‘Grey’s Anatomy’ season 9: How long will Patrick Dempsey stay on?

Here’s the funny thing about success: even when you have it, for whatever reason there is still a group of people waiting in the wings for any opportunity that they can in order to take you down a couple of notches. Take, for example, what happens with some of the cast members on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Despite the show being enormously successful and a part of the primetime lineup for almost a decade, there are some out there who cynically want to joke about the show being past its prime, or its ratings dropping.

Of course, here’s the reality of the situation: “Grey’s Anatomy” recently took the title of the top-rated drama on TV for a week in March, and creatively, the last three seasons in particular have been pretty excellent. Ellen Pompeo is coming off a Teen Choice Awards, and it still generates more traffic on this site than 85% of the shows we cover. In other words, some people are being cynical just for trolling’s sake.

So how long can this show really last? Rather than what pessimists will want to convince you of, it really just all comes down to how long the show’s cast really wants to continue working on the show. Speaking on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last week, Patrick Dempsey did not close the door necessarily on staying beyond season 10, which is the end of his current contract:

“Well, we have one more left on our contract, and then we’ll see what happens … People keep watching, we’ll keep doing.”

Is it possible that there could be a season 11? Definitely. Shonda Rhimes has made no assurance that season 10 will be the last, even though creatively it could be cool to go out just over the 200-episode mark, and end on a nice, round number.

How long do you think that “Grey’s Anatomy” will stick around, and do you think it needs Pompeo and Dempsey to keep going? If you want to see what Sarah Drew has to say about the rest of this season, be sure to visit the story over here.

Photo: ABC