| Season Number: | 7 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Image Upright: | 1.1 |
| Showrunner: | |
| Num Episodes: | 22 |
| Network: | ABC |
| Episode List: | List of Grey's Anatomy episodes |
The seventh season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, began airing on September 23, 2010 on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and concluded on May 19, 2011 ending the season with a total of 22 episodes. The season was produced by ABC Studios, in association with Shondaland Production Company and The Mark Gordon Company; the showrunner being Shonda Rhimes and head writer Krista Vernoff.
The season follows the aftermath of the season 6 shooting, in which Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), Reed, and Charles are shot, with a total of 11 people dead. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) was the most affected by the shooting, quitting her job. Cristina and Owen later marry with "her person", the show's protagonist Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), as her maid of honor. Meredith and Derek start a clinical trial for Alzheimer's disease, with Meredith suspecting that Richard Webber's (James Pickens, Jr.) wife Adele (Loretta Devine) may have the condition. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) leaves for Africa after getting a grant, leaving Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) despondent. She sleeps with Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) and gets pregnant. Arizona returns, confessing her love for Callie. Meredith invalidates the trial by ensuring Adele gets the treatment, only to have Alex find out and tell Hunt, and Meredith responds by kicking Alex out of her house. Derek leaves Meredith with Zola. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh) decides to give Mark a second chance but later starts a relationship with Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams). Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) starts a relationship with Andrew Perkins (James Tupper), a trauma counselor, but later falls for her patient, Henry Burton. This season marks the first appearance of Caterina Scorsone as Derek's sister, Dr. Amelia Shepherd, who becomes a series regular in season 11.
The season ended with an average of 11.41 million viewers and was ranked #31 in overall viewership and was #9 in the 18-49 key demographic. Loretta Devine won the Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. The season also garnered 7 nominations at the 37th People's Choice Awards and also won the Outstanding Drama Series at the NAACP Image Awards.
See also: List of Grey's Anatomy episodes. The number in the "No. in series" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to the number of Americans in millions who watched the episodes live. Each episode of this season is named after a song.
See main article: List of Grey's Anatomy cast members and List of Grey's Anatomy characters.
| No. in series | No. in season | Episode | Air date | Time slot (EST) | Rating/Share (18–49) | Viewers (m) | 18–49 Rank | Viewership rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 127 | 1 | "With You I'm Born Again" | Thursdays 9:00 p.m. | 5.4/14 | 14.32 | 3 | 10 | |
| 128 | 2 | "Shock to the System" | 4.6/12 | 12.53 | 8 | 17 | ||
| 129 | 3 | "Superfreak" | 4.6/13 | 12.75 | 4 | 11 | ||
| 130 | 4 | "Can't Fight Biology" | 4.6/12 | 12.11 | 5 | 16 | ||
| 131 | 5 | "Almost Grown" | 4.0/11 | 10.97 | 8 | 23 | ||
| 132 | 6 | "These Arms of Mine" | 3.9/10 | 10.79 | 15 | |||
| 133 | 7 | "That's Me Trying" | 4.3/12 | 11.92 | 6 | 15 | ||
| 134 | 8 | "Something's Gotta Give" | 4.0/11 | 11.13 | 11 | 20 | ||
| 135 | 9 | "Slow Night, So Long" | 4.3/11 | 11.46 | 8 | 21 | ||
| 136 | 10 | "Adrift and at Peace" | 4.0/10 | 11.02 | 6 | 14 | ||
| 137 | 11 | "Disarm" | 4.2/11 | 11.64 | 11 | 16 | ||
| 138 | 12 | "Start Me Up" | 4.3/12 | 12.15 | 6 | 10 | ||
| 139 | 13 | "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" | 4.3/11 | 11.18 | 8 | 14 | ||
| 140 | 14 | "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" | 3.9/10 | 10.47 | 10 | 20 | ||
| 141 | 15 | "Golden Hour" | 3.7/10 | 10.24 | 7 | 23 | ||
| 142 | 16 | "Not Responsible" | 3.4/9 | 9.13 | 13 | |||
| 143 | 17 | "This Is How We Do It" | 3.7/10 | 10.28 | 7 | 17 | ||
