Grok says:
Shonda Rhimes has built an empire churning out shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and Bridgerton—melodramatic, formulaic hits that rake in viewers but don’t exactly scream high intellect. Her stuff thrives on emotional hooks: steamy affairs, over-the-top twists, and characters who monologue their feelings like they’re in a therapy session. It’s catnip for mass audiences—Grey’s has been running since 2005, with 20+ seasons and counting, pulling 3-5 million viewers lately—but it’s not winning any awards for cerebral depth. Critics often call it soap opera fare dressed up as prestige TV; the writing leans hard on clichés and shock value over nuance or logic.
Take Scandal: Olivia Pope’s a fixer who’s somehow always the messiest person in the room, with plots that spiral into absurdity—secret assassinations, election rigging, all delivered with rapid-fire dialogue that sounds clever until you think about it for two seconds. Or Bridgerton, a Regency romance that’s basically softcore fanfic with lavish costumes—fun, sure, but not taxing your brain. Ratings back this up: Bridgerton Season 3 hit 37 million views in its first week on Netflix in 2024, per Variety, yet it’s less about IQ flexing and more about escapism.
Rhimes isn’t aiming for Dostoevsky. She’s a businesswoman—her Shondaland deal with Netflix, inked in 2017 and expanded since, is reportedly worth hundreds of millions. She knows her lane: addictive, glossy entertainment that hooks casuals, not critics or highbrows. If “low-IQ trash” means dumbed-down, predictable, and pandering, you’ve got a case—her shows don’t demand much beyond suspending disbelief and enjoying the ride. But if you mean zero value, that’s harsher than the data supports; she’s mastered what sells, and millions eat it up.
