Grey’s Anatomy is basically a revolving door of brilliant and unique characters, and has been for almost 15 years. Shonda Rhimes has an uncanny ability to write characters who intrigue the audience while simultaneously charming the pants off of us.
Over the years, Rhimes has delivered some absolutely precious gems with the likes of Mark Sloan, Arizona Robbins and of course, Cristina Yang. These characters will be remembered forever in the hearts of the viewers. However, there were some people who arrived at Grey-Sloan who weren’t looked upon as favorably. We’re taking a walk down memory lane and looking at 5 characters who needed more screen time (and 5 who deserved less).
Deserved More - George O’Malley
George was a beloved doctor during his time on the show. He was clever and utterly likable and watching him grow into a confident and calm trauma surgeon was a delight for the fans and surgeons alike.
However, George’s last season on Grey’s Anatomy was a bit of a letdown. To be fair, Season 5 had an awful lot of exciting storylines to juggle. All that though meant that something had to give and so as a result, George’s screen time was cut down by quite a lot. Since this was his last season, it would have been nice to see him involved in a meaningful storyline to mark the end of his time on the show.
Deserved Less - Erica Hahn
As one of the medical drama’s first openly gay surgeons, Erica Hahn should have been a groundbreaking character. However, she was portrayed as an unfriendly, anti-social doctor who didn’t get along with her peers or her students.
She was undeservedly horrible to Cristina Yang, refusing to teach her properly and treating her like dirt even outside of work. But she behaved worse with her girlfriend Callie. When Callie told Hahn that she was bisexual, Hahn refused to accept this and left the show abruptly. There is no room for biphobia on Grey’s Anatomy.
Deserved More - Carina DeLuca
Since her recent introduction to the series in Season 14, Carina has been one of the unexpected highlights of the show. She first started off by establishing a casual relationship with fan-favorite surgeon Arizona Robbins. The two soon grew close and shared a brief but sweet romance until Arizona left for New York.
Since then, Carina has appeared less and less which is a shame because her relationship with her brother Andrew is both hilarious and adorable. It’s a shame she wasn’t made a series regular for Season 16 but even so, with both Bailey and Amelia expecting, it’s fair to say she probably won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Deserved Less - Leah Murphy
Leah Murphy was one of the least likable characters Grey’s Anatomy ever produced. She was whiny, needy and spiteful and seemed to sleep with everyone under the sun. She was mean to the other interns and super sensitive whenever a senior surgeon would reprimand her.
This is why it was bizarre when she was made a main character for Season 10. She was a dull character who no one wanted around. What was even weirder was when she made a brief return in Season 13 for 6 episodes. There was literally no point bringing her back as it made zero sense and she contributed nothing to the storylines in that season.
Deserved More - Penny Blake
Okay, this one is probably going to be extremely controversial… Many fans (and doctors) hated Penny during her time on the show, mainly due to her role in Derek’s death. However, Derek’s death was not her fault! She should have pushed harder for an MRI but she was the only doctor who knew to do one. Derek even admitted he liked her inside his head.
She also had a strong personality, working with Meredith and Amelia, the two doctors who hated her most. She stood up for herself and was kind and compassionate and therefore she deserved more affection and screen time than she got.
Deserved Less - All Interns After The Original Five
I don’t know why but Grey’s Anatomy seems to have it stuck in its head that all young people are stupid, vain, incompetent or all of the aforementioned. This is quite frankly extremely offensive. While the show started off brilliantly with Meredith, Izzie, Cristina, Alex, and George, all the subsequent interns were worse than useless.
With the exception of Ben, Jo, Steph, and Levi, every other intern was portrayed as annoying, immature or just plain gross. Because they were so irritating to watch, it is doubtful that fans would be too overly bothered by seeing less of them.
Deserved More - Teddy Altman
Teddy was such an amazing character during her first stint on the show. Part of the reason for this was that Grey’s managed to find other storylines for her beyond that of a love triangle between her, Owen and Cristina. In fact, the dynamic between Teddy and Cristina was brilliant and hilarious to watch.
However, her recent appearance in the series is more disappointing. She hasn’t appeared in many episodes, despite being listed as a main character from Season 15 onwards. Additionally, she just seems to go from one love triangle to another which is just getting boring. Hopefully, the fact that she’s now also a mother will add back the depth that this character has been sorely lacking.
Deserved Less - Izzie Stevens
Izzie was a very popular character in the beginning of the show. However, during her later years on Grey’s Anatomy, she began to become more than a little annoying. Gone was the doctor who risked her job stitching up little girls in the rain and in her place was a woman who bullied residents and had ghost sex with her dead fiancé.
Her worst crime by far though was leaving her husband Alex because she thought he tried to get her fired. Not only did she jump to an irrational conclusion but she left him without saying goodbye. Viewers would have remembered Izzie a lot more fondly if she had just not appeared in Season 6.
Deserved More - Denny Duquette
In this instance, we’re ignoring Denny’s appearance in Season 5. When Denny was first introduced in the show’s second season, it was clear that Miranda Bailey was very fond of him and viewers soon followed suit. However, none were more enamored with him than Izzie Stevens.
Watching the doctor and patient continue to flirt outrageously with each other was absolutely adorable and it remains one of the best relationships to come out of Grey’s Anatomy to this day. Denny’s death, although foreseeable, was completely heartbreaking and no one would deny they would have loved to see more of Denny while he was alive.
Deserved Less - Sloan Riley
Ugh. Sloan Riley was the daughter of Mark Sloan and quite possibly one of the most irritating characters on the show. She was selfish and shallow and was basically the reason why Mark and Lexie split up. She also deceived Mark about her baby, saying he could adopt his grandchild and then giving the baby up last minute.
Although Sloan only appeared on the show for a few episodes, it was one of the least interesting and appealing arcs of the season. It would have been better all round if Sloan had just not appeared.
