MADness #55- Grey’s Anatomy!

Better late than never this week… it’s time for another installment of our look back at my work for MAD Magazine! This week we revisit the parody of what was then a brand new TV show called “Grey’s Anatomy”, written by Arnie Kogen and first appearing in MAD #472, Dec 2006. Let’s get to the spoof… stat!

For some reason all my sketches and process stuff for this spoof is missing, so I have no pencils or anything to share but the final art. I’ve no idea what happened to all those images.

The last panel of the page above is interesting because the character of Dr. O’Malley (the one on the right talking about his sex life) and his relationships with several of the female doctors on the show was a central part of the show’s first 5 seasons. Then the actor who played the role, T.R. Knight, came out as gay and there was a famous homophobic incident with another of the show’s regular actors. Knight left the show prior to season six reportedly for multiple reasons. I just think it’s a bit prophetic that Arnie would write a gag about this straight character being gay long before all that took place.

Believe it or not this show, which debuted as a midseason replacement in 2005, is STILL ON THE AIR. That makes it the oldest show I did the parody of that is still airing today. 18 seasons? I haven’t watched an episode in about 16 years, but I’m guessing the plots have swung from main character Meredith Grey at 34 having sex with a lot of hot doctors to 52 year old her agonizing over which kind of Dr. Scholl’s shoes she should wear and how long it takes for the botox to wear off. That last panel was definitely not prophetic!

Toon in next week with another piece I did for MAD’s annual “Dumbest People, Events and Things” of the year, featuring everyone’s favorite diminutive crackpot dictator.