Greys Anatomy - Season 4

Season 4 (Grey's Anatomy)The promo picture of the season 4 main cast.Season InformationNo. of episodes17Original runSeptember 27, 2007 - May 22, 2008DVD ReleasesRegion 1September 9, 2008Region 2November 23, 2009Region 4November 5, 2008Season GuidePreviousNextSeason 3Season 5

Greys Anatomy - Season 4

Enter a world of change in the irresistible and unforgettable fourth season of Grey's Anatomy. Love, lies, and family ties are revealed as the surgeons of Seattle Grace discover that their choices have major unintended consequences. And coupled with the arrival of some very eager new interns, life at the hospital sizzles with more emotion, excitement, and heartbreak than ever before.

The fourth season had 12 roles receiving star-billing, with 10 of them returning from the previous season, 8 of whom are part of the original cast from the first one. All the actors who are billed as series-regulars portray physicians from the surgical wing of the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital. The majority of the show's episodes are narrated by Ellen Pompeo, who portrayed protagonist Dr. Meredith Grey, a surgical resident whose storylines are the series' focal-points. Sandra Oh acted as Meredith's best-friend, highly competitive resident Dr. Cristina Yang. Fellow resident Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens was portrayed by Katherine Heigl, while Dr. Alexander "Alex" Karev was played by Justin Chambers. T. R. Knight acted as insecure resident with self-confidence issues, Dr. George O'Malley, whereas Chandra Wilson portrayed Chief Resident and general surgeon Dr. Miranda Bailey, former mentor of the 5 residents during their internship. James Pickens, Jr. portrayed attending physician and general surgeon Dr. Richard Webber, who continues his position as Chief of Surgery, despite his former wishes of retirement. Orthopedic surgeon and fifth-year resident Dr. Calliope "Callie" Torres, who was portrayed by Sara Ramirez, has to face her husband's unfaithfulness and her unexpected bisexuality. Attending plastic surgeon, Dr. Mark Sloan was portrayed by Eric Dane, who is constantly seeking reconciliation with former best-friend, attending physician and Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), whose lasting relationship with Meredith Grey faces difficulties. Former Reunion star Chyler Leigh was promoted to series-regular status, after short appearances in the final 2 episodes of the third season, portraying Meredith's half-sister Lexie Grey, who opts for a surgical internship at Seattle Grace Hospital against Massachusetts General Hospital, after her mother's sudden death. Silence of the Lambs star, Brooke Smith was upgraded to series-regular status after multiple guest appearances in the second and third seasons. An antagonizing character at first, she replaces Preston Burke as the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, constantly displaying disrespect for Cristina's previous relationship with him.

Numerous supporting characters have been given recurring appearances in the progressive storyline, including former Gilmore Girls actor Edward Herrmann who appeared in 3 episodes. Seth Green of Buffy the Vampire Slayer guest starred in 2 episodes, whereas Lauren Stamile portrayed nurse Rose, a love-interest for Derek.[28] Former regular Kate Walsh appeared for the first time since her departure on May 1, 2008 receiving a special guest-star billing in the role of Addison Montgomery, now the main character of the spin-off Private Practice. Jeff Perry, Loretta Devine and Debra Monk reprised their roles as Thatcher Grey, Adele Webber and Louise O'Malley, respectively. Diahann Carroll and Elizabeth Reaser continued their season 3-introduced roles as Jane Burke and Rebecca Pope, respectively.

