The Medical Drama:

Taking a Closer Look at Grey’s Anatomy and House MD

By:

Natalie Acone

MSS 332

In the realm of television there are many different medical dramas. The exorbitant

amount of medical dramas makes it difficult to figure out what an audience is looking for when

they choose to watch a medical drama. In order to find out what audiences prefer when

watching a medical drama I am taking a look at two different shows: Grey’s Anatomy and House

MD. I am researching this type of television because I take a personal interest in it. When

choosing shows to watch, I tend to gravitate towards the ones that involve a hospital. I want to

know what it is about the medical drama genre that draws audiences, myself included, in. Is it

the medicine that people love to see? Or, is it the personal drama that hooks an audience in?

By looking at Grey’s Anatomy and House MD closer, and asking audiences some questions, I

hope to find out. I presume that it is the drama between the doctors that audiences really like

to watch. I believe the medicinal aspect of these shows is just a bonus for the viewers. I am

looking at Grey’s Anatomy and House MD because they have similar and different qualities. If

they were completely similar there would be no need for the other. But, as Andrew

Unterberger of Stylus, an online magazine, says in his article “Scrubs vs. Grey’s Anatomy vs.

House”:

In any event, despite sharing general format and structure, the three shows are different enough to justify their independent existences. “House,” currently airing on FOX, is more of a character study, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” is basically a soap opera (Unterberger).

These two shows have very different storylines, and place emphasis on different

themes. In order find out what audiences prefer I must first look at the content of these shows.

What will make one show more preferable than the other? The best way to answer this

question is to first use a quantitative method to collect data of what is in each show. A content

analysis will allow me to find out what goes into each show because I can measure numbers,

themes, and scenes. This content analysis will aim to answer a specific research question. The

question I am asking is, are Grey’s Anatomy and House MD accurate representations of a

medical drama? To be accurate depictions of a medical drama, these shows must balance

between medical content and nonmedical content. I want to know how much of each of these

shows’ airtime is devoted to medical content and how much of these shows’ airtime is devoted

to nonmedical content.

For operational definition’s sake, medical content refers to any scene that involves

medicine. This would involve diagnosing, treatments, medical procedures, surgeries,

emergencies, tests, and anything that directly involves being a doctor. The nonmedical content

refers to the drama that drives a medical drama. This type of content includes any of the

relationships between doctors, life outside the hospital, or anything that does not directly refer

to medicine. The sample of content I am looking at is six episodes from each show. Both Grey’s

Anatomy and House MD have been on for seven seasons. They started the same year, and are

currently in the same season. To be most accurate I am looking at the first two episodes of

seasons one, four, and seven for each show. As I examine the episodes, I will break the content

down into themes. Then, I will measure the themes in number of scenes, and amount of airtime

in minutes and seconds. In order to categorize this data I will break it down into multiple

categories and subcategories. The first subcategory is doctor-patient scenes vs. doctor-doctor

scenes. In a medical drama the scenes generally fall into these two categories. Within each of

those categories there are three subcategories. The subcategories under the doctor-doctor

scenes are: 1) about a specific patient/diagnosis/treatment; 2) about other medical content;

and 3) Nonmedical content. The subcategories under doctor-patient scenes are: 1) about the

illness/treatment; 2) having to do with getting through the illness; and 3) having nothing to do

with the illness. The final category of information is medical content vs. nonmedical content.

The nonmedical content refers to any personal drama aspects and scenes within the episodes.

The quantitative results can be seen in the charts below.

