following a disagreement with series creator Shonda Rhimes over lack of screen-time for his character. When asked to make a 'flashback' appearance in season 6, Knight declined. The scene in which Yang (Oh) and Hunt (McKidd) were partaking in couples therapy, was originally planned to be a comical moment. Vernoff commented on this: "I handed them that scene 20 MINUTES BEFORE CAMERAS ROLLED. It was actually a funny scene right up until the last minute. Sandra and Kevin had smart questions – and what became crystal clear to me instantly is that this storyline could not be resolved in a humorous way. It had earned weight. Indeed, it required weight." In the episode, Meredith (Pompeo) grieves her pain through constant sex with Shepherd. Vernoff explained she loves the fact that Meredith is healthy enough to realize what she is doing. At the conclusion of "Goodbye", Yang finally came to terms with the death of O'Malley. Vernoff offered her insight: Reception Broadcasting "Goodbye" was originally broadcast on September 24, 2009, on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States, following the first part of the season 6 premiere "Good Mourning". It was viewed by a total of 17.04 million Americans, across its 2-hour 9:00 Eastern time-slot. The episode was the series' second least-viewed season premiere, up to that point, just ahead of the season 1 premiere—"A Hard Day's Night". In comparison to the previous episode, "Goodbye" made a 0.08% decrease in terms of viewership. However, the episode's viewership ranked first in both its time-slot and the entire night, beating out CBS's CSI. In addition to being a success in viewership, the episode also did well in ratings. "Goodbye"'s 6.7/17 Nielsen rating ranked first in its time-slot and the entire night, for both the rating and share percentages of the 18–49 demographic. The episode also received a rating of 10.9/18 in the 18-34 demographic, beating out CBS's The Mentalist, and ranking #1 in the ratings and shares for the demographic. Critical Reception The episode opened to positive feedback from critics, and aired back-to-back with "Good Mourning", as a two-hour season premiere special. Alan Sepinwall of NJ.com commented on the 2 episodes being conjoined into 1 week: "I keep going back and forth on whether it was a good idea to do that, or if we'd have been better off spacing out the tearful speeches over 2 weeks. That isn't to say