Shonda Rhimes almost put a stop to “Grey’s Anatomy” before it premiered in 2005.
During Issa Rae’s new HBO documentary “Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television,” Rhimes, 55, revealed that she spoke up during the casting process for the medical drama series out of fear it was going to be “an all white show.”
“I’d done something, I guess, people didn’t do,” Rhimes said. “I hadn’t written anyone’s race into the script.”
The TV producer and writer recalled that she “kept saying, ‘Where are all the actors?’ They would keep sending us these actors who all look the same, who were white. I remember standing up in the room and looking at the president of the network at the time and saying, ‘I’m not going to have an all white show.’”
Rhimes said everyone was “really startled” by her remarks and kept telling her, “Of course not, of course not. That’s never been the plan.”
But once Rhimes made it clear that the cast needed to be more diverse, “this flood of actors started coming.”
“It was really wonderful,” she said. “We got to see all these actors who had never been considered for roles other than very small parts.”
Rhimes also explained why it was important to her that the higher ups listened to her demands.
“I just knew that I was not going to make a show that I would’ve been embarrassed to put on TV,” the Golden Globe winner said. “I wasn’t going to make a show that I was going to turn to my parents and go, ‘Yeah, it has an all white cast, but that’s how TV’s made.’ How was I going to say that to my dad?”
“When you’re trying to be creative in a world in which you are afraid, I think a fearlessness is necessary,” Rhimes added.
The original cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” featured Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, T.R. Knight, Justin Chambers, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Patrick Dempsey and Isiah Washington.
The show became an instant ratings juggernaut for ABC and is still on the air today, with Season 22 set to premiere Oct. 9.
“It’s astonishing to me that ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was the first television show I ever wrote,” Rhimes said in the HBO doc. “I’m still amazed and really grateful that people are watching it.”
“But I also feel like people were hungry for a certain kind of TV at that time,” she added, “and we provided it.”
“Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television” is streaming on HBO Max.
