Six Degrees of Yuckiness

I finally caught up with last week's "Grey's Anatomy," and I wish I hadn't. I'm not sure George and Izzie actually had sex, what with all the boozing. But just the idea of George and Izzie getting romantic was enough to make me furious at this show all over again. I've spewed here and there about the creative irritations of "Grey's," a show I once defended and enjoyed for being a guilt-free hospital soap-drama. But I feel Shonda Rhimes reached a new low by putting two more of the regular castmembers into a sexual situation.

As far as I know, the Viewer Discretion blog program does not allow me to build a chart. Otherwise, I could create a graphic that would be as in-bred as Alice's original chart on "The L Word." Not including Cristina and Burke (although, with Colin Marlowe on the scene, that may change), the gang has had a staggered orgy of sorts. Meredith has been with Derek and George; Izzie has been with Alex and George (and the floor; see above); Addison has been with Derek and McSteamy and Alex, kinda; Callie has been with George and McSteamy; and there are romantic connections I'm probably forgetting. You could draw and line from Addison to Derek to Meredith to George to Izzie to Alex and back around to Addison again, and throw in Callie and McSteamy for some nonlinear action. Fortunately, Rhimes has not tied the knot any tighter by throwing in one or two gay or lesbian episodes.

It just starts seeming stupid and incestuous after a while. Is there no such thing as a true friendship between a man and a woman? I guess "ER" has dabbled in the same kind of romantic overlap, and I guess many ensemble shows do it as the years stretch on and the options become more limited. Remember when Joey and Rachel were lovers on "Friends"? Now that was creepy. But "Grey's Anatomy" has gone there way too quickly.