The guys' guide to ‘Grey's Anatomy’

And George’s dad — is there a more “male” plot point than dealing with the illness and death of a father? “Grey’s” handled it with subtlety and a just-right mix of humor and emotion. This is the story line that hooked me, but there are plenty more traditionally “male” issues sutured into the fabric of the show. Parent issues, relationship ups and downs, struggles to compete at work. They’re issues important to both genders. Human. Just like the characters on the show.

Male or female, viewers seem to agree that Meredith can be awfully annoying. But even if you think the sound of her voice is like a scalpel scraping across bone, there are plenty of other characters to focus on. Nicknamed “The Nazi,” surgical resident Miranda Bailey struggles to balance parenthood with life at the hospital. Cardiothoracic surgeon Preston Burke deals with the emotional and professional ramifications of getting shot. Heck, driven intern Cristina Yang is more or less a stereotypical man, saddled with career-only blinders and relationship phobias. Despite — or maybe because of — all their faults, the doctors at Seattle Grace are people you want to spend time with. Or at least check in on from time to time.

Insights into a woman's point of view
Is the fact that the show is written from a predominantly female point of view emasculating? Hardly. In fact, I’d contend that I’m a better-prepared man now that I’ve got a weekly window into the female psyche. Just as peeking over your girlfriend’s shoulder to read an article in “Cosmo” about “10 Things Women Dig About Dudes” can (kind of) improve your love life, absorbing an hour a week of female-focused drama can impart much in the mysterious ways of the fairer sex. If you’ve got a lick of empathy coursing through your manly-man veins, you’ll quickly discover that “Grey’s” is not the all-feminine-hygiene-products-all-the-time show you’d assumed it would be.

Granted, it does degrade into an hour-long chick flick on occasion. What could have been a knock-down, drag-out rumble in the woods between sensitive George and arrogant Karev turned into a literal slap fight. Explained away as a reason not to injure their delicate surgeon hands, it was pretty obvious that show creator Shonda Rhimes and her team gleefully wanted to write a scene with toned and tightened dudes flitting at each other like Laverne and Shirley.

And, of course, who’s sleeping with whom continues to be just as important as who gets to scrub in on the latest freaky surgery. McDreamy and Meredith. Meredith and George. George and Izzie. Izzie and Karev. The sex train keeps rolling on. All aboard!

Plus, it’s got hot chicks. The producers give as much time to the female form as they do to shirtless McDreamy and McSteamy, leaving viewers of both sexes to ponder the same question: With their 70-hour-a-week jobs and roller-coaster personal lives, how do these doctors find time to get to the gym?

If all that wasn’t enough to get you to tune in, no less a man’s man than former president Bill Clinton has recently expressed his devotion to “Grey’s,” declaring it his favorite show. If it’s a “male enough” show for a guy who risked the leadership of the free world to spend a little time with the ladies, it’s male enough for me.

Brian Bellmont is a writer in Minneapolis.

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