Doctor-Patient Scenes (House MD)Season and Episode About the

Illness/Treatment (# and total airtime mins:sec)

Having to do with getting through the Illness (# and total airtime mins:sec)

Having nothing to do with the illness(# and total airtime mins:sec)

Season 1 Episode 1 14 11:42 2 2:30 5 3:26Season 1 Episode 2 15 14:35 1 1:31 3 3:38Season 4 Episode 1 11 16:15 2 2:52 1 1:52Season 4 Episode 2 5 4:35 4 3:54 1 0:43Season 7 Episode 1 4 2:47 0 0:00 0 0:00Season 7 Episode 2 11 9:39 9 7:57 1 2:07Totals 60 68:37 18 18:44 11 11:46

Doctor-Doctor Scenes (House MD)Season and Episode About the specific

Patient/Diagnosis/Treatment(# and total airtime mins:secs)

Other Medical Content(# and total airtime mins:secs)

Nonmedicalcontent (# and total airtime mins:secs)

Season 1 Episode 1 15 22:00 7 3:09 5 2:36Season 1 Episode 2 13 17:00 3 1:55 4 5:01Season 4 Episode 1 13 14:23 10 6:42 5 5:51Season 4 Episode 2 13 19:38 7 5:05 8 11:18Season 7 Episode 1 3 2:14 7 8:41 24 30:05Season 7 Episode 2 16 16:18 1 0:58 13 10:00Totals 73 91:33 35 26:30 59 64:51

Medical Content vs. Personal Content in Each Episode (House MD)Season and Episode Medical Content Personal Content

# of Scenes Airtime mins:secs # of Scenes Airtime mins:secsSeason 1 Episode 1 38 38:21 10 6:06Season 1 Episode 2 32 35:01 7 8:39Season 4 Episode 1 36 40:12 6 7:43Season 4 Episode 2 29 33:12 9 12:01Season 7 Episode 1 14 13:42 24 30:05Season 7 Episode 2 37 34:52 14 12:07Totals: 186 195:08 70 76:41

73% 72% 27% 28%

Total Show Time Looked at: 271:49Total # of Scenes Looked at: 256

Doctor-Patient Scenes (Grey’s Anatomy)Season and Episode About the

illness/treatment(# and total airtime mins:sec)

Having to do with getting through the illness(# and total airtime)

Having nothing to do with medical content(# and total airtime)

Season 1 Episode 1 5 2:11 2 1:36 2 1:17 Season 1 Episode 2 11 5:25 1 0:22 2 1:18 Season 4 Episode 1 7 2:10 6 4:55 1 :30 Season 4 Episode 2 8 4:00 2 :52 5 3:50 Season 7 Episode 1 1 1:03 2 2:49 0 0:00 Season 7 Episode 2 8 5:50 2 1:10 9 5:57 Totals: 40 20:39 15 11:44 19 12:02

Doctor-Doctor Scenes (Grey’s Anatomy)Season and Episode Nonmedical Content

(# and mins:secs) About a specific patient/diagnosis/treatment (# and mins:secs)

Other medical content (# and total airtime)

Season 1 Episode 1 12 9:19 13 19:14 13 10:05 Season 1 Episode 2 15 9:00 15 8:25 17 18:30 Season 4 Episode 1 19 17:34 8 3:32 14 15:22 Season 4 Episode 2 29 25:47 10 3:08 10 5:23 Season 7 Episode 1 32 25:19 1 1:03 4 4:07 Season 7 Episode 2 31 18:44 8 9:38 5 2:12 Totals: 138 105:43 55 42:00 63 55:39

Medical Content vs. Personal Content (Grey’s Anatomy)Episode Medical Content Nonmedical Content

#of Scenes Airtime # of Scenes Airtime

Season 1 Episode 1 33 34:23 14 10:36

Season 1 Episode 2 144 31:42 17 10:18

Season 4 Episode 1 35 25:59 20 18:04 Season 4 Episode 2 30 12:23 34 29:37 Season 7 Episode 1 23 18:02 32 23:19

Season 7 Episode 2 23 18:50 40 24:46 Totals: 173 129:23 157 117:45

52% 52% 48% 48%

Total Show time looked at: 247:08Total Show scenes looked at: 330

The data collected from my content analysis can be analyzed when I break the

information down into two assumptions. The first assumption is that Grey’s Anatomy often

forgets about the medical aspects of being a medical drama and emphasizes the relationships

between characters on the show. This assumption has been the subject for much criticism, and

parody. The sketch comedy series MADTV did a parody of Grey’s Anatomy which played on this

aspect. In the sketch the character that is supposed to be Addison Montgomery, the ex-wife of

