The Grey’s Anatomy team had no idea how much an episode about a Dolly Parton impersonator would end up meaning. According to showrunner Meg Marinis, the cast and crew were in the middle of shooting that season 23 storyline when Parton died in August at 80 after a cancer battle. The episode, titled“It’s All Wrong, But It’s All Right”after one of her songs, was pitched by writer Jase Miles-Perez and directed by Debbie Allen. When the news broke, the team pulled Allen aside on set to tell her.
Marinis told Variety,“We were in the middle of shooting that storyline when Dolly Parton passed,”adding,“Obviously, it wasn’t planned, but we were able to honor her with the storyline.”The episode aired as part of the season 23 premiere on Thursday, the same day the Variety interview published, so fans got the tribute and the backstory at once.
Parton’s résumé speaks for itself: 23 Billboard Hot 100 entries as a soloist, including two No. 1 hits, plus decades of being one of the most universally loved figures in entertainment. Grey’s, now 23 seasons deep, stumbled into giving her a sendoff nobody saw coming. So we have to ask: what’s your all-time favorite Dolly Parton song? Tell us in the comments.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.