Written by Sean Lyngaas Dec 18, 2019 | CYBERSCOOP

Deconstructing a zombie army of comprised computers commonly known as a botnet can tell you a lot about the security weaknesses over a range of digital infrastructure. The unpatched machines the botnet preys on, the protocols it uses, and the malicious code it distributes come into sharp focus.

A new study of the MyKings botnet a notorious horde of computers that has netted crooks some $3 million by antivirus firm Sophos highlights how Windows servers are vulnerable to a range of attacks from the botnet.

The MyKings botnet, also known as Smominru, is like a mash-up of recent security trends: it has been used to mine cryptocurrency, it has taken advantage of users failure to patch their systems, and it has employed a software exploit released by the Shadow Brokers.

MyKings authors have also started experimenting with steganography an increasingly popular technique in which hackers hide their malware in a benign-looking image. In MyKings case, they disguised their code in a photo of musical artist Taylor Swift, and used it to update the botnet, according to Sophos.

Whoever is behind MyKings knows that retaining access to a network requires a subtlety not associated with botnets. And so they added a component to the botnet known as a bootkit that launches a malicious program whenever a computer is rebooted.

The MyKings botnet also has the regenerative powers of a cockroach.

Even if most of the components of the botnet are removed from the computer, the remaining ones have the capability to restore it to full strength simply by updating themselves, Sophos researchers Gabor Szappanos and AndrewBrandtwrote in a blog post Wednesday.

Since researchers began tracking it in 2017, the MyKings botnet has infected well over 43,000 unique, public-facing IP addresses, according to Sophos. If the internet is ever be to rid of the scourge, understanding how and why the botnet continues to be effective is key.

For the past couple of years, this botnet has been a persistent source of nuisance-grade opportunistic attacks against the under-patched, low-hanging fruit of the internet, Szappanos andBrandt wrote.

Its worth noting the amount of work that has gone into building this large botnet simply to run cryptominers, Brandt told CyberScoop. The cybercriminals approach is working and theyre making money, but the cryptominer is ultimately a quaint, anticlimactic result after significant build up and effort on their end.

More here:
The anatomy of the MyKings botnet, and why it matters for security - CyberScoop

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The anatomy of a Trump smear - CNN

The Pitmaster Nap at Eater Portlands 2018 Food Cart of the Year, Bark City BBQ, is basically a pile of meat. It has a sausage, ribs, pulled pork, and turkey, not to mention the various sides. What it doesnt have, unlike many of the barbecue platters in town, is brisket.

Its kind of like the IPA of barbecue, says Bark City pitmaster Michael Keskin. Keskin, who worked in Portland restaurants like Paragon and Podnahs Pit, now runs a barbecue cart in Southeast Portland food cart pod Hawthorne Asylum. Its been his dream to open a barbecue cart for years, but as Portland develops a stronger and stronger barbecue scene, Keskin had figured out how to distinguish himself: Letting the Texas barbecue others have mastered take a backseat, allowing himself to create his own versions of classics.

The Pitmaster Nap, then, ends up being a sampler tray of his greatest hits. Here, we break down the intricacies of Keskins sampler tray, from the sides to the sausages.

The ribs at Bark City are an amalgamation of various ribs Keskin has eaten in his barbecue-obsessed years, including the ribs at Rendezvous in Memphis. Ribs start with a dose of Carolina mustard vinegar sauce, before theyre rubbed with a combination of paprika, black pepper, dry mustard, and cumin, among other seasonings. The ribs smoke for about four hours, occasionally mopped with a combination of pickle juice, cider vinegar, water, and beer. The ribs come dry, but its smart to ask for one wet and one dry the wet ribs are tossed in barbecue sauce. All the Texas boys are about dry-dry-dry, Keskin says. I wanted to do something a little different.

The pulled pork at Bark City gets a similar treatment to the ribs same marinade, same rub before they hit the smoker. The pork shoulder goes in for about 10 hours, before it hits another fork in the road: If the pork comes pulled, it ends up tossed with Carolina vinegar and mustard barbecue sauces. If it comes chopped, on the other hand, it ends up chopped and tossed with Carolina vinegar and Bark BBQ sauce. Something noticeable in both the ribs and the pulled or chopped pork are the notes of vinegar in the sauces and marinades, similar to the various barbecue styles spotted in North and South Carolina.

