Rhimes’ next move made her a household name in mainstream America when she became the creator, executive producer and head writer of Grey’s Anatomy. The series debuted as a midseason replacement on March 27, 2005. On May 16, 2006, ABC announced plans to relocate Grey’s Anatomy from Sunday evenings to Thursdays in order to anchor the network’s Thursday evening programming,[8] by airing Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST. As Thursday has historically been the most competitive programming night among American broadcast networks, the announced schedule change for the series has been viewed by media analysts as another vote of confidence in the series from ABC. The seventh season ended on May 18, 2011 and returned for an eighth season which aired on September 22, 2011.
