Admittedly, I used to be a “Grey’s Anatomy” fan. Yes, I know…  a guilty pleasure for sure, but in my defense, I haven’t watched the show in several seasons. 

Just as The Fonze jumped the shark all those years ago on “Happy Days,” Grey’s jump their shark when they focused on pushing a woke agenda every episode, and the cast’s relationships turned into some kind of rotating orgy. 

Instead of being entertained, I would sit there in a perpetual eye roll where I would see more of the back of the inside of my eye cavities than I would of the actual episode when it aired.

Last year, I flipped past it a couple of times, noticing that the show had incorporated COVID protocols into the storylines, with what appeared to be horrible dramatizations of the severity of the problem.  Never mind the fact that in order to film many of the episodes depicting this COVID emergency, they had to violate the very protocols that kept many of us home, the show turned into a laughable example of Hollywood hypocrisy and double standards.

Certainly, I can understand that they would want to continue to produce the show to maintain as much “normality” as they could; however, this was done during a time when others are being told to stay home, or in some cases, forced to do so. In all fairness, as they were acting as if it were during the pandemic, they were observing COVID protocols during filming.

This is what makes the most recent season all the funnier: They have decided to set this season in a “fictional, post-COVID world” — for which they ‘hope.’

While this sort of ‘hope’ is something which we all hold, it sends an obvious message to viewers regarding the last two seasons. Granted, there is the vaccine this year that may have not been available last year during filming, but the very municipalities in which this show films (namely, Los Angeles) have maintained their COVID restrictions despite vaccination status, creating a nightmare double-standard for many businesses, as the unvaccinated or those suffering from COVID fatigue choose not to go out or spend money in this time of turmoil.

While these businesses struggle, Hollywood can continue to create content that depicts a world in which they can move on with their lives. Just as last season was a fictional depiction of a world overrun with COVID, this season is a fictional depiction of a world untouched by irrational government mandates.  While people are required to wear a mask to the grocery store or be vaccinated to enter restaurants, people in the Grey’s world can go about their lives.

The characters within Grey’s can live within a world where they can have their own rules, even though those very episodes are filmed in the same areas where that actual behavior is not allowed. The disclaimer is nothing more than an excuse. It provides a justification… a rationale, by which they can live outside of the rules under which they demand you live. There aren’t COVID vaccine cards or social distancing requirements, though these same scenes are exclusively filmed in a jurisdiction that requires both.

The same restrictions which have shuttered numerous businesses within Los Angeles County should be visible in the filming of Grey’s Anatomy. They aren’t. Is it because they have carved out a smooth little exemption for Hollywood, or is it just because they chose to ignore the rule? Or even worse, is it because they, too, believe it isn’t as bad as we are being told?

Regardless of the answer, it is a total joke.