The season was the second to air in the Thursday night time-slot, at 9:00 ET, after it was moved at the beginning of the third season, following 2 seasons in the Sunday night timeslot, as a lead-out to Desperate Housewives, which aired at 9:00 ET for its entire run. The season aired as a lead-out to Ugly Betty, then in its second season, which aired on Thursday nights at 8:00 ET. Grey's Anatomy averaged 15.92 million viewers in its fourth season,[40] ranking #10 in viewership.[40] The highest-rated episode of the season was the season premiere, with 20.93 million viewers tuning in[4] and a 7.3 rating,[4] ranking #3 for the week.[4] The episode showed a decrease in ratings compared to the previous season premiere, which had almost 5 more million viewers tuning in and a 9.0 rating.[41] The season premiere also attracted less viewers than the previous season finale, which was watched by 22.57 million viewers, and received an 8.0 rating[42] Although "A Change is Gonna Come" attracted more viewers than Desperate Housewives's "Now You Know", which was watched by 19.32 million viewers, received a 6.7 rating and ranked #4 in the week,[4] the episode was outperformed by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's "Dead Doll", which aired in the same hour and ranked first in the week, with 25.22 million viewers tuning in and an 8.8 rating.[4] The lowest-rated episode was the ninth, watched by 14.11 million viewers[12] and ranked #14 in the week, with a 4.9 rating,[12] seeing a sudden decrease, after the previous episode, the second most-watched in the season, which attracted 19.61 million viewers and received a 6.8 rating.[43] "Crash Into Me: Part 1" was outperformed in the time slot by CSI: Crime Scene Investigation's "You Kill Me", the Thanksgiving special episode which attracted 14.75 million viewers and received a 5.2 rating, ranking #11 in the week.[12] The season finale was watched by 18.09 million viewers,[19] being the first-season finale of Grey's Anatomy to attract less than 20 million viewers.[19] It was ranked #5 in the week,[19] and received a 6.3 rating.[19] There was a significant decrease in the number of viewers, compared to the previous season finale, which attracted almost 4 more million viewers[42] and received an 8.0 rating.[42]

Several actors and members of the production team have been awarded for their work on the show during the season. At the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 21, 2008, Sandra Oh was nominated for her performance as Cristina Yang in the episode "The Becoming",[80] whereas Chandra Wilson received a nomination for her portrayal of Miranda Bailey in "Lay Your Hands on Me",[80] both for the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Katherine Heigl who portrayed Izzie Stevens declined to put her name forward for consideration at the Emmy Awards, claiming that she had been given insufficient material on the series to warrant a nomination.[81] Diahann Carroll was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Jane Burke in "Love/Addiction."[80] The make-up team, consisting of Norman T. Leavitt, Brigitte Bugayong, Thomas R. Burman and Bari Dreiband-Burman, was nominated for both Best Prosthetic Make-Up in "Forever Young" and Best Non-Prosthetic Make-Up in "Crash Into Me."[80] Sara Ramirez's portrayal of Callie Torres was positively reviewed, resulting in her receiving a nomination at the 2008 American Latino Media Arts Awards.[82] At the 65th Golden Globe Awards on January 13, 2008, the series was nominated for Best Drama Television Series,[83] whereas Katherine Heigl's individual performance resulted in a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series.[83] At the 40th National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Awards, Chandra Wilson won Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series,[84] where Shonda Rhimes was awarded at the Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series category, for "Freedom."[85] James Pickens, Jr. also received a nomination for his performance as Richard Webber at the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category.[84] At the 2008 Prism Awards, Justin Chambers was nominated for Performance in a Drama Series Episode,[86] whereas Elizabeth Reaser received a nomination for Performance in a Drama Multi-Episode Storyline.[87] At the Teen Choice Awards in 2008, Patrick Dempsey and Katherine Heigl were nominated for Choice Television Actor and Actress.[88]

"Grey's Anatomy" always knows how to do a powerful season finale. Even during the more low-key, character-driven finales (as opposed to the massive "disaster" ones), the music helps to underline exactly what we're supposed to be feeling.

The season four finale is all about taking risks on love, and the montage that "The Quest" accompanies is a perfect embodiment of that, pulling together several of the season's long-simmering romantic storylines. Meredith runs to find Derek and make a big romantic gesture, Mark encourages Callie to go for it with Erica, George impulsively kisses Lexie, Izzie tries to comfort Alex over losing Rebecca, and Richard tries to reconcile with Adele, only to be rejected.

