The Correct Order To Watch Every Grey's Anatomy Show

When "Grey's Anatomy" premiered as a mid-season replacement in March of 2005 thanks to creator and showrunner Shonda Rhimes, it's safe to say that nobody genuinely thought it would keep running and running and running until it became the longest-running medical drama in TV history. As of this writing, the show is partway through airing its 21st season — and even though Ellen Pompeo, the star of the series who puts the Grey in "Grey's Anatomy" as Dr. Meredith Grey, left the show as a main cast member in its 19th season, it shows no signs of stopping.

Due to the fact that, in real life, hospitals change personnel with some regularity and new intern classes begin their residencies each summer, "Grey's Anatomy" is able to remain (relatively) fresh even with hundreds of episodes under its belt, introducing new intern classes every few years to keep the momentum going. Beyond that, though, the series has inspired at least one spin-off — centered around a character who was only meant to appear in a guest role before she performed extraordinarily well with test audiences — and has crossed over with another Rhimes project, so here's an important question: is there a correct order when it comes to watching the Grey's Cinematic Universe?

Yes and no, honestly. I've been watching "Grey's Anatomy" since the first season aired, and while there is a very convoluted way to switch between three different shows to keep the timeline completely sacred, there's also an easier way to make your way through all of them and keep your sanity intact. "Grey's Anatomy" will be your starting point, followed by "Private Practice" and then "Station 19" — and along the way, you'll notice a whole bunch of crossover episodes.

"Grey's Anatomy" begins its first season — with the opening chords of Rilo Kiley's infectious "Portions for Foxes" ringing out in the background — on the first day of Dr. Meredith Grey's surgical residency at Seattle Grace Hospital, complicated by a few things. First, she's returning to her hometown of Seattle and living in her long-dormant family home. Second, her mother is the legendary trailblazing surgeon Dr. Ellis Grey (Kate Burton), and unbeknownst to everybody but Meredith, she's suffering from severe, early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Third, there's a naked guy on Meredith's floor ... and when she gets to work, that guy turns out to be Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), an attending neurosurgeon who just moved from New York to Seattle.

Throughout the first several seasons of "Grey's Anatomy," Meredith navigates an on-again, off-again relationship with Derek — which is thrown wildly off-course in the season 1 finale when his wife Addison Montgomery-Shepherd (Kate Walsh) shows up unannounced — and struggles through her residency alongside her fellow interns Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Dr. Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), Dr. George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), and Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh). Other major players, like Meredith's half-sister Dr. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), Derek's former best friend and Addison's lover Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane), orthopedic surgery resident Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), and new trauma attending Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) pop up over the next few seasons, and the show's sixth season sees a hospital merger with Mercy West and introduces standouts like Dr. Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) and Dr. April Kepner (Sarah Drew).

Yes, "Grey's Anatomy" is, to put it bluntly, completely absurd; from bombs in body cavities to ferry crashes to an electrical storm that sends the entire hospital scrambling, there's always something going wrong at the hospital eventually called Grey Sloan Memorial, and the fatality rate amongst the doctors (not the patients!) seems distressingly high. There's no question, though, that "Grey's Anatomy" is incredibly fun to watch — and you can binge it on Netflix and Hulu.

Addison Montgomery Shepherd was never supposed to be a regular fixture on "Grey's Anatomy," but after her surprise turn in the "Grey's Anatomy" season 1 finale (where she memorably says to Meredith, "You must be the woman who's been screwing my husband"), Shonda Rhimes decided to keep both Addison and Kate Walsh around, and the rest is history. Then, in season 3 of "Grey's Anatomy," Rhimes crafted a two-part episode, titled "The Other Side of This Life," where a frustrated Addison heads to Los Angeles to visit some old friends. This backdoor pilot led directly to "Private Practice" in 2007, which centers around the Oceanside Wellness Group (which Addison joins as a neonatal surgeon and obstetrician) and which was created by Rhimes herself.

