ABC.com: Grey's Anatomy

Thursday night is now medical drama night, with E4's preview of ER, plus House and now Grey's Anatomy. You'd be forgiven for thinking that three such dramas in one night would be too much mush, and you're probably right. But they're all worth recording and, after two episodes, I'm quite keen on Grey's.

She's a first year surgical intern (ER has trained us for years in the slow career progression of doctors) at a Seattle hospital whose mother is a famous surgeon, now suffering from Alzheimer's, or something similar. And of course she has a group of peers/friends, has a one-night stand with one of her bosses the night before she starts work and realises who he is, and like that.

I like Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey, and Patrick Dempsey works well too as Derek Shepherd. And Grey's gets top marks for remembering to have black characters from the top of the first hour: talented surgeon Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington); chief of surgery Richard Webber (James Pickens, Jr.); and senior resident Miranda Bailey, aka The Nazi (Chandra Wilson). So they won't have to do what so many series do and undergo some hasty re-jigging of the cast when they realise they forgot to have any black characters. Again.

ER is probably looking a bit stale in comparison, though House still trumps everything for its one-liners: "How d'you know my wife is pregnant?" "I'm doing her." Class.