Where would \"Grey's Anatomy\" be without its iconic music tracks? Since it first came on the airwaves back in 2005, the team at \"Grey's\" hasn't just been serving up top-notch drama for our favorite Seattle doctors! They've also found a real knack for choosing exactly the right songs to tug at your heartstrings for all of the show's most memorable and emotional moments.\n\"I distinctly remember discussing how important it would be that the show's music should be its own character,\" said Alexandra Patsavas, the show's music supervisor, in a 2017 post on Shondaland in celebration of the 300th episode of \"Grey's.\" \"This character would have a place in both the operating room and the break room. It would be there in elevators, bars, and homes. And, of course, it would be there for all THE BIG STUFF \u2014 for weddings and funerals, for births and deaths, for the grittiest moments and the most light-hearted.\"\nWe definitely have to say that the \"Grey's\" team has effortlessly incorporated this \"character\" into many of the show's episodes! It's impossible to imagine some of the show's most-memorable scenes without the iconic songs that accompanied them. Can you imagine \"Grey's\" without \"Chasing Cars\" or \"Keep Breathing\" or \"How to Save a Life\"? We certainly can't! After all, it's these tracks that have made audiences feel all the feelings every episode, week after week.\nOver the years, we've heard so many incredible songs on the show, from new artists and music legends to creative new covers of songs we already know and love. It's hard to narrow it down to just a few of the very best songs featured on \"Grey's,\" but that's exactly what we're going to do. Keep reading to see which songs made the cut as some of the most memorable. Is your favorite on the list?\n","id":44289455,"type":"gallery","photo_source":"Image Source: ABC","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Relive \"Grey's Anatomy\"'s Most Emotional Moments With 20 of the Best Songs From the Soundtrack","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":false,"slide_tags":"Grey's AnatomyMusicTV","is_cover":true},"embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FcvXr-9XtgA","share_image":false,"title":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Breathe (2 AM)\" by Anna Nalick","intro_text":false,"body":"The famous \"code black\" two-parter from the second season also features one of \"Grey's Anatomy\"'s most memorable musical moments. Most of the two-hour event focuses on the terrifying tension when the hospital goes on a \"code black\" lockdown after discovering that a patient has a homemade bomb lodged in his body. \nMeredith, of course, winds up being the one who has to keep her hands on the bomb the whole time to keep it from going off. As the episode nears its end, she's finally able to extract it and hand it off to Dylan, the bomb-disposal police officer who has been working with her \u2014 which is when it goes off, killing Dylan and injuring Meredith.\n","id":48965707,"type":"text","photo_source":"","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/photo-gallery\/44289455\/embed\/48965707\/embed","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Breathe (2 AM)\" by Anna Nalick","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":1,"slide_tags":"TVGrey's AnatomyMusic","embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ae7AACP1-R0","share_image":false,"title":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"How to Save a Life\" by The Fray","intro_text":false,"body":"The other truly iconic \"Grey's\" track has to be this one, although longtime viewers who aren't total superfans might not remember the actual scene where it makes its debut. In one of the later episodes of season two, the interns are convinced of a superstition that surgical deaths happen in threes and sevens, so they try their best to avoid this fate for their current patients. In one montage late in the episode, several patients reach a make-or-break point, all set to \"How to Save a Life.\"\nThe song returns in season seven's musical episode, with the entire cast getting in on the sing-along. A translated Spanish version of the song also plays in a Day of the Dead-themed episode in season 15, during a montage where Meredith's dead loved ones appear along the hallways of Grey Sloan.\n","id":48965785,"type":"text","photo_source":"","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/photo-gallery\/44289455\/embed\/48965785\/embed","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"How to Save a Life\" by The Fray","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":2,"slide_tags":"TVGrey's AnatomyMusic","embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ae7AACP1-R0","share_image":false,"title":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"How to Save a Life\" by The Fray","intro_text":false,"body":"The other truly iconic \"Grey's\" track has to be this one, although longtime viewers who aren't total superfans might not remember the actual scene where it makes its debut. In one of the later episodes of season two, the interns are convinced of a superstition that surgical deaths happen in threes and sevens, so they try their best to avoid this fate for their current patients. In one montage late in the episode, several patients reach a make-or-break point, all set to \"How to Save a Life.