Welcome to Shondaland Trivia Quiz

Answer: Grey's Anatomy

Rhimes wrote "Grey's Anatomy" because she was fascinated by medical shows and wanted to create a show that allowed women to be three dimensional characters. The show's title is a nod to the seminal medical text "Gray's Anatomy" but also references the show's narrator - one of the original surgical interns Meredith Grey who is portrayed by actor Ellen Pompeo.

"Grey's Anatomy" has been a roaring success for the US television network ABC with Rhimes herself serving as showrunner (meaning she was both head writer and executive producer) from its inception in 2005 until 2017, at which point she handed the reigns over to Krista Vernoff.

Answer: Scandal

With 124 episodes across 7 seasons, "Scandal" is another of Shondaland's biggest hits. It stars Kerry Washington as Olivia Pope - the leader of a crisis management firm, who is loosely based off a real-life 'fixer' named Judy Smith who worked with President George H. W. Bush. High-profile fans of the series included Barack and Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey.

"Scandal" was the last show Shonda Rhimes created for the television network ABC before she signed an exclusive deal to create and produce shows for streaming giant Netflix.

Answer: Bridgerton

Based off a series of books by Julia Quinn, "Bridgerton" is the first Shondaland show to be created especially for Netflix as part of Shonda Rhimes' multi-year deal to create content for the streaming service. The show was an immediate success, with 82 million member accounts watching at least two minutes of the drama within the first 28 days since its premiere. These numbers meant the show became Netflix's most-watched original series since it pivoted to streaming 13 years previously.

The show focuses around the Bridgerton family - a widowed matriarch and her eight children, with the first season focusing on eldest daughter Daphne as she's 'introduced' to society with the hopes of finding a husband.

Answer: Still Star-Crossed

Based off a novel by Melinda Taub, "Still Star-Crossed" is set in Verona and uses the deaths of Romeo and Juliet as a starting point for a Renaissance period drama - complete with extravagant costumes and sword fights. Showrunner Heather Mitchell explained that even though the Montague-Capulet rivalry was the backdrop, viewers may encounter characters from some of Shakespeare's other plays as they travel through this Italian port city.

The show drew attention for its diverse casting choices and how they upended what society had come to expect from media set in Shakespeare's Renaissance-era world. Despite this notice, the show failed to make enough of a splash and was cancelled after only one season.

Answer: Private Practice

"Private Practice" is the first spin-off from Rhimes's inaugural hit show "Grey's Anatomy", airing from 2007-2013. It stars Kate Walsh playing Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery - a world-class neonatal surgeon and obstetrician-gynecologist, but also the former wife of a neurosurgeon on "Grey's Anatomy". After her divorce, she accepts a job in Los Angeles and "Private Practice" follows her as she transitions to a new life in California. Also amongst the show's principal cast are Broadway stars Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs.

In 2022, Shonda Rhimes expressed an interest in reviving "Private Practice" saying, "we had so much more to say with those characters... the show had endless possibility".

Answer: For The People

Like many of Shonda Rhimes's procedural dramas, "For the People" brings the viewer in at a point where characters start to navigate a new world in some way. In this iteration, three public defenders and three prosecutors are 'sworn in' during the pilot episode's opening sequence.

They then face off in a famous New York federal courthouse known as the "Mother Court" across two seasons during 2018 and 2019. Interestingly, if you watch the trailer for the show, two of the six lead characters were recast before the first episode went to air with Britne Oldford replaced by Britt Robertson (both playing 'Sandra'), and Jasmin Savoy Brown taking over the role of Allison from Lyndon Smith.

Answer: The Residence

This mini-series was released in March 2025 as part of Shonda Rhimes's deal with Netflix. Described as a "screwball comedy", the show centres around the death of a staff member at the White House and as with all good whodunnits, there is a limited pool of suspects with motives aplenty.

The series was inspired by a non-fiction account of life in the White House by author Kate Andersen Brower, and regular Shondaland collaborator Paul William Davies acted as showrunner for the eight-episode series.

Answer: Station 19

"Station 19" is the second spinoff from Shondaland's original medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy". Although there are many guest appearances by the "Grey's Anatomy" characters (the fire station is supposedly only three blocks away from the hospital), the major link between the shows is the character Ben Warren - an anesthesiologist and later surgical resident who left his medical career to become a firefighter and is based at Station 19.

The show ran for seven seasons between 2018-2024 and although it was produced by Shondaland, it was created by Stacy McKee.

Answer: How to Get Away with Murder

"How to Get Away with Murder" stars Viola Davis as a criminal law professor who teaches a class called Criminal Law 100, although she tells her students that she prefers to call her class 'How to Get Away with Murder'. This is fortunate for her interns because in the pilot episode, we see that they've murdered someone. Throughout the rest of the first season, the show uses flash-forwards to help the viewer slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together about what happened and why.

Once again, Shonda Rhimes and her team were onto a winner with "How to Get Away with Murder," with the show lasting 90 episodes across six seasons from 2015- 2020 and landing Davis a Primetime Emmy for 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series'.

Answer: The Catch

"The Catch" is the sixth Shondaland production, airing for two seasons between 2016-17. The show had a rather bumpy path to premiere night with a number of casting changes resulting in a tonal shift, rewrites, and ultimately a reshoot of the pilot episode. The original showrunner, Jennifer Schuur also departed partway through filming of the first season and so the replacement showrunner (Allan Heinberg) brought their own flavour to the scripts.

Despite these challenges, the show was met with generally positive reviews upon launch - especially for the performance of lead actress Mireille Enos, whom Rhimes called "an amazing actor" with "an exuberance which I found very interesting".