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1* ActorSharedBackground:
2** Arizona's father's military patriotism and belief in being a good person correlates very well with this very wiki's MilitarySuperHero entry description of (any many well known characterisations of) Creator/StevenSpielberg -- actress Creator/JessicaCapshaw's real life stepfather. He's also a very proud UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}} native, perhaps where the name inspiration came from.
3** Creator/SarahDrew and her character April Kepner both share an evangelical Christian faith.
4* ActorInspiredElement: Jessica Capshaw noticed the roller sneakers in wardrobe during fitting and requested that her character, Arizona, wear them -- they became integral to her character from beginning (too perky for Bailey) to end (revealing in one of her last regular appearances that roller skating is part of a character-defining backstory).
5* CaliforniaDoubling: The show is filmed in Los Angeles, except for a few episodes in Season 14, when they actually did film in Seattle and around the Puget Sound area.
6* TheCastShowoff:
7** Dr. Bailey (played by former Broadway actress Chandra Wilson) sings "God Bless the Child" to her baby son in a season 3 episode.
8** The season 7 musical episode gives almost everyone a chance to sing, but naturally the episode centers around the other Broadway veteran in the cast, Sara Ramirez (Callie). However, Kevin [=McKidd=] (Owen) and Lexie (Chyler Leigh) also get very impressive solos -- both have sideline music careers, as well ([=McKidd=] in Scottish folk and Leigh with East of Eli). At the concert version, most of the parts were sung by Ramirez and [=McKidd=], regardless of the episode's version.
9** In the season 6 Christmas episode, Owen ([=McKidd=]) plays the guitar while Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) sings "Baby It's Cold Outside", and they are actually really good. Additionally, one of the pieces of background music is Sara Ramirez' version of "Silent Night", just to upstage them.
10* CastTheExpert: Many of the nurses, including Bokhee, are played by real-life nurses.
11* ContractualImmortality:
12** Notably averted by Isaiah Washington, who plays Dr. Burke. Washington was fired from the set for making homophobic comments towards T.R. Knight (George O'Malley), who is gay in real life. This was worked into the script: [[spoiler:Burke leaves Cristina at the altar and doesn't even have the guts to come back to get his own things, sending his mother in his stead]].
13** Season 5 ended with two characters ([[spoiler:George and Izzie]]) on the brink of death. During the summer hiatus, it became common knowledge that one of those actors ([[spoiler:George's]]) had not had their contract renewed... and sure enough, when Season 6 picked back up, that character had died.
14** The previews for season 8's finale promised that one of six doctors would die in a plane crash. Since the actors for Meredith, Derek, Cristina, and Mark were all confirmed to have contract renewals prior, that meant only Lexie or Arizona could fit this. [[spoiler: It turned out to be the former]].
15*** ZigZagged two episodes later when one of the renewed-contract characters ([[spoiler:specifically, Mark]]) checked out after only two more episodes.
16* TheDanza: Nicole Cummins, a recurring paramedic character, is played by Nicole Cummins.
17* DescendedCreator: Nicole Cummins, a script superviser and occasional director, has a recurring role as Paramedic [[TheDanza Nicole Cummins.]]
18* DirectedByCastMember:
19** Creator/KevinMcKidd, Creator/ChandraWilson, Creator/EllenPompeo and Creator/DebbieAllen have all spent time behind the camera ([=McKidd=] the most, he's directed episodes from 2011 to the present).
20** Sarah Drew directed the mini-series spin-off "B-Team".
21* ExecutiveMeddling:
22** There were originally four core interns, but producers felt that another male intern should be added. Enter Alex, who had to be both digitally added to the pilot and required new scenes to be filmed. Considering Alex is one of the most beloved characters on the show, it is an example of this trope turning out well.
23** Cristina's miscarriage in Season 2 was supposed to be an abortion but was changed due to this. However, she did go through with an abortion in Season 8.
24** Budget cuts for Season 9 were partly to blame for [[spoiler: the loss of three regular characters]].
25* FakeAmerican:
26** Jo Wilson is played by Creator/CamillaLuddington, an English actress.
27** Kevin [=McKidd=] is Scottish--and not just a polite Edinburger, either. You know the kid in ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' with the [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent incomprehensible Doric accent]]? That would be him.
