Shonda Rhimes' 'Grey's Anatomy' 15th Season Makes It Longest-Running TV Drama on ABC

The news comes just days after the final episode of another Shonda Rhimes drama, 'Scandal.'

"Grey's Anatomy" cast.
Getty

Image via Getty/Frank Ockenfels

"Grey's Anatomy" cast.

Grey’s Anatomy has officially been renewed for a 15th season at ABC. That makes the Shonda Rhimes-created show the network’s longest-running drama of all time. To make matters even more historic, Grey’s has cemented itself as the eighth longest-running drama in the history of television, per E! News

Ellen Pompeo, the medical drama’s central star, made headlines earlier this year by going public with her massive 20 million dollar salary. In a wild interview, Pompeo explained that being upfront about her salary was important to her to make sure women are given the same opportunities as men in Hollywood, a concern made all the more poignant by the Me Too and Time’s Up movements that have embroiled the industry for the past several months. 

"Grey's Anatomy has a special place in my heart and millions of viewers feel the same way," Channing Dungey, ABC Entertainment president, said in a statement announcing Grey’s 15th season. "Thanks to fiercely loyal fans who have been on this journey since the beginning, and new generations of viewers who continue to discover the joy and drama of Grey Sloan Memorial, the show is as strong as ever."

Another Shonda Rhimes drama, Scandal, recently aired its last episode ever, also on ABC, after seven seasons. That show also made history: with Kerry Washington as the star; Scandal became only the network’s second TV drama led by a black woman since 1974. 

"Now it feels very normal and obvious that women of color can lead shows, so hopefully that is something that Scandal has done," Rhimes told The Hollywood Reporter recently. "Hopefully we've created a world in which we've stopped seeing these characters on television and it's a magical anomaly that they're there and there's an otherness to them."

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