan reaction to that pairing was negative before it even happened, because it became painfully obvious Shonda was going to do it the second Amelia joined the cast. They had plenty of opportunity to shake things up and move them apart during S11, but they kept it going despite fan reaction. It's unfortunate, but I think we all knew O/A was going to be a big part of S12. I'm struggling to find something to get excited about.

I think Shonda has always envisioned Grey's as very long term. Certainly by season 5 after all of its huge success. She always said she'd love it to run like ER, but you may be right... it may not have been quite a reality until George / Izzie left. Then they really saw they could still do well without original characters, and with new ones coming in (S6 merger was basically the first big test).

Jerrika posted a photo of the first day back filming https://instagram.com/p/5Kb_EJo3IO/?taken-by=hellojerrika

We kind of discussed this in another thread but you've made some different points here. Yea, Owen is f****d up, but the issue of him and Cristina isn't so black or white. He knew in the long run he would never be fulfilled without kids. Just like it was her right to not want them, it's his right to say he DOES want and need them. Many woman break up with men because they don't want children; so Owen choosing not to live his life with Cristina also makes sense to me. This show has come up with 1,000,000 stupid, forced reasons to break up couples - but Owen's wanting children always struck me as a good one. It's in his characters DNA. There's nothing to explain... he wants kids, she does not. That would always be an issue for them, even if he loved her.

But that's life. I mean, I agree that it wasn't all handled perfectly and I of course respect the fact that you see it differently. But I totally understand the struggle of really wanting to be with someone but your desires not matching up - sometimes you know that you should be apart, but that's easier said than done. I thought the whole Owen / Cristina relationship was a huge mess for the last several years (which is unfortunate, because it was amazing in S5.) But I never doubted either of their motives or thought that it didn't make sense... I was simply tired of seeing it. Yes, he "should have" divorced her knowing that it would never work, but he was so in love with her that he tried to get around it. Obviously that was incredibly unhealthy and not the most fun to watch. The last several years of their relationship ruined his character for me.

I was really hoping they were going to write Jo off at the end of S11 and go with Alex / Maggie but it looks like that's obviously not the case. Alex is one of my favourite characters, and he's been so boring the past few years. Jo just does him no justice, they're so bland together. I maybe wouldn't mind her so much with someone else, but Alex / Jo is just uninteresting to me. Still, I like Meredith and Alex too much as friends that I don't want to see it turn into anything sexual at this point.

I think if they were going to do that they probably would have written Jo off at the end of S11.

I think (or hope) that if Ellen chooses not to resign, it doesn't come down to the wire. She knows that her contract is about expire, and ABC knows they want her back. I'd hope that if she leaves, we are warned early and Shonda has time to craft a proper exit for her like she did with Cristina. It would be a real piss-off for us to get a rushed ending for the series' namesake if she doesn't return. I don't think Ellen would do that to the fans, though.

I'm sure they signed Scorsone and McCreary for at least 3 years (11,12,13). Maybe more.

This. CF isn't going anywhere.

There's a very real chance that Ellen won't sign on past 12, so I think you're right in assuming that Shonda / the producers want to secure as many of the other most well-known characters as possible. In my mind, that would include Callie / Arizona, Alex, Jackson / April, and so on.

I agree with wanting to see them more fleshed out as doctors. I'd like to see April continue to excel at trauma, and plastics opens so many possibilities, I'd like to see Jackson be a great surgeon too. You're right about having too little screen time - it's true for every character on the show right now. There are simply too many characters to properly develop each one, and all of their individual stories suffer because of it. I think a focus on mentoring would be great for S12 so that we can get more scenes of actors with different pairings, but they always drop those stories. Unfortunately, as it stands, I'm so uninvested in so many cast members. I used to really be interested in every character on the show. I really, really want an interesting - and happy! - story for Callie this year. She was very underused in S11, especially the back half.

