15 Reasons 'Grey's Anatomy' Needs To End

When Grey's Anatomy first aired in 2004, people went crazy for the doctor drama that was basically a soap opera. It was cool to watch it and not just watch it but totally obsess over it. Now, it seems like the opposite is true. If you're still watching the show, you're definitely not the only one. Ratings are still pretty high and about 7 million people tuned into a recent Thursday night episode. But the show has been on for what feels like forever at this point and it definitely wouldn't be a problem if it ended soon. Even megafans might not mind saying goodbye to Grey's. After all, the show is no longer as popular as it once was, and there are just so many TV series on a variety of platforms it's not like fans would have nothing else to watch. Here are 15 reasons that Grey's Anatomy needs to end.

15 Killing Derek Was Unforgivable

Sob. Double sob. I'm still not over the death of Derek Shepherd. Seriously, how could he die? It seems crazy to continue the show without him - if he really had to die, then the show should have ended right then and there (although that would have been a horrifyingly tragic series finale). It was super painful to watch since we've been watching Derek and Meredith fall in love ever since the pilot. They had the best romance ever and their post-it note marriage was brilliant and quirky. It's really tough watching the show without this character who was so beautiful inside and out. Think about it: did you ever think they would kill Derek? Probably not. From the very first few episodes, you could tell that he was an integral part of the story and that he was a really awesome character. This is just something that we can't possibly get over.

14 Meredith Has Suffered Enough

If you thought Meredith had been through horrible times on the show, you were apparently wrong because when the series returned from its winter hiatus in mid-February, she was brutally attacked by a patient. Really? Did it have to be Meredith? That's not even mentioning, of course, the fact that her true love/soulmate/the best doctor ever Derek died, leaving her to raise her three kids alone. Meredith had a difficult childhood without any love, had to watch her mom try to kill herself, and has almost died several times throughout the course of the show. It's enough now. She may joke about being all dark but it's not even a joke, not really. She's honestly gone through more than any normal person could handle, and how many tough times can one person really take? Maybe it's best to just pull the plug already so she can go off and be happy.

13 12 Seasons Is Too Long

Can you think of a single series that lasted for 12 seasons (or even more)? It's really hard. Most shows just don't last past the sixth or seventh season, and it doesn't matter if it's a comedy or a drama - it's still the same. Even a fan favorite like Seinfeld was only on the air for nine years, The Sopranos had six seasons, and as a commercial during this year's Super Bowl made clear, The Good Wife will end this year (its seventh). How can you possibly come up with enough storylines and new characters in 12-plus seasons? We mean zero disrespect to the cast and crew of this show because we do respect them and think they're awesome, because they've given us such a great show so far. But sometimes you just have to get out before things get really bad. You know, that whole going out on a high note thing.

12 The Good Old Days Are Gone

Ask any super serious Grey's Anatomy fan and they will tell you that the show was amazing in season one, two, and three. You can ask a casual fan, too, and they will most likely give you the exact same answer. It's basically something that everyone on the planet agrees on. It was season four that everyone agrees the show went totally off the rails. That was all due to Katherine Heigl's character, Izzie, and a plotline involving her falling for a patient that quickly developed into unrealistic melodrama (yup, she had sex with a ghost). After season four, it was no longer “cool” or even acceptable to be watching this show, so the rest of us have basically been watching in secret. You probably have friends who stopped watching at that point and pretty much shake their heads in total disbelief when you admit, yeah, you're still tuning in.

11 Too Many People Have Died

It's painful to think about characters who have passed away on this show. It's become super trendy to try to get ratings and tweets by killing off super popular characters and no one kills more people than Grey's (well, except maybe for Game Of Thrones). But we can't take more deaths. We just can't. We already lost Lexi and Mark, and that's a really, really tough loss to get over. We still miss them and pretty much feel they're real people who were friends. They were yet another adorable and super romantic couple. They went through so much together and still they both ended up dead from a plane crash. Life is so unfair. It's just nuts when you consider how many characters have been killed on this show in one way or another. Of course, sometimes actors ask to leave a show so the character dies or moves away, but did they have to kill characters that we really loved?

10 Even The Actors Have Left

Look, when the actors are requesting to be let out of their contracts or want to leave a show, you can pretty much be confident that the show might have totally run its course. Katherine Heigl famously quit the show after six seasons and there were tons of rumors swirling about why that was the case. The actress claimed she wanted to spend time with her family but everyone knew that she embarrassed Shonda Rhimes and the writers/producers by withdrawing her name for Emmy consideration, stating that the “material” wasn't good enough. Recently, we said goodbye to Cristina Yang (the best character) and that's not even mentioning the cast of characters that are long gone. Now Callie is gone too! Well, maybe not 100 percent and maybe she'll come back for a bit, but we have no idea. It's just too much. There's basically no one left on this show.

9 The Original Group Is Gone

Honestly, this show is totally unrecognizable from the very first few episodes… and even the first few seasons. Now there are tons of interns that are pretty forgettable and that we just don't care the same about, because they don't get many storylines, and it just seems like the show is crowded with too many minor characters. Remember the glory days of Grey's when you had George, Meredith, Cristina, Alex, and Izzie? It was super magical and romantic and nothing seemed random or unrealistic. The best couples were together (Meredith and Derek, Izzie and Alex) and everyone was best friends. They were just so charming and adorable, living in Meredith's house and experiencing the highs and lows of being interns at the hospital together. Those friendships are long gone and only Meredith and Alex remain, which is really sad when you think about it. Sure, we love Mer and Alex and they're characters that don't frustrate us as much as some of the others, but come on. We miss the old people.