\"\nThe song returns in season seven's musical episode, with the entire cast getting in on the sing-along. A translated Spanish version of the song also plays in a Day of the Dead-themed episode in season 15, during a montage where Meredith's dead loved ones appear along the hallways of Grey Sloan.\n","id":48608424,"type":"text","photo_source":"","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/photo-gallery\/44289455\/embed\/48608424\/embed","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"How to Save a Life\" by The Fray","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":3,"slide_tags":"TVGrey's AnatomyMusic","embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sgj04v5sDm4","share_image":false,"title":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Chasing Cars\" by Snow Patrol","intro_text":false,"body":"Of all the memorable musical moments on \"Grey's Anatomy,\" we dare you to find one more emotional and iconic than this track. \"Chasing Cars\" by Snow Patrol can be heard playing over the devastating final scene of season two. After what seems to have been a successful (though dangerous) gambit to save Denny's life, Izzie arrives to show her new fianc\u00e9e her \"prom\" gown, only to find him dead. At first, she's unwilling to leave him, but eventually, she allows Alex to carry her away. This track plays as Izzie mourns her loss.\nIt's also worth noting that this song pops back up in later seasons. It makes a reappearance in season seven's (in)famous musical episode, and it also plays over the scene in season 11 when Meredith returns home, following Derek's death and the birth of their youngest daughter, Ellis.\n","id":48965786,"type":"text","photo_source":"","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/photo-gallery\/44289455\/embed\/48965786\/embed","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Season 2 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Chasing Cars\" by Snow Patrol","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":4,"slide_tags":"TVGrey's AnatomyMusic","embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q7DJYh1BS1c","share_image":false,"title":"Season 3 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Make This Go On Forever\" by Snow Patrol","intro_text":false,"body":"The other iconic \"Grey's\" moment set to another Snow Patrol song happens during the ferry accident from season three. The whole team of doctors are down at the docks, working on scene to treat the victims of this massive accident. Meredith winds up separated from her colleagues as she tries to help victims, including a little girl who isn't speaking.\nThis is right in the middle of Meredith's \"dark and twisty\" era, and this particular brush with death hits even harder. As she works to help one patient, she falls into the water. She seems to just give up and let herself slip beneath the surface as this song plays.\n","id":48965787,"type":"text","photo_source":"","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/photo-gallery\/44289455\/embed\/48965787\/embed","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Season 3 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Make This Go On Forever\" by Snow Patrol","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":5,"slide_tags":"TVGrey's AnatomyMusic","embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Svfd999aej8","share_image":false,"title":"Season 3 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Keep Breathing\" by Ingrid Michaelson","intro_text":false,"body":"Many of \"Grey's Anatomy\"'s most devastating moments revolve around death \u2014 unsurprising for a show about surgeons who have a knack for being around a remarkably large number of disasters and tragedies. One of the most devastating, though, wasn't a death at all. \nIn the season three finale, Burke leaves Cristina at the altar, not even showing up on their wedding day. As \"Keep Breathing\" plays, Cristina goes to his apartment and discovers that he's gone for good. After whispering, \"I'm free,\" Cristina starts to sob and hyperventilate when she realizes that she can't get out of her wedding dress, forcing Meredith to literally cut her out of it as she cries.\n","id":48608427,"type":"text","photo_source":"","permalink":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/photo-gallery\/44289455\/embed\/48608427\/embed","canonical":"https:\/\/www.popsugar.com\/entertainment\/Best-Songs-Grey-Anatomy-44289455","share_text":"Season 3 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"Keep Breathing\" by Ingrid Michaelson","use_tall_image":false,"omit_from_countdown":false,"caption_num":6,"slide_tags":"TVGrey's AnatomyMusic","embed_html":"","embed_link":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GM-3FfOVuQ0","share_image":false,"title":"Season 4 of \"Grey's Anatomy\": \"The Quest\" by Bryn Christopher","intro_text":false,"body":"\"Grey's Anatomy\" always knows how to do a powerful season finale. Even during the more low-key, character-driven finales (as opposed to the massive \"disaster\" ones), the music helps to underline exactly what we're supposed to be feeling. \nThe season four finale is all about taking risks on love, and