ShondaLand

ShondaLand is an American television production company founded by television writer/producer Shonda Rhimes.^[1] She founded it to be one of the production companies of her first series Grey's Anatomy in 2005. It has since gone on to produce Rhimes's other creations, Grey's spinoff Private Practice and the widely popular political drama Scandal, and her other productions—the short-lived Off the Map, the Viola Davis-starring legal thriller How To Get Away With Murder, and the upcoming crime thriller The Catch—all of which are co-produced with ABC Studios and air on ABC.

Thank God It's Thursday

In 2014, ABC programmed its entire Thursday primetime lineup with ShondaLand dramas Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder, then branded the night as "Thank God It's Thursday" (or "TGIT").^[2] This echoes ABC's former TGIF branding of its Friday night family sitcoms and even NBC's Must See TV promotion of formidable Thursday night television hits in the 1990s. Thursday is an especially important night for American television networks because it is the last chance for advertisers of weekend purchases like movies and cars to reach a large TV audience, and networks schedule highly rated programming for the night to attract those advertising dollars.^[3] The Associated Press called Rhimes' reign of an entire night of network television "unmatched in TV history".^[4] Social media accounts for each of the shows highlight "TGIT" with various promotional material, occasionally referencing one another — such as when the How to Get Away with Murder Facebook page posted a selfie by Jack Falahee, who plays a character in How to Get Away with Murder, taken in the Oval Office on the set of Scandal. Various actors from the shows also sometimes post pictures of themselves together.

Actors within ShondaLand

Some actors appear on more than one "ShondaLand" show. Characters can be recurring in one series while a main character in another. Currently, Liza Weil and John Getz are the only actors to make appearances in all four programs.

References