Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Is This The End for “Grey’s Anatomy”? Midseason Finale Ratings Fell Under 2 Million, Trounced by “Elsbeth,” and “Organized Crime” Reruns

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Don’t be surprised if ABC announces the end of “Grey’s Anatomy” soon.

After 22 seasons, the hospital soap opera is on life support.

Ratings for the last show of the fall season, on November 13th, were just 1.84 million. That’s the first time they’ve gone under 2 million.

“Grey’s” airs on ABC Thursdays at 10pm. Nearly 2 million more people were watching CBS’s “Elsbeth.” On NBC, reruns of “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” posted 2.1 million.

The ratings on the 13th were down 10.1% from the previous week in total viewers, and a whopping 23% in the key age demo. Who’s watching at this point? Snoring dogs?

The fact is, ABC and Shondaland have squeezed every ounce of interest out of “Grey’s.” They’ve killed off most of the characters, cut back appearances by the veterans to save money, and blown up the hospital several times.

“Grey’s” also loses audience from the show preceding it, “Nashville 911.” No matter how steady syndication numbers are, or Netflix ratings, going on with the soap doesn’t seem feasible unless the network is being blackmailed by someone who really knows something juicy!

How will it all end? How about Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey walk in and admit they faked their deaths to get away from the show?

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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