The existence of "Private Practice" means that Addison Shepherd's last appearance as a full-time cast member on "Grey's Anatomy" is in the season 3 finale, giving the character room to grow alongside her friends and colleagues at Oceanside — including Tim Daly's Dr. Pete Wilder, Audra MacDonald's Dr. Naomi Bennett (a character played by Merrin Dungey in "The Other Side of This Life" that was later recast), Taye Diggs' Dr. Sam Bennett, Paul Adelstein's Dr. Cooper Freedman, Amy Brenneman's Dr. Violet Turner, and KaDee Strickland's Dr. Charlotte King. Later in the series, Caterina Scorsone joins the cast as Derek's sister Dr. Amelia Shepherd; after "Private Practice" ended after six seasons in 2013, Scorsone joined "Grey's Anatomy" as a full-time cast member.

Much like "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice" is also ... remarkably ludicrous (at one point, a dangerous patient attacks a pregnant Violet and the resulting scene is not for the faint of heart, just to use one example), but if you're willing to throw the proverbial hinges to the side, it's a pretty fun binge-watch. It's also available on Hulu.

The third major show in the Grey's Cinematic Universe — or "GCU," a term I coined in this article that I quite like — is "Station 19," a spin-off that premiered in 2018 and was created by longtime "Grey's Anatomy" producer and writer Stacy McKee. (It's also produced by Shonda Rhimes and Krista Vernoff, the latter of whom took over as the sole showrunner of "Grey's Anatomy" when Rhimes departed in 2015.) The reason we can officially call "Station 19" a spin-off of "Grey's Anatomy" is thanks to the presence of exactly one shared character, Dr. Benjamin Warren (Jason George), who was introduced as an anesthesiologist on "Grey's Anatomy" and a major love interest for fan favorite Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson). Ben goes through multiple career changes on "Grey's Anatomy" before he decides he wants to become a firefighter, so you can see where this is going. Ben, now a firefighter, is joined on the force by Andrea "Andy" Herrera (Jaina Lee Ortiz), Jack Gibson (Grey Damon), Victoria "Vic" Hughes (Barrett Doss), Travis Montgomery (Jay Hayden), and Maya Bishop (Danielle Savre), just to name a few.

At Seattle Fire's titular Station 19, the firefighters battle life-threatening blazes, lose some of their colleagues and friends, and — as you can expect from anything in the GCU — find themselves in romantic entanglements pretty much constantly. It officially launched with its own backdoor pilot — a season 14 episode of "Grey's Anatomy" titled "You Really Got a Hold on Me" — and, in December 2023, it was announced that the show's 7th season would be its last. Though fans tried to save the series with a campaign, the show's finale aired in May of 2024 — and you can watch the whole series now on Hulu.

As you make your way through "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice," and "Station 19," be aware that there are a number of crossover episodes beyond the aforementioned backdoor pilots. "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" alone had nine crossover episodes (though that includes "The Other Side of this Life"), including one in the fourth season of "Grey's Anatomy" where, due to the 2007 writers' strike affecting "Private Practice," Addison briefly returns to Seattle to find that everything has changed quite a lot since she left. In a much more ambitious crossover series in season 5 of "Grey's Anatomy" and season 2 of "Private Practice," Addison's brother Archer (Grant Show) needs emergency surgery from Derek, and a pregnant patient of Derek's ends up needing Addison's help in return. Miranda Bailey goes to Los Angeles for the "Private Practice" episode "Right Here, Right Now" in the show's third season, and Addison also pops up on her own in "Grey's Anatomy" when Mark Sloan needs her to perform surgery on his pregnant daughter in season 6 of "Grey's Anatomy." Once Amelia joins "Grey's Anatomy," there are a handful of crossovers featuring her character as well.

"Station 19" also crosses over with "Grey's Anatomy," but in a way that sort of demands that you watch both shows — perhaps the most egregious example being when a major character on "Grey's Anatomy," Giacomo Gianniotti's Dr. Andrew DeLuca, is stabbed in an episode of "Station 19" and dies on "Grey's Anatomy." It would genuinely take too long to list all of the crossovers between "Station 19" and "Grey's Anatomy" here, but if you see either a firefighter on "Grey's Anatomy" or a doctor on "Station 19," maybe check the timeline and watch episodes from both shows.