Derek Shepard, says, “I’ve been so focused on relationships that I have forgotten how to

practice medicine” ("MADtv Grey's Anatomy and House"). This quote reveals what the entire

sketch tries to show about Grey’s Anatomy (the entire sketch can be seen on the link on my

work cited page). It is trying to show that Grey’s Anatomy forgets to show the practice of

medicine, and instead focuses on the relationships between the characters. But, even though

this idea of overemphasis on relationships and lack of the practice of medicine exists, it can be

refuted by the results of my content analysis. From the data I collected from six episodes across

three seasons, the amount of medical content was more than the amount of personal drama

content by a ratio of 52% to 48%. This data was in number of scenes, and airtime spent. But,

even though there was more medical content in Grey’s Anatomy than previously assumed,

there was an overwhelmingly greater amount of personal drama content in Grey’s Anatomy

than House MD. In House MD the ratio of medical content to personal drama content is 72% to

28%. This means that the emphasis in House MD is placed on medical content. When

comparing the amount of medical content between Grey’s Anatomy and House MD the ratio is

52% to 72%. There is more medical content in House MD. When comparing the amount of

personal relationship content between Grey’s Anatomy and House MD the ratio is 48% to 28%.

Grey’s Anatomy has more personal relationship drama content than House MD.

The fact that Grey’s Anatomy has more personal relationship and dramatic content than

House MD could be why it has the reputation that it does. If the content of additional medical

dramas was examined, there is the possibility that Grey’s Anatomy would have more personal

relationship dramatic content than all of those shows as well. The assumption that Grey’s

Anatomy focuses on relationships and drama to the extent that it forgets about the medicine is

not necessarily true, as proven by my content analysis of the show. It is because it focuses on

this dramatic content more often than other medical dramas that the assumption exists.

Because the medical content and personal drama content is balanced in Grey’s Anatomy, my

content analysis can answer my first research question. Grey’s Anatomy is an accurate

representation of a medical drama.

The second assumption I considered when analyzing my results is that House MD does

not develop the characters enough, and only focuses on two things; the sarcastic comments of

the show’s namesake, and an unrealistic medical mystery he must solve. House MD definitely

has the medical aspect of being a medical drama covered. But, when looking at House MD it

does not seem like there is a clear balance between medical content and personal drama. The

relationships between characters are not as developed, and there is less emphasis on life

outside the hospital setting. This makes the ratio of medical content to personal drama 72% to

28%, which is an unbalanced ratio. The criticism that House MD has a repetitive focus on the

bizarre and unrealistic medical mystery, and the snippy wisecracks of the protagonist, Dr.

Gregory House is often parodied. In the same MADTV sketch on Grey’s Anatomy, there was a

parody of House MD. In the sketch, the actor parodying Dr. House says, “Sorry, when you

wisecrack all day some of them are bound to get away from you” ("MADtv Grey's Anatomy and

House"). This quote from the sketch shows reveals the criticism that House MD has too many

wisecracks, and not enough substance between characters.

Because there is significantly less personal drama content in House MD it can be

considered in inaccurate representation of a medical drama. The argument can be made that

the drama in House MD comes from the medicine and solving a medical mystery. But, according

to my definition of a medical drama, House MD does not fit. If House MD were to become more

of a medical drama it would need to develop the relationships between characters more, and

create some aspect of life outside the hospital. As I watched the episodes, I noticed that the

show was beginning to do this. In the current season a relationship between Dr. House and his

boss Dr. Cuddy has come to fruition. With this relationship the personal drama content has

increased, making it more of a medical drama. But, in whole, when looking at the episodes I

examined, I would not consider House MD a true medical drama because of its lack of dramatic

content coming from personal relationships.

