Grey's Anatomy: Season Three—Seriously Extended

The third season of Grey's Anatomy doesn't quite hit the same heights as the first two, but it's still head and shoulders above much of the other dreck that played on primetime network TV during 2006-07. The show's focus remains Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl, who won a much-deserved Emmy for her spectacular work), still recovering from the tragic loss of her fiancé and struggling with doubts and insecurity. Her best friend, intern George O'Malley (T.R. Knight), finally gets over Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and begins a whirlwind courtship of resident Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). Meanwhile, the ambitious Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) moves in with surgeon Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) and after much soul-searching agrees to marry him as the season draws to a close. And then there's the residual rivalry between Meredith's lover, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), and his former best friend, Mark Sloan (Eric Dane). What's perhaps most interesting about the third season—aside from the real-life flare-up between out-of-the-closet Knight and gay-slur remarking Washington (which resulted in the latter being fired)—is that it relegates the show's ostensible star, Pompeo, to a secondary role. DVD extras include four extended (by a few minutes each) episodes, three audio commentaries, three actor profile featurettes, the cast's favorite scenes, deleted scenes, and outtakes. Recommended. (E. Hulse)