HEARTLAND fan in Shondaland?

I had a weird deja vu moment last night watching Grey’s Anatomy. One of the plots was about a bunch of people donating kidneys to complete strangers so that their loved ones, with whom they didn’t match as donors, could receive kidneys from the recipients’ loved ones. Got that?

I did. As soon as Bailey started explaining the complicated procedure, I said, “It’s called domino transplants,” minutes before Izzie identified it as such. No, I’m not a doctor. I knew because last year, I guest-starred on a TNT show called Heartland (starring Treat Williams and Kari Matchett) in an episode that dealt with this exact thing. I played one of the donors, Mrs. Chan. Last night, one of the donors was named Mrs. Chen. At one point, my character bailed, putting the whole procedure into jeopardy. Last night, one of the wives backed out, too, until Bailey changed the woman’s mind.

When Chief Webber called this procedure “historic,” I wanted to say, “It was done a year ago by a basic cable show!”

I guess there really are only 7 original ideas in Hollywood.

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4 Comments

  • Reply
    Eddy
    October 28, 2008 at 11:33 am

    I almost called you. We were watching Grey’s and I said, “Wait, Elyse already did this!” Maybe they figured that no one saw the Heartland episode.

  • Reply
    AReadBear
    October 28, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    I was probably one of maybe 20 people who watched Heartland. The directing and editing must have been done by monkeys since the pacing was sooooo bad. I watched mainly for Treat Williams. Call me geeky, but I remain a fan. I also watch Greys Anatomy. The plots were so similar, it made me laugh. If they wanted to be different, they should have hired you and let you be one of the less scared donors.

    Keep up the good work! I love the blog!

  • Reply
    elysedmc
    October 28, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    Wow, you guys are really astute TV viewers! I’m amazed you saw that HEARTLAND episode. I forgot to tell my own sister I was on.

  • Reply
    Eddy
    October 28, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    To be honest, that was the only episode we watched of HEARTLAND. You must have alerted us.

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