| 144 | 18 | "Song Beneath the Song" | 4.9/13 | 13.09 | 5 | 10 | ||
| 145 | 19 | "It's a Long Way Back" | 3.7/9 | 10.67 | 6 | 15 | ||
| 146 | 20 | "White Wedding" | 3.5/10 | 10.11 | 8 | 19 | ||
| 147 | 21 | "I Will Survive" | 3.2/9 | 9.63 | 14 | 25 | ||
| 148 | 22 | "Unaccompanied Minor" | 3.6/9 | 9.89 | 10 | 20 |
| No. in series | No. in season | Episode | Air date | Time slot (EST) | 18–49 rating increase | Viewers (millions) increase | Total 18-49 | Total viewers (millions) | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 127 | 1 | "With You I'm Born Again" | Thursdays 9:00 p.m. | 1.4 | 2.95 | 6.8 | 17.32 | ||
| 128 | 2 | "Shock to the System" | 1.5 | 3.08 | 6.1 | 15.64 | |||
| 129 | 3 | "Superfreak" | 1.4 | 2.87 | 6.0 | 15.69 | |||
| 130 | 4 | "Can't Fight Biology" | 1.5 | 2.94 | 6.1 | 15.10 | |||
| 131 | 5 | "Almost Grown" | 1.5 | 3.02 | 5.5 | 14.02 | |||
| 132 | 6 | "These Arms of Mine" | 1.4 | 3.03 | 5.3 | 13.83 | |||
| 133 | 7 | "That's Me Trying" | 1.3 | 2.67 | 5.7 | 14.61 | |||
| 134 | 8 | "Something's Gotta Give" | 1.5 | 3.02 | 5.5 | 14.16 | |||
| 135 | 9 | "Slow Night, So Long" | 1.5 | 2.94 | 5.8 | 14.43 | |||
| 136 | 10 | "Adrift and at Peace" | 1.4 | 2.79 | 5.3 | 13.82 | |||
| 137 | 11 | "Disarm" | 1.3 | 2.85 | 5.5 | 14.51 | |||
| 138 | 12 | "Start Me Up" | 1.5 | 2.81 | 5.8 | 14.96 | |||
| 139 | 13 | "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" | 1.4 | 2.86 | 5.7 | 14.06 | |||
| 140 | 14 | "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" | 1.4 | 2.88 | 5.3 | 13.36 | |||
| 141 | 15 | "Golden Hour" | 1.5 | 2.85 | 5.2 | 13.09 | |||
| 142 | 16 | "Not Responsible" | 1.4 | 2.87 | 4.8 | 12.02 | |||
| 143 | 17 | "This Is How We Do It" | 1.5 | 2.96 | 5.2 | 13.26 | |||
| 144 | 18 | "Song Beneath the Song" | 1.4 | 2.91 | 6.3 | 16.00 | |||
| 145 | 19 | "It's a Long Way Back" | 1.4 | 2.92 | 5.1 | 13.58 | |||
| 146 | 20 | "White Wedding" | 1.6 | 3.14 | 5.1 | 13.25 | |||
| 147 | 21 | "I Will Survive" | 1.4 | 2.78 | 4.6 | 12.41 | |||
| 148 | 22 | "Unaccompanied Minor" | 1.3 | 2.94 | 4.9 | 12.81 |
The reviews to the season were mixed-to-positive. Robert Bianco USA Today gave a largely positive review stating, "Happily, it now seems to have landed on solid ground, with its best ensemble and most engaging stories in years, the union of Meredith and Derek strengthened it by pushing them into a more mature place", and praising Sandra Oh's performance:" Cristina, who responded last week with a performance that stands with any you're likely to see."
The TV Addict also lauded the season and wrote, "the seventh season of ABC's genre-defining medical drama is good. Is it "great again"? This would imply that it was great before, a memory I wish I could fondly look back on, but can't. I'll admit to have been taken with the doctors of Seattle Grace in their initial seasons: they had chemistry, gave some nice performances", praising the majority cast including Oh's "powerful performance".
Jennifer Armstrong of Entertainment Weekly also praised the season, "Season 7 hasn't relegated the finale's events to a dramatic stunt; rather, it's reveled in the possibilities of rebuilding life in the wake of tragedy." She added "It's in the shooting's emotional reverberations that the show is regenerating after the past few hit-and-miss seasons."
Tom Gliatto writing for People Weekly called the season "satisfying", "Grey has been on long enough now that it has lost much of its erotic sizzle--McDreamy is edging toward McNappy--but the satisfyingly-steady seventh season is a model of a hit that keeps fitting new characters into the blueprint."
Renee Scolaro Rathke of PopMatters, reviewing the premiere, gave a mixed review, "Unfortunately, the best bits of the premiere were the flashbacks to the finale, though their impact was watered down considerably in the context of an action-less storyline, filled with Grey's usual rambling pontifications." Verne Gay of Newsday was rather critical of the season stating, "Unfortunately, they've settled on far-too-easy and facile answers for the most part."
| Grey's Anatomy: The Complete Seventh Season - More Heartbeats | ||||||
| Set details | Special features | |||||
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| Release dates | ||||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||||
| September 13, 2011 | May 28, 2012 | November 2, 2011 | ||||