I disliked the idea of her at first - I think it may be the actress who changed my mind. I actually really enjoy her interactions with other cast members (Alex, Meredith, Richard, etc.) I wish they had focused more on Maggie than Amelia in S11. I think it would have been a much stronger season with more emphasis on Maggie's relationships with Richard and Meredith. Instead, it became the Amelia show - she's a weaker character and weaker actress, and the show suffered because of it (for me, anyway.) There's a lot they just left unexplored and I think it may have had to do with the jumbled stories once they decided to write Derek off.

I don't use Instagram and only following a handful of the cast on Twitter, so I've got nothing at all against the actress - but Stef is easily the most useless character to ever appear on the show. It's not even that I dislike her really... it's literally that she just eats up screen time. She has no unique personality traits, no background that we know of, not a single interesting relationship or tie to anyone else in the cast. I just don't get how she's stuck around for so long. The writers just keep shoehorning her into other peoples' stories. With Amelia I genuinely dislike the character, think she's horridly written and acted.. with Stef it's like she's just THERE. Hearing that she'll be chief resident is just totally unexciting to me.

But as soon as April and Jackson first hooked up, they were 'meant to be'. Even when she spent a full season with Matthew, her story was always connected to Jackson - we knew her and Matt wouldn't end up together, just like we knew Stef and Jackson wouldn't (I literally don't remember a single thing about their relationship other than him leaving her at April's wedding.) It was the same as Finn in season 2 + 3 or Rose in season 4 - they were mere distractions. Which is why I've always been so surprised that they kept Stef around for so long. Even NOW her biggest stories are connected to Jackson / April (having to tell them about their baby.)

"I'm so excited for this!" said no one.

It doesn't have to be cheating... he and April were pretty near breaking up at the end of S11, so if they go ahead with that I'd like to see them both develop other relationships. What's annoying to me at this point is that the writers are so wishy-washy with their couples - we've had the same pairings for years, and when they break them up, they never really develop them with anyone else. It takes one actor leaving the show (for example, Sandra Oh) for Shonda to actually play with pairings. Jackson / April have been on-and-off for years, and even when they broke up and dated other people, those other people (Stef + Matthew) were merely props to get Jackson / April back together. Cristina and Owen should have been broken up for years, but it took Oh leaving to get Owen in a new relationship (one which I hate, btw). Arizona and Callie were stuck in such a strange, boring holding pattern this season: separated, but not really moving on. I'd like to see more fun pairings this season, and some more realistic representations of sex and dating. Owen and Amelia came out of nowhere, and they're so overwrought and "invested" already, it just makes no sense.

The bonus features for the S11 DVD have been confirmed: Gee, spotlight on Catarina... who would have guessed. I guess it's interesting that Shonda is doing a feature on Derek's departure.

SpoilerTV reviews the premiere episode (they've seen the first 3): http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/06/true-detective-season-2-premiere.html

Right! I mean, what do people expect her to say? "I'm crushed, the show is going to suck now..." Be realistic! Grey's has lost tons of cast members over the years, and it's always done just fine. Ellen is right to say that it's an insult to be told people will leave with Dempsey - she's still there, still working, still committed to telling Meredith's story. She had no control over Dempsey's exist, and she continues to be gracious and kind with fans and when discussing the show. People need to give her a break. Dempsey is gone, they need to either accept it and continue supporting the show or get over it and just quit watching and complaining. I understand being invested for years; I've watched since the pilot first aired. If anything it's showed me that anything goes on Grey's, you need to take the not-so-good with the good. I'm personally excited to see where they go from here, and my issue isn't losing cast members, but gaining too many lol.

SpoilerTV did a Throwback Thursday review of "Long Term Parking" which is pretty interesting and makes a few good points. Notably how much Christopher changed after that episode. Of course it's the end of Adriana, but it really is the beginning of the end for Christopher and the family as well. http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/06/throwback-thursday-sopranos-long-term.html

ABC has ordered 25 episodes for Grey's Anatomy season 12 http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/06/abc-episode-orders-20152016.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter