The fourth season of the American television medical drama Grey's Anatomy, commenced airing in the United States on September 27, 2007 and concluded on May 22, 2008. The season continues the story of a group of surgeons and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital, describing their professional lives and the way they affect the personal background of each character. Season 4 had 12 series regulars with 10 of them returning from the previous season, out of which 8 are part of the original cast from the first season. The season aired in the Thursday night timeslot at 9:00 EST. In addition to the regular 17 episodes, a clip-show narrated by the editors of People recapped previous events of the show and made the transition from Grey's Anatomy to Private Practice, a spin-off focusing on Dr. Addison Montgomery and aired on September 19, 2007, before the season premiere. The season was officially released on DVD as a 5-disc box-set under the title of Grey's Anatomy: Season Four – Expanded on September 9, 2008 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
For the first time in the show's history, many cast changes occur, seeing the first departure of 2 main cast members. Despite garnering several awards and nominations for the cast members and the production team, the season received a mixed response from critics and fans. Show creator Shonda Rhimes heavily contributed to the production of the season, writing 5 out of the 17 episodes. The highest-rated episode was the season premiere, which was watched by 20.93 million viewers. The season was interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which resulted in the production of only 17 episodes, instead of 23 originally planned.
Episodes
Each episode of this season is named after a song.
Cast and characters
Main
Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie Stevens
Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
T.R. Knight as Dr. George O'Malley
Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
James Pickens, Jr. as Dr.Richard Webber
Sara Ramirez as Dr. Callie Torres
Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
Chyler Leigh as Dr. Lexie Grey
Brooke Smith as Dr. Erica Hahn
Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd
Recurring
Lauren Stamile as Nurse Rose
Sarah Utterback as Nurse Olivia Harper
Diahann Carroll as Jane Burke
Jack Axelrod as Charlie "Really Old Guy" Yost
Edward Herrmann as Norman Shales
Kali Rocha as Sydney Heron
Elizabeth Reaser as Rebecca "Ava" Pope
Loretta Devine as Adele Webber
Anjul Nigam as Dr. Raj Sen
Jeff Perry as Thatcher Grey
Debra Monk as Louise O'Malley
Mark Saul as Dr. Steve Mostow
Amy Madigan as Dr. Katharine Wyatt
Cress Williams as Tucker Jones
Notable guests
Production
This is the first season to be produced by ABC Studios under its current name, after the transition from Touchstone Television in May 2007. It was also produced by ShondaLand Production Company, and The Mark Gordon Company, whereas Buena Vista International, Inc. distributed it. The executive producers were creator and showrunner Shonda Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Krista Vernoff, Rob Corn, Mark Wilding, Joan Rater, and James D. Parriott, all part of the production team since the series' inception. The regular directors were Rob Corn and Jessica Yu. Producer Shonda Rhimes wrote 5 of the 17 episodes, 2 of which were along with fellow producer Krista Vernoff. Unlike the other seasons, except from the first one, which aired mid-season, the fourth season of Grey's Anatomy had a reduced number of episodes, due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which caused the production to cease from February to April, leaving the show with no writing staff during that time. Since the show had only produced 10 episodes before the winter-holiday hiatus, and aired another one after the break ended, the show decided to complete the season with 6 new episodes, and returned on April 24, 2008. Only 17 episodes were produced out of the 23 originally conceived for the season.