Now that I know the content that makes up both Grey’s Anatomy and House MD I can

find out which show audiences prefer, and therefore what audiences look for when watching a

medical drama. In order to find out which show audiences like better I want to again look at the

numbers. Because I am counting and making calculations again, I need to use I qualitative

method for my research. The best research method to use in this case would be a survey. By

generating a survey I can ask a sample of people how they feel about the two shows, and then

create percentages of those who prefer each show. I am conducting this research to gain a

better idea of the medical drama that the greatest amount of people prefers. If more people

prefer Grey’s Anatomy, then I can conclude that the audience I am surveying favors a medical

drama with more drama between the characters. If the people I survey prefer House MD, I can

conclude that the people surveyed favor a medical drama with more medical mystery to it.

When conducting this survey I will be aiming to answer the research question, “Do audiences

prefer medical dramas with more medical aspects or personal drama between the characters?”

I presume that the majority of the people I survey will prefer the medical mystery aspects of

the show, and therefore choose House MD over Grey’s Anatomy. I presume this based on an

excerpt that I read from an online article titled “Grey’s Anatomy vs. House.” In the article

author Luis Buenaventura writes:

Since women are more likely to follow any given TV show regularly,and Grey’s is generally more targeted toward females, it’s also not difficult to imagine which show has better ratings. (Buenaventura).

This article was written in 2006, when both shows were in their second seasons, so

viewership may have changed, but I am assuming that it has not. The author states that “it is

not difficult to imagine which show has better ratings.” Grey’s Anatomy is geared more towards

women. Since women are likely to watch Grey’s Anatomy or House MD, and men are likely to

watch just House MD, the viewership for House MD, should be larger because it is pulling in an

audience from both genders. Keeping this information in mind, I presume the majority of the

audience that I survey will prefer the medical content of the medical drama, and choose House

MD over Grey’s Anatomy.

To conduct this surve,y I wanted to reach the largest amount of people. In order to do

this, I gave the survey to my friends on Facebook. I created a stratified random sample of my

friends on Facebook because within the population of Facebook friends, I only had people

between the ages of 18-25 take the survey. This population of people share similar experiences

with medical dramas, and I wanted to look at what those experiences were. The number of

participants I had was limited to the amount of people I am friends with on Facebook. In the

end the population of people that participated in my survey was 85. 68 of the participants were

female, and 17 participants were male. Because this survey resulted in a majority of female

participants it has its limits. But, it can give a general idea of how audiences feel about medical

dramas. This survey was created through the website Zoomerang.com, and began to be

conducted through Facebook, on December 10, 2010 at 9:33 AM. I collected my data through

unsupervised self administered questionnaires because I was not there when the participants

took the survey, and it was a questionnaire the participants filled out.

My survey was designed to get feedback on both Grey’s Anatomy and House MD. I

created a survey of twelve questions. The final three questions were geared towards

demographics so I could understand the audience I was surveying. Of the other nine, seven

were close ended, and two were open ended. First I wanted to get a general idea of how much

television the participants watched. I categorized the next three questions as medical drama

interest. I found out if the audience watched medical dramas, if they watched Grey’s Anatomy,

and if they watched House MD. The next three questions fell under the category of

differentiating between the shows. I found out which show the participants preferred, why they

preferred that show, and if they thought Grey’s Anatomy and House MD could be accurately be

compared. I wanted to find out what the participants thought about comparing the two shows

because there has been criticism that the two shows are so completely different that they

cannot be compared. In a blog that I found in my research, titled Couch Potato, the author

writes an entry, “Grey’s Anatomy vs. House M.D.” In it the author says, “Should one really

compare the two? Would it be an injustice, considering that the only thing they have in

common is that they are medical dramas? Obviously they are not alike…” (“Grey’s Anatomy vs.