8 The New People Suck

Yup, we need to say this and we need to say it as loud and proud as we possibly can. No offense to the latest crop of interns - okay, offense. Every season, the new interns just suck. They're boring, have no personality, and just bring down the quality of the show. It's annoying to have to sit through new interns each year when you just want to focus on the gang that you do like (basically Alex and Meredith, plus maybe Callie and Arizona). It's just all a bit much. To be honest, the new characters just blend into each other and it's hard to tell them apart sometimes. Okay, all the time. We can't even remember their names, and we think that you probably feel the same way. We don't really get the point of having so many new intern characters season after season. Why not just randomly mention that there are interns but never really show them on screen? That's an idea we can totally get behind.

7 There Are No More BFF Scenes

We knew it was coming - Cristina Yang was offered an amazing position in Zurich at a hospital. But just because you know that something super sad and tragic is going to happen doesn't mean that you're okay with it. In fact, we're so not okay with Cristina being off the show. We're just not. We said goodbye to her as she danced in her final scene with Meredith, and that was poetic and all since, of course, they danced all the time. Mad, sad, happy, they danced it out. But now the lack of BFF scenes is truly depressing. The Meredith/Cristina friendship was always the core of the show. It was just so amazing that two cold-hearted, aggressive, hurt people could connect like that and find each other. Now Meredith seems to have no friends except Alex and he's not exactly Cristina material. Okay, now we're going to cry.

6 It's Too Depressing

We've always known that Grey's is not exactly the happiest show that you could find. People die, as we've said, people break up, people are totally miserable all the time, and there are tragedies massive and small in almost every single episode. This season, in particular, proves that all of the characters are way too depressed. Everyone seems to have broken up, too - what's up with that?! Meredith is without her Derek. Callie and Arizona are totally over. Jackson seems to hate April which is annoying because he doesn't really have a legit reason to (so she went and volunteered abroad, big deal - she did come back). They really need to get back together, don't you think? Richard always seems to be in a funk and Bailey is always annoyed about something. That's not even mentioning Amelia, Derek's sister who is usually drinking too much or doing drugs when she's supposed to be getting sober and is currently in a rough place. She really, really needs to get happy once again. Or be with Owen. Or both, hopefully.

5 Defending It Gets Old

I've watched every single episode of Grey's so far and will until the bitter end. Not because it's anything close to as good as it was before. Nope, it's definitely not (#sorrynotsorry). So why do I keep tuning in? It's a pretty simple reason: because I've gotten pretty attached to the characters and can't imagine giving up now. But, that being said, defending the show gets pretty old. I'm tired (and am sure other viewers feel the same) of telling people “No, it's not that bad” and “Well, the latest episode was pretty well-done.” It's not my job to defend a TV show. It should speak for itself. All of us fans are really, really tired of defending it, but since it's not going anywhere anytime soon, we're probably going to have to keep saying this kind of stuff. Ugh, we can't even imagine. It really needs to go away so we don't have to talk about it anymore.

4 What Could Possibly Happen Now?

You never really want your favorite (or even a show that's not your fave but you still watch sometimes) to be super predictable. There's something completely magical about a TV series that is wild and crazy and leaves you on the edge of your seat every single episode. Those plotlines aren't nuts only for the season finale, it's pretty much like that all the time. But with Grey's Anatomy, it's really hard to predict where the characters are going to end up when the show is finally put out of its misery. So many things have happened - some of them absolutely crazy, some of them shrug-inducing - and a lot of storylines have been packed into the seasons so far. The hospital has been renamed, doctors have changed specialties, characters have discovered they had a heart and they thought it wasn't possible (we're looking at you, Alex). What can even happen now?

3 It Keeps Reinventing Itself

When a show reinvents itself almost every single season, it's definitely a sign of creativity. It's definitely not a bad thing. Just think about shows like Weeds - that show was hilarious, smart and fun, and it was pretty much different in terms of location/setting and tone every season. There are still decent stories and plot twists and character development in recent seasons of Grey's. But the fact that it's been on the air for 12 years? Well, that proves that it's honestly gone on for way too long. Every year there's a new twist: Meredith is a widowed single mother, Meredith is recovering from a brutal attack, Alex is suddenly a nice guy, Bailey is the new chief. It's just a lot to deal with. That's not even mentioning the couples that we thought would be together forever and ever and now don't even talk to each other (or when they do, they fight).

2 The Break-Ups Don't Make Sense

Let's talk about this a bit more, because it clearly is a really important and upsetting topic for us fans. Let's be real here: there's zero reason that Owen and Cristina couldn't have ended up together. Zero reason. Sure, she was upset that she might end up disappointing him someday since she didn't want kids, but he didn't really seem to mind. Plus you can't exactly predict the future so why couldn't they have tried harder to make it work? Don't get me started on Arizona and Callie. Again, zero reason for that divorce - they clearly are still into each other in that junior-high way that all the characters behave during break-ups. It also doesn't make sense that Owen and Amelia aren't publicly dating because why not? Why can't they just admit how great they are together? Look guys, love isn't easy and it sucks sometimes and all that, but it's even worse to never admit how you feel about someone that is perfect for you.

1 The Series Finale Would Be Epic

Look, Shonda Rhimes is super cool. She's an amazing, inspiring showrunner and everyone loves her. Plus, who has that many shows on the air at the same time?! She's pretty much a superhero and our hero, too. We know that when the show does end, the series finale will be absolutely epic. It might even be several hours long and feature the ghosts of the characters who have died or left the show. We seriously hope there will be a scene with Meredith walking down the halls of the hospital and seeing ghosts everywhere. OMG, how totally epic would that be? Now we're going to be completely depressed if that doesn't happen. We have total faith in Shondaland that the end result will be worth waiting for. But we don't really want to wait that long. Here's to next season being the last? Yeah, that's probably not likely. But it's still what we want.