TV Q&A: When will 'Grey's Anatomy' end?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: When will “Grey’s Anatomy” end and why hasn’t it yet? There’s been HUGE turnover recently, and I thought the end of Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) would be the end of “Grey’s.” It’s definitely not the same without her.

— Katie, via email

Rob: It’s all about business decisions at this point, not about the creative aspects of the series.

Here’s what I suspect is keeping “Grey’s” alive. First, though it is a long-running series heading into its 20th season, a time when shows often end due to escalating costs (see: “NCIS: Los Angeles”), “Grey’s” has managed to replace almost its entire original cast, which helps contain cast salaries.

Second, the show is wholly owned by Disney, which means even as the costs go up it’s one Disney division (ABC) paying another (ABC Studios) so all the money stays in-house.

Third, if you look at what the most popular shows are on Netflix, reruns of “Grey’s” were the sixth most-watched title on Netflix in 2022. Why would Disney turn down that sweet, sweet Netflix cash?

Finally, I imagine ABC wants to stay in business with Shonda Rhimes on some level, perhaps in hopes of “Grey’s” spawning another spin-off. Rhimes is now based at Netflix, but anything derived from “Grey’s” would still be the property of ABC.

While I don’t expect “Grey’s Anatomy” to reach its 40th season, I’m not entirely surprised it is still around. Still, at some point the number of viewers will diminish to a point where, even with the Netflix cash, it no longer makes fiscal sense to continue and that’s when it will come to an end.

Meredith Grey will be back during some portion of the two-hour season finale at 9 p.m. May 18 on WTAE-TV.

Q: With the news that Pittsburgh’s WPCW-TV, Channel 19, will drop its affiliation with The CW this fall, what will happen to “The Drew Barrymore Show” and “Pittsburgh Today Live” that air on the channel?

— Deb, via Facebook

Rob: “Drew Barrymore” is syndicated and “PTL” is locally produced so they are not impacted by the departure of The CW programming from Pittsburgh’s WPCW. The CW programming is really only carried in prime time (8 to 10 p.m.) on Channel 19.

It’s not altogether surprising that this is happening. In 2022, Nexstar purchased a majority stake in The CW, which had been a joint venture between CBS, which owns WPCW-TV, and Warner Bros.

When CBS owned The CW, it had an incentive to carry CW programming on its O&O channels, including WPCW. Now that CBS does not co-own the majority stake in The CW, it’s unsurprising that CBS would seek out greener pastures, whatever that programming might turn out to be.

As for The CW, with its new ownership its programming will become a shell of its former self. Aside from a few holdover, expensive-to-produce scripted dramas, including “Walker” and “All American,” The CW’s programming will evolve into more reality shows (“FBoy Island” and “FGirl Island” are already on order) and cheap, scripted imports.

Q: Late night programs immediately started reruns due to the writers’ strike, but programs like “Good Morning America,” “Today” and news are still current. Aren’t their writers in the same union?

— Becky, Scott Township

Rob: They are not. The folks who write the copy for “GMA,” “Today” and other news broadcasts are news writers, journalists and nonfiction writers. They may be in a different writers’ union, but it’s not the one that’s on strike.

The folks on strike largely write dramatic fiction (TV dramas and sitcoms) with a small subset who are comedy writers for the late-night shows.

There are some odd exceptions: Late night’s “Gutfeld!” on Fox News Channel is a nonunion show so it will continue to produce original episodes. “The View” has a few union writers but is so far continuing on without them. CBS’s “The Talk” has union writers and reportedly opted to go dark.