'Grey's Anatomy': Real-Life Doctors Dissect the Drama

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First-year intern Loiy Mustafa is studiously quiet while watching the show at Howard, unfamiliar with the plot's ins and outs. So, for his benefit and perhaps yours, a quick recap:

McDreamy (played by Patrick Dempsey) and Meredith, the Grey of the show's title (Ellen Pompeo), finally have settled into a relationship. Burke (Isaiah Washington) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) are engaged. And both of those relationships are between attending physicians and their interns.

"Sleep with an attending?" Ngakeng says. "No way."

Isaiah Washington made headlines this season when he used a homophobic slur to refer to cast mate T.R. Knight (who plays George), prompting Knight to come out in People magazine, and causing actress Katherine Heigl (Izzie) to rise to Knight's defense. As a result of the incident, Washington went into inpatient counseling.

"I heard about that," says first-year resident Gautam Siram, momentarily looking up from obsessive checking of his PDA. "That's like rehab for bullies."

Heigl, meanwhile, is in a public snit over her contract renegotiations.

"How much do they make an episode?" podiatrist Michangelo Scruggs wonders out loud. Speculation in the group jumps as high as $1 million.

In real life, Dempsey and his wife just had twins. And Chandra Wilson, a.k.a. Dr. Bailey, won a Screen Actors Guild Award.

"Which one is Bailey?" Gbulie asks. She's the one known as "the Nazi," he's told. It's the character closest to himself, a late-year resident, shepherding the interns. Judging from room reaction, she's one of the favorite characters because, unlike the attendings (who are too busy sleeping with their charges), she keeps the interns in check.

The group's response gets more and more lively as the show progresses.

So, unlike George, you guys wouldn't get to scrub in on an appendectomy on your first day of residency?