28** And Cristina is played by Canadian Sandra Oh.
29* GayPanic: This was suspected when the character of Erica Hahn was dropped from the show entirely (without even an explanation of the character's absence) due to ExecutiveVeto [[http://jezebel.com/5075933/abc--greys-anatomy-shut-down-lezebel-storyline with suspiciously bad timing.]] However, Callie subsequently got a new girlfriend.
30* HideYourPregnancy:
31** The reasoning behind Meredith's liver transplant storyline in Season Six--it was a procedure that would require a lot of bedrest for the character and to get Creator/EllenPompeo off her feet in real life. (Shonda Rhimes has stated she was ''very'' pregnant while those episodes were being filmed.)
32** Chyler Leigh (Lexie)'s overeating during Season 5. It was a bit of an in-joke with the cast.
33** Creator/JessicaCapshaw had pregnancies hidden in early season seven, late season eight/early nine, and late season twelve. For the first, her character was sent to Africa for two episodes to explain her absence.
34** Sarah Drew's pregnancy was also hidden in season eight, since her character was a virgin.
35** Caterina Scorsone's pregnancy was hidden in season thirteen. In the same season, Camilla Luddington was written out of several episodes, again for pregnancy and subsequent childbirth.
36* MilestoneCelebration:
37** Episode 100: "What A Difference A Day Makes" (5x22). Meredith and Derek give up their wedding to allow Alex and a worsening Izzie to get married.
38** Episode 300: "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story" (14x07). [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of George, Cristina, and Izzie are PatientOfTheWeek, Meredith wins a Harper-Avery Award, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Jo resurrects the "seriously?" meme.]]
39* TheOtherDarrin: The actors on the show don't provide their voices for the videogame, to mixed results.
40* {{Promoted Fan|boy}}girl: Creator/CamillaLuddington was excited to be playing Alex's LoveInterest.
41* QueerCharacterQueerActor:
42** Callie and her actress Sara Ramírez are both bisexual. According to a 2013 interview, [[ActorInspiredElement Ramírez asked for it to be part of her character]].
43** Casey Parker and his actor Creator/AlexBlueDavis are both trans men.
44** Levi Schmitt and his actor Jake Borelli are both gay, and in fact Jake chose to come out publicly on the same night that the episode where Levi comes out aired.
45** Kai Bartley and their actor E.R. Fightmaster are both nonbinary.
46* RealitySubtext:
47** Early in the show, George is constantly asked whether he's gay. He's not, but his actor T.R. Knight is.
48** In season 14, Arizona is caught up in an argument between De Luca and his sister, all in Italian, to which she keeps reminding them she doesn't speak Italian. Jessica Capshaw used to live in Italy and speaks the language.
49** Teddy moving to Germany, as Kim Raver is half-German.
50** Creator/KevinMcKidd being on the show is kind of funny when you know he’s from Elgin and the hospital in that town is called simply “Dr Gray’s”. What’s weirder is that it was funded by a family grant upon the death of Dr Alexander Gray, for whom it is named.
51* RealLifeRelative: Teddy's husband Henry is played by Scott Foley, whose wife is Marika Domincyzk, who played Eliza Minnick.
52* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
53** Creator/EllenPompeo revealed that the producers wanted to couple Meredith with Burke, and that Isaiah Washington's disappointment after this idea was scrapped contributed to off-screen tension (that eventually ended up getting him fired).
54** Sandra Oh (Cristina) had played Brooke Smith (Erica)'s lesbian lover in an unrelated production, and the two mentioned that they would be comfortable with their characters hooking up.
55** Creator/KatherineHeigl (Izzie) was originally supposed to have time off for maternity leave and come back towards the end of the sixth season, but she instead asked the producers to be released from the contract 18 months early, in order to spend time with her family.
56** Creator/RobLowe was originally approached to play Dr. Derek Shepherd, the love interest and later husband of the main character, Dr. Meredith Grey. He turned it down for another pilot.
57* WordOfGod: All of the female characters are versions of or parts of Shonda Rhimes' personality, according to her.
58* WorkingTitle: ''Complications''.

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