Grey’s Anatomy season 20 episode 6 return date: Why the wait?

Why are we stuck waiting until May to see Grey’s Anatomy season 20 episode 6 air on ABC? It is a reasonable question, and for many reasons. Based on the current schedule, the medical drama will not finish the season until after the traditional May sweeps period, which is somewhat unusual for TV shows. Also, it certainly feels like some episodes wrapped filming long enough ago that this big of a break is actually not that necessary.

Now that we have spelled all of this out, there is a particular method to the madness here — and really, it’s just about working to piece a lot of it together.

One of the things that ABC and other broadcast networks prioritize is lineup continuity. It helps a new episode of one show, for example, if it is paired up with a new episode of another! That’s something that clearly, the powers-that-be are already thinking of a great deal. It is with this in mind that we bring up 9-1-1, which precedes Grey’s Anatomy and airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. It has not finished filming the entire season yet; as a matter of fact, showrunner Tim Minear is still tweaking the story! It started production later than some other series did in the 2024-25 season, and that is a big factor here.

Basically, the delay for all the Thursday-night shows is to ensure that 9-1-1 episodes are ready to go and that each series can build off of the ratings from the one before. It may be frustrating, but it is worth noting that the ratings for season 20 are actually up slightly from season 19, both in the demo and the 18-49 demographic. We do think having a solid lead-in is a big part of this, and it makes sense to keep that going.

At least we know already that there’s a season 21 coming, right? That means more stuff to look forward to in the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, and also hopefully a larger episode order.

Related – Read more on Grey’s Anatomy coming back for more

Are you bummed to be waiting so long to see Grey’s Anatomy season 20 episode 6?

Go ahead and let us know right now in the comments! Once you do just that, keep coming back — there are a lot of other updates ahead.