House MD”). This is just the opinion of one person, and it led me to want to know about the

opinions of others on this matter. The final category of responses was medical drama aspect

interest. I found out if the participants preferred the medical aspects or the dramatic aspects of

a medical drama, and further found out why the participants feel that way. These final

questions allowed me to really find out what the audience I was surveying is looking for, and

further conclude what audiences in general are looking for when choosing a medical drama to

watch. When analyzing the open ended questions I took the most common answers and placed

them in the charts. The quantitative results can be seen categorized in the following charts.

Amount of television watchedHow many hours of television do you watch a week?

Number Percent

0-2 hours 19/85 22%3-5 hours 40/85 47%5-7 hours 14/85 16%8+hours 12/85 14%

Medical Drama InterestQuestion Yes No Sometimes/If nothing

else was onDo you enjoy watching medical dramas?

48/8556%

8/859%

29/8534%

If Grey’s Anatomy was on, would you watch it?

38/8545%

26/8531%

21/8525%

If House MD was on, would you watch it?

40/8548%

9/8511%

35/8542%

Differentiating Between the ShowsIf Grey’s Anatomy and House MD were on, which would you watch?

Grey’s Anatomy House MD Neither

Number 36/85 42/85 7/85Percent 42% 49% 8%

Why do you prefer the answer you gave to the previous question?Answer People whose answer was similar

# %Storyline and plot is better in Grey’s Anatomy 11 15%Storyline and plot is better in House MD 8 11%Like the drama between characters and in Grey’s 8 11%Like how there is less drama between characters in House 4 5%

Like how House places main focus on the medicine and medical mystery

10 13%

Grey’s is geared more towards reality, and relatable 5 7%House is geared towards men 3 4%House has more humor 4 5%House is a better protagonist 5 7%House is easier to follow because you do not have to watch it every week

6 8%

Never watched Grey’s 4 5%Never watched House 2 2%Never got into either show 5 7%

Do you think that Grey’s Anatomy and House MD can accurately be compared to each other?

Yes, they have similar qualities

No, they are completely different

Number 49/85 35/85Percent 58% 42%

Medical Drama AspectsWhen you watch a medical drama, are you more interested in the medical aspects or the drama aspects?

Medical Drama Neither

Number 30 46 9Percent 35% 54% 11%

Why do you feel the way you answered in the previous question?Answer People whose answer was similar

# %Drama shows you more interaction and development of characters

7 11%

Drama makes you feel like you are part of the show

3 5%

Drama makes a show more relatable 5 8%Drama keeps interest in show 9 14%Do understand the medical aspects 6 9%Medical aspect relates to job field going into 9 14%Enjoy medical mysteries and how they are solved 13 21%Drama is often overdone, and unrealistic 3 5%The medicine should drive the drama so there are both aspects

5 8%

Drama is more entertaining 4 4%

DemographicsGender Male FemaleNumber 17 68Percent 20% 80%

Age Number Percent18 9/85 10%19 10/85 12%20 36/85 42%21 16/85 19%22 6/85 7%23 2/85 2%24 3/85 4%25 3/85 4%

Status (choose all that apply) Number PercentStudent 72 85%Part-time employed 25 29%Full-time employed 9 11%Unemployed 1 1%

From this survey I was able to take a closer look at what audiences look for when

watching a medical drama. Because my survey was limited to those I am friends with on

Facebook, the audience that I was able to get the most information about was female students

ages twenty to twenty one. From my survey I was able to draw conclusions about what this

particular audience looks for in a medical drama. My original presumption was proven correct

by the result of my survey. The show that was preferred was House MD. The ratio of preference

for House MD to preference for Grey’s Anatomy was 49% to 42%. It is interesting that House

MD was the preferred choice by those surveyed because the survey also showed that the

majority of participants prefer the drama aspects over the medical aspects with a ratio of 54%

to 35%. My content analysis showed that there is overwhelming more drama content in Grey’s

Anatomy than House MD. A reasonable result would show that if drama is preferred by the

majority of survey participants, Grey’s Anatomy would be preferred by the majority of survey

participants. But, this was not the case. The reason I gave for my original assumption was that

both men and women watch House MD, but generally only women watch Grey’s Anatomy, so

the preference for House MD would be greater. This reasoning could still hold true. The

seventeen men who took my survey may prefer House MD over Grey’s Anatomy, and they may

dramatic content is enough. The females who choose House MD over Grey’s Anatomy may feel

that same way.

