Grey's Anatomy: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best

And here we have it, folks: where it all began. Introducing the world to Seattle Grace Hospital and new interns Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Alex Karev, George O'Malley, and Izzie Stevens, Grey's Anatomy was a hit from day one, striking a chord with audiences in just nine episodes of drama. 

Full of compelling characters, romantic entanglements, and medical turmoil, the show's debut season blended classic rom-com tropes with procedural thrills, all the while casting actors of colour in positions of power, and allowing its female protagonists to be just as successful and sexually free as their male counterparts. 

Groundbreaking in almost every regard, Grey's debut launched its cast to superstardom, introduced a string of terminology into everyday use - "my person," "McDreamy" - and proved that popular TV dramas didn't just have to be emotionally powerful, they could also be laidback, sexy, and amusing with their character-driven stories.

Watching Grey's humble beginnings again after all these years is to see all of this and more, but also that, 20 years later, the show's rarely been better than when it first threw Meredith and Derek together, or when its baby-faced interns were just getting started.