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'Grey's Anatomy' Fans Are Heated Over All the 'Station 19' Crossover Episodes

Kayla Keegan
·4-min read

From Good Housekeeping

  • Station 19, a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, airs on ABC at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday nights. Grey's Anatomy comes on immediately afterward at 9 p.m. ET.

  • Grey's and Station 19 frequently have crossover episodes, since both of the series are led by Krista Vernoff.

  • Many Grey's viewers don't seem too keen on all the crossover episodes.

Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 have a lot in common — they share the same showrunner, Krista Vernoff, and both air on ABC Thursday nights. The similarities — and the fact that Station 19 is a spinoff of Grey's — explain why ABC has elected to do quite a few crossover episodes between the two dramas. The only problem is, many fans online don't seem to be onboard with all the merging.

Back in May 2019, a little over a year after Station 19 got off the ground, ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke gave a heads up to viewers that there would be frequent overlapping plot lines between the two programs.

While on paper it sounds like this would make Grey's fans extremely happy (i.e. more airtime for the Grey Sloan Memorial crew), there are quite a few who seem insistent on having the firefighter drama exist separately. In particular, one of the biggest criticisms coming from loyal Grey's fans is that it can get confusing having to learn more about the characters on Station 19.

That said, not all the feedback online has been negative. In fact, there's also a good handful of people who seem to like when the two worlds collide.

Whether you like the crossover moments or not, Grey's and Station 19 viewers should probably expect more in the future, especially now that Station 19 is one time slot ahead of the medical drama. Moreover, Station 19 is currently having its most-watched season yet and recently got renewed for season 4 by ABC — in other words, it appears the cross-promotional efforts are working.

Of course, it's not easy to pull off so many crossovers from a logistical standpoint. As Krista told Variety earlier this year, it's a difficult process to slate in guest stars, especially since the two shows' filming schedules don't always sync up.

“When we book a guest star for Station 19, we have to pin those guest stars and make sure they’ll still stay available for the episode of Grey’s Anatomy that won’t shoot for two months,” Krista revealed. “And they can’t change their hair [in between]!”

Production issues aside, it looks like the hard work is paying off for the network. Now, the new challenge becomes converting hesitant Grey's fans into enthusiastic Station 19 viewers. Looks like Grey's and Station 19 writers have their work cut out for them.

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