Grey's Anatomy Call Her Meredith McBeal?

"I feel like one of those people who's so miserable they can't be around normal people." Are these the words of sulky 90s dramedy heroine Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) or newcomer and ratings-grabber Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) of Grey's Anatomy? Well, this particular quote comes from Meredith, but if you're on the fence, you had cause. Meredith Grey is the season's Ally McBeal. And not just because both shows o.d. the viewer with soundtrack.  

Allegedly, Meredith, like Ally, is a woman struggling to move ahead in her career and her love life at the same time. But in reality, like Ally McBeal,Grey's Anatomy doesn't quite pull off this double-whammy premise. Meredith spends almost all of her time on the love part of life and precious little on her career. She, like Ally before her, isn't the everywoman trying to 'have it all'; she's a lovesick sad sack sitting on the sidelines pining away for an ex while everyone around her does the heavy, career-related lifting. 

Remember Ally, the paradoxical modern woman: good at her job, stumbling personally? But how good was Ally really at her job, or rather, how good did creator David Kelley let her be at her job? As a lawyer, Ally mainly existed to sit second chair and smirk knowingly as John "The Biscuit" Cage pulled his stunts, zinger competitors, and displayed his legal genius.

"That John, he's so unbeatable." Professionally, Ally was a cheerleader, barely even a wing woman, as the Biscuit got to voice all Kelley's 
social commentaries and rule almost every courtroom scene. Sure, Ally had a few good trial moments, but usually the "success at the job" or even the "gives a damn about the job" piece of her life was non-existent. Ally McBeal  wasn't about a woman looking for love and career satisfaction; it was about a woman looking for love while she went to work everyday.