Clarissa's Blog

One thing I hate about Grey’s Anatomy is the bizarre absence of Jewish doctors. Nine seasons in, a minor character called Nessbaum got a couple of lines. And that’s it. No Jews. Which is as realistic as the almost complete absence of Asian doctors. Save for a single character of Korean ancestry, there’s nobody. No Indians, no Chinese. The latter is especially bizarre, given that the show is set in Seattle. There is even a doctor I suspect of being of Russian origin but he’s not Jewish either.

The unexpected demographics among doctors are mirrored by patients. Every other character is African American but almost none are Asian. Which is unlike any Seattle I’ve ever seen. And people at the hospital are so unfamiliar with Asian faces that they confuse a clearly Korean person for a Chinese. How anybody can make that mistake is beyond me, and besides, this is supposed to be the multicultural Seattle, not rural Quebec.

To compensate for this weirdness, the makers of the show gave the single Korean character a Jewish stepfather. It’s like they are covering both slots with one person just to get it out of the way. Even here in STL, you can’t go into a hospital without bumping into a Jew around every corner.