Robbins for a fetal surgery fellowship and becomes her mentor. Herman features in a 12-episode arc before departing in episode 14. Production and development Conception Shonda Rhimes wanted to make a show that she would enjoy watching, and thought it would be interesting to create a show about "smart women competing against one another". When asked how she decided to develop a medical drama, Rhimes responded: The series was pitched to ABC Entertainment, who gave the green light. The show was picked up as a mid-season replacement for Boston Legal in the 2005 television season. Francie Calfo, executive vice president of development at ABC Entertainment, commented that ABC was looking for a medical show that was unlike the others airing at the time. She pointed out: While creating characters, as well as writing the first script, the series' writers had no character descriptions in mind, and hoped to cast the best actor available for each part. Rhimes has said that if the network had not allowed her to create characters this way, she would have been hesitant about moving forward with the series. Female roles, in particular, were developed as multi-faceted characters. Rhimes offered her insight: The show's title, Grey's Anatomy, was devised as a play on words: a reference to both Henry Gray's classic English medical textbook, Gray's Anatomy (first published in 1858 and still in print), and the title character Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo). Before the series debuted on March 27, 2005, a few early releases were shown to close friends and family of the producers and actors. The show was scheduled to run in the Boston Legal time slot for 4 weeks. The show's high ratings and viewership resulted in ABC keeping it in that slot for the remainder of the season. ABC Entertainment President, Steve McPherson, commented on the scheduling change: "Ultimately we decided that, without having adequate lead time or marketing dollars to devote to moving either show so late in the season, we'd continue to let [Grey's Anatomy] build on its tremendous momentum through May." Prior to broadcast, it was announced that the show's title would be changed from Grey's Anatomy to Complications, although this did not take place. Production team Grey's Anatomy is produced by ShondaLand, in association with The Mark Gordon Company, and ABC Studios (formerly Touchstone Television). Rhimes, Betsy Beers, Krista Vernoff, Mark Gordon, Rob Corn, and Mark Wilding have