Grey's Anatomy: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best

If you were to put a label on Grey's Anatomy's golden years (all long-running shows have them), you'd probably be inclined pick the first three, when Meredith, Cristina, Alex, George, and Izzie were interns and the melodrama of the hospital was at its most new and exciting. 

The series itself clearly agrees with this, because going into its fourth season the writers seemed to suffer something of a creative lull, throwing its characters into positions they'd already been in many times before without offering too much in the way of originality. 

Now, it's not all bad; there are particularly poignant moments with Lexie, Mer's half-sister who reminds her of her fractured childhood, and some funny ones with the scene-stealing Mark Sloan. Season four also gives us Callie's first same-sex relationship after her marriage to George, a wonderful little twist for the show. 

That being said, the season also has Meredith and Derek play another round of break-up-make-up, and new surgical chief Erica Hahn fails to bring the necessary complexities to the OR in the absence of her predecessor, Preston Burke. It's all so very "been-there-done-that," though the seeds it plants are certainly promising.