ABC once again is saying thank God for Shonda Rhimes.
The network is banking on the mega-producer and Shondaland’s twisty female-led dramas — “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal” and “How to Get Away With Murder” — to carry Thursday’s prime-time block of programming.
Rhimes talked to reporters last week at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, joined on stage by the leading ladies of her “TGIT” lineup, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington and Ellen Pompeo. (Also there were executive producer Betsy Beers and “How To” co-creator Pete Nowalk.)
Rhimes remained characteristically tight-lipped about the shows’ upcoming story lines but did tease to Meredith’s rebirth on the next season of “Grey’s Anatomy.” At the end of last season, her husband, “McDreamy” (Patrick Dempsey), died. “Grey’s” and “Scandal” will return Sept. 24 in back-to-back episodes.
Rhimes’ long-running medical soap “Grey’s Anatomy” is going into its 12th season, despite its exodus of original lead characters. Season 11 saw the departure of Dempsey, whose Dr. McDreamy met his end in a car crash. Rhimes said that move was the only way they could preserve Meredith and Derek’s love story.
“We ended last season in which we said the sun is going to rise again,” Rhimes said. “We do have this world in which Meredith is single and she is living this life that she hadn’t thought she was going to be living again. She’s living in a house with her sisters, and she’s surrounded by women who are dating and having a whole life, and she’s not into any of that and starting to wonder if there’s a second life here or are the best years of your life behind you.”
The writer and producer said she’s excited about the medical growth of the character as a leader and the evolution of that woman. Pompeo said that it’s an important human story to tell.
“So many people lose their spouses in a myriad of different ways and a lot people feel like they can’t get up again,” the actress said. “To tell that story about how life does go on after what you think is impossible is something that so many people can relate to.”
Washington politics drama “Scandal” enters its fifth season by hitting the ground running, Rhimes said. Gladiators will have to stock up on their wine and popcorn and settle in to see what becomes of several of the Season 4 finale’s cliffhangers.
With the successful arrest of Papa Pope in the finale, Olivia (Washington) finally — and passionately — reunites with Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), the president of the United States, on the White House terrace after he gives the first lady the boot.
“We are picking up almost, pretty much where we left off, which is a pretty harrowing place, where the world had been fairly blown apart for everybody,” Rhimes said.
“How To,” a law school-set murder series, is the newest of the trio and is going into its second season. The whodunit sophomore drama already clinched a lead actress Emmy Award nomination for Davis’ role as complex, no-nonsense criminal defense attorney Annalise Keating, a law professor who finds herself and her students at the center of a campus murder. Guest actress Cicely Tyson, who plays Annalise’s estranged, house-burning mother, also received a nod.
Shondaland’s dramas are known for their sex, murder, plot twists and strong female leads. And “Scandal’s” success has given rise to more empowered African-American characters on television (see: “Empire”).
But Rhimes declined to comment on what her legacy may be.
“I don’t think we spend our time focusing on awards or accolades,” she said. “I’m focusing on work that I do as a writer. I certainly don’t spend any time thinking about legacy because we’re still doing this … staying in the present is way more useful to me.”
Despite her Emmy nomination, Davis chimed in saying: “If you’re in this business for awards you’re in the wrong business.”
