Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Station 19’, ABC’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Spin-Off About Seattle Firefighters

Even though Grey’s Anatomy is in its 14th season, until now there’s only had one direct spin-off, the Kate Walsh-led Private Practice. Station 19 is the second, but it’s even more intertwined into the Grey’s universe, since it takes place in Seattle, and the pilot has several characters from the parent show. It’s also the last show from Shonda Rhimes’ ABC tenure to debut. Can she continue the winning formula?

STATION 19: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A woman looks at pics of her ex on social media while on the phone with a friend who’s trying to talk her down from her self-pity. When she walks away from the laptop — situated on a pillow, a big no-no — the power cable sparks and starts a fire.

The Gist: The call goes in to Station 19 in Seattle. The squad is led by Capt. Pruitt Herrera (Miguel Sandoval), who goes into the house with the wisdom of someone who’s been eating smoke for decades. His right hand is his daughter, Andy (Jaina Lee Ortiz), who has been trying to get him to work less hard and actually stop to eat. Despite saving the homeowner and her dog, Capt. Herrera doesn’t think it’s a “pole day,” where the firefighters get to slide down the fire pole, old-school style.

Andy is having her own issues; she’s been dating Lt. Jack Gibson (Grey Damon), and she finds an engagement ring in his bag while they’re making out in the station’s locker room. She’s none too happy about it, and she says so to her best friend at the station, Maya Bishop (Danielle Savre). In the meantime, station rookie Ben Warren (Jason George), a former surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital (and Miranda Bailey’s (Chandra Wilson) husband) who has traded in his scalpel to become a firefighter, is going through rookie frustrations, with fellow firefighter Victoria Hughes (Barrett Doss) constantly giving him scut work to do.

An apartment building fire tests all of these relationships; Andy clashes with the cop on the scene, Ryan Tanner (Alberto Frezza), an old flame from high school; Jack separates from Capt. Herrera and the captain is found by himself, unconscious and not breathing. After saving her father, Andy finds out from Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) that he has stomach cancer and has been hiding the diagnosis for months. Now he has to retire, and has to put the Station in the hands of Jack, who Andy thinks abandoned her father at a critical moment.

In her anger, she sleeps with Ryan, then regrets it, even if she’s on the outs with Jack. She then lobbies her father to make her a lieutenant so she can be considered for command. Capt. Herrera knows how critical Andy has been to him and the station and agrees to the promotion, putting both her and Jack in charge of the station until SFD finds a permanent commander.

Our Take: Sort of like For The People, which debuted last week, Station 19 is pretty much a textbook Shondaland show. Of course, Shonda Rhimes has a hand in all of her shows, but this has a stronger Grey’s Anatomy connection than most of her shows, because it’s a direct spin-off. In addition, Grey’s co-showrunner Stacy McKee created and is the showrunner for Station 19. So there’s Grey’s DNA all over this show, from the opening and closing voiceover to the wildly inappropriate workplace nepotism and romances.

We feel like saying the same thing about this show that we said about For The People: If you’re a Rhimes deovtee, then this show will be in your wheelhouse. A few things gnaw at us, though. Seattle is a big city; how do we have a situation where a captain allows his daughter to be under his command? How does the cop that’s at the scene of the apartment fire, whose squad car Andy uses her engine to push out of the red zone in front of a hydrant, just happen to be her old neighbor that she went to prom with? Why did Capt. Herrera just happen to show up at Seattle Grace, where the wife of his newest recruit works as a surgeon?

It all feels like the proverbial snake eating its own tail, and it’s a little too convenient for us. The format of the show, where the squad goes to different rescues while the characters’ personal drama simmers in the background, feels on point for a Shondaland show, though it seems like any case they come up with will never match the wackiness of those on Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1. But it just feels like a photocopy of Grey’s, which becomes tiresome to all but the most diehard Shondaland fans.

Sex and Skin: The aforementioned make-out scene in the locker room comes about five minutes into the pilot.

Parting Shot: Andy’s first command after being made the acting co-commander of the squad is to open up the pole and let “every day be pole day.” As the squad goes down the pole, her voiceover goes “gotta grab on, take the next step… and let go.” You see, going down the pole is a metaphor about life. Clever, huh?

Sleeper Star: We want to see more of Doss, but in reality we wish Wilson could do double duty and play Bailey on both shows (maybe she will…?).

Most Pilot-y Line: While the speech Andy makes to the squad about every day being pole day was an eye-roller, it still doesn’t trump Meredith squiring Andy into a supply closet so she can cry out her anguish over her father, then she gives this doctorly advice: “OK. Let’s stop. Put your game face on. We got your dad, no go be brave for them, OK?”

Our Call: SKIP IT. Just watch Grey’s. It’s not like it’s going anywhere.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Station 19 on Hulu