2. Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy
An audience’s reaction to a television series relies on many things, but connecting and finding a kinship with its characters ranks pretty high. Grey’s Anatomy has had a lot going for it over the course of its 15 seasons (and potentially counting), including an enviable balance of drama and comedy, stellar writing, and a memorable soundtrack. But without Ellen Pompeo in the lead as the one-time “dark and twisty” but now evolved Meredith Grey, it would lack an integral ingredient.
We meet Meredith Grey, way back in 2005, as a fresh-faced surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital, where she’s immediately struck by the revelation that she’s slept with her boss, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). Spoiler alert, her relationship with McDreamy doesn’t get any easier, since it’s the real deal but at the wrong time. Throughout the series, Meredith weathers her peaks and valleys, but don’t we all? She’s human and feels like just one of your girlfriends.
Meredith’s troubles might be magnified for small-screen dramatic effect (like pulling a bomb out of a man’s abdomen), but for the most part, they are universal. She’s complicated, sure, but she’s compassionate, hard-working, and outspoken. She’ll say what everyone else is thinking, and while that might not earn a lot fans in the moment, it’s an admirable and likable quality. Obviously, Meredith’s likability hasn’t ever been in question, or Grey’s Anatomy wouldn’t still be one of the highest-rated and most talked about shows on the air some 15 years later.