The open response questions gave me a lot of information I could use to draw

conclusions about what the audience I surveyed likes in a medical drama. The storyline and plot

of a show is crucial to gaining an audience. According to 26% of the participants I surveyed, the

storyline and plot determined which show they preferred. The storyline and plot involve who

the characters are, and what the show is about. For the participants that said they believe one

show had a better storyline and plot over the other, it was not a question of medical content vs.

drama content. It was that they like the characters better, and what the show is about better.

A better storyline and plot was the answer given by 15% of those who preferred Grey’s

Anatomy. This answer can be tied to another reason why those surveyed prefer Grey’s

Anatomy. 7% of those surveyed said they preferred Grey’s Anatomy because it was geared

towards reality and more relatable. Those who answered this way could believe the characters

of Grey’s Anatomy are more real and relatable than the characters of House MD. Brian L. Quick

states in an article from The Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, “The viewing of

Grey’s Anatomy is positively associated with perceived courageousness of real-world doctors”

(Quick 44). The people who prefer the characters in Grey’s Anatomy revere them with a sense

of heroism. They draw a connection between the doctors of Grey’s Anatomy and real-world

doctors.

Even though some of those surveyed preferred the realness of Grey’s Anatomy, the

majority preferred House MD. A popular reason for this preference was that House MD placed

the emphasis on the medicinal aspect, and the medical mystery. There were 13% of answers

that fell under this category. Clearly, when people watch a medical drama, they want to see

some emphasis placed on the medicine. If they did not want to see any medicinal aspects, than

they would watch a different type of drama. The second most popular reason given to a

preference for House MD was that it was easier to follow. By not having a large amount of

personal dramatic content there is less of a need to watch every episode in order to know what

is going on.

Through content analysis and surveying I was able to solve my original problem and

answer my research question. Using the information from the content analysis and the results

of my survey I can conclude that when an audience watches a medical drama they are drawn in

because of the medical aspects. The drama between characters keeps it interesting, but

medical dramas find the most success when they involve a great deal of medical aspects to the

plot. I can also conclude that although medicine is the top priority, there needs to be

interaction and development of characters. The shows become more enjoyable when an

audience can understand a character or characters. Grey’s Anatomy has the balance between

drama and medicine, but in order to gain a larger audience, needs to focus more on the

medicine. House has the medicine, but needs to develop the characters more. By bringing the

main focus more to the medicine and having enough character development to keep viewers

coming back, both Grey’s Anatomy and House MD could become strong medical dramas.

Work Cited

Buenaventura, Luis. " House vs. Grey’s Anatomy." Guttervomit | a Collection of Stuff by Luis Buenaventura. 13 Mar. 2006. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. <http://guttervomit.com/2006/03/13/ house_vs_greys_anatomy/>.

"Grey's Anatomy Vs. House M.D." Couch Potato. Blog Spot, 4 Mar. 2009. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. <http://nichgich.blogspot.com/2009/03/greys-anatomy-vs-house-md.html>.

"MADtv Grey's Anatomy and House." YouTube: Broadcast Yourself. 20 Sept. 2008. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoBTQEOMmfs&feature=related>.

Quick, Brian L. "The Effects of Viewing Grey's Anatomy on Perceptions of Doctors and Patient Satisfaction." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 53.1 (2009): 38-55. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 12 Dec. 2010.

Unterberger, Andrew. "Scrubs vs. Grey’s Anatomy vs. House - Vs." Stylus Magazine. 1 Oct. 2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. <http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/vs/scrubs-vs-greys-anatomy-vs-house.htm>.