How To Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy

Rice (editor at large, Entertainment Weekly) has compiled a “totally unauthorized” oral history of the long-running medical TV drama Grey’s Anatomy, complete with gossip and backstabbing comments about the series’ stars and its creator, Shonda Rimes. Rice interviewed nearly 80 different individuals involved in the making of the show (those who chose to remain anonymous are credited as a “person familiar with the situation” or similar) and pieced together quotes from previously published interviews with Grey’s figures she wasn’t able to speak to, including Rimes. Rice focuses largely on the actors’ bad behavior and scandals—including those that made headlines (Isaiah Washington’s homophobic comments; Katherine Heigl’s voicing her displeasure with the script) and those that didn’t (Patrick Dempsey’s complaining that allegedly created a negative atmosphere on set; Ellen Pompeo’s dislike for learning her lines)—but she also includes an entertaining interview with the Fray, whose song “How To Save a Life” became the group’s highest-charting tune thanks to its use on multiple Grey’s episodes. Sadly, the book doesn’t examine the show’s 17th season, which covered both the pandemic in real time and ongoing human rights issues.