Like all Grey's Anatomy fans, I'm pretty tired of hearing an incredulous "That's still on??" whenever the show comes up in conversation. Yes, it is — and it will likely be on for many more years to come, so you better get used to it. When does Grey's Anatomy Season 15 premiere? You heard me right, haters: Season Fifteen. That matches ER's record for longest-running medical procedural in television history… a record Grey's will likely breeze right past, given that star Ellen Pompeo has recently inked a new deal that will keep her on the show at least through a hypothetical Season 16.
UPDATE: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Grey's Anatomy Season 15 will premiere on Thursday, Sept. 27.
EARLIER: May 17's Season 14 finale, "All Of Me," is being heavily hyped as the long-awaited wedding episode for Alex Karev and Jo Wilson. ("The Grey's event you've been waiting for," the promo confidently states.) Your mileage may vary as to your actual enthusiasm for this 'ship, but Grey's finales always offer up plenty of drama, so there should be something in the episode for everyone — and if the wedding isn't at least temporarily derailed by some unforeseen tragedy, I'll eat my hat.
The impending finale also functions as the swan song for two long-running fan-favorite characters: Arizona Robbins and April Kepner. It was announced earlier this year that actors Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew would be departing the series after nine and eight years as main cast members, respectively. So make sure you have a box of tissues at hand.
But between wedding jitters and tearful goodbyes, there's at least one thing Grey's fans don't have to feel anxious about when tuning into the final hour of the fourteenth season: When they can expect more new episodes. That's because the primetime soap has been a constant and reliable presence on ABC's fall schedule for nearly the past decade-and-a-half, and there's no reason to expect that to change now.
Although Season 1 of series premiered in March of 2005 as a midseason replacement show — and managed to cement itself as must-watch television in its brief inaugural nine-episode run — every single season since then has premiered at the exact same time of year: in late September, no earlier than the 21st of the month and no later than the 28th of the month, hitting every date in between at some point in its past 13 seasons.
That makes the Season 15 premiere date pretty easy to guess. My 100-percent accurate crystal ball states that the show will return for its landmark season on Thursday, Sept. 27… which means that fans will only have 18 Grey's-less Thursdays to get through between now and then.
I know, I know, that seems like a long time. But think of all the classic episodes you can rewatch between now and then! Train collisions, ferry boat accidents, plane crashes, superstorms… revisiting these tragic and seminal Grey's moments will do wonders to calm any fan's anxiety. (We're a pretty dark and twisted bunch, I guess.)
At least fans can also look forward to the fact that, not only will Grey's match ER's record for number of seasons this coming fall, but it will also surpass that show's record for number of episodes about halfway through Season 15. The NBC procedural ran for 331 episodes over the course of its run — and given that the Season 14 finale will be the 317th episode of Grey's, the ABC soap will pass that benchmark when it hits the 15th episode of its upcoming season.
Only four shows currently running surpass that episode count: NCIS, Family Guy, Law & Order: SVU, and The Simpsons. And while Grey's may never catch up to Homer and his crew as the longest-running scripted series in history, there's no doubt that it has cemented its legacy in the television landscape.