When Keskin was in college, summer nights often involved beer links. We would drink and throw those Johnsonville beer brats on the grill, Keskin remembers. So he decided to recreate those college memories and make his own. Keskin combines pork and brisket trim for his sausages, as well as Caldera lager, dry mustard, cumin, salt, garlic, and crushed chile. The sausages cure for two days, which helps the smoke adhere to the sausages. When they finally make it to the smoker, they smoke for about an hour, giving them just enough snap and juiciness.

When Keskin started building his menu, he knew he wanted to have some sort of healthy option. The turkey, however, has become one of his best items, and perhaps the most distinctive. Keskin brines turkey breasts in salt and pepper for 24 to 48 hours, before they smoke for 1 12 to 2 hours over white oak. Then, the turkey sits in foil with butter for about 10 minutes. The turkey is remarkably simple, and particularly good with the barbecue carts Alabama white sauce.

The Pitmaster Nap comes with a choice of sides, ranging from barbecue beans to coleslaw, but the move at Bark City is to go with the restaurants pickled avocado and its potato salad. Keskin spotted the recipe for pickled avocados on Pinterest and loved the idea the fattiness of the avocado would mimic the fattiness of the meat, with a little acid for contrast. The potato salad, on the other hand, is a classic picnic potato salad: celery, pickles, egg, mayo, dijon, Yukon Golds, and celery salt. But every plate also comes with a Texas candied jalapenos, pickled barbecue onions, and a wedge of cornbread, baked in a cast-iron skillet each morning.

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The Anatomy of the Pitmaster Nap at Bark City BBQ - Eater Portland

Just how immersive is Uncut Gems, the cinematic Molotov cocktail from adrenaline junkies Benny and Josh Safdie? At one point, viewers get a glimpse of our protagonist, diamond district hustler Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), from inside his colonoscopy.

Its the visual pun of meeting an asshole through his asshole, Josh Safdie said recently, in an interview with Fast Company.

Ratner is a risk-prone entrepreneurial hurricane, constitutionally incapable of not trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents. (And $15K out of that first dollar.) Although Uncut Gems only puts viewers physically inside of Ratner for a brief moment, the remainder of the film plunges us into the constantly shifting juggle session of his existence, daring us to look away. Someone is always calling to buy something from Ratner or sell something to him; someone else is stopping by unannounced in his Manhattan showroomor his childs school playto collect on an outsize debt. There are bookies and brokers, soon-to-be ex-wives and girlfriends, authentically scuzzy bagmen, and former NBA all-star Kevin Garnett, for good measure. Its hard to keep it all straight, just as a viewer, so one can only imagine the toll it takes on Ratner himself.

The plot of Uncut Gems is almost incidental: Ratner is trying to negotiate his biggest-ever score but keeps getting in his own way. Through masterful technique and thrilling performances, the film transcends its plot to become an overwhelming, full-sensory experience.

One scene in particular, though, boils down the manic energy of the film into one easily digestible dose. Its the scene in which Kevin Garnett (playing himself), his bodyguard (Sean Ringgold), and fellow hustler Demany (Lakeith Stanfield) pay a visit to Ratners showroom and get stuck in the vestibule. Ratner and his staff are doing their best to get them out, with Ratner already discombobulated from morning phone calls after a night spent sleeping in his office. (Throughout the scene, a tag is visibly hanging out of the shirt hes just thrown on.

Not a lot seems to happen, but on screen, its a capsule summary of Uncut Gems nonstop movement, jarring noise, and potent volatility. Below, Benny and Josh Safdie discuss the making of this scene.

If this scene leaves anyone in the audience reaching for a stress ball, rest assured: Its intentional. But its in the service of delivering necessary information in the most absorbing way possible.

Josh Safdie: How do you keep a thriller thrilling in a scene that has nothing to do with life or death? By raising the stakes. Increasing the tension.

Benny Safdie: This scene is all exposition, so the more tense and stressful it is, the better.

JS: In a weird way, the required energy and the required madness that surrounded the character was very helpful to us. It feels so naked when youre just doing exposition, so you want to figure out the way exposition exists in real life because there is exposition in real life all the time. Someone will say, You have to be here in 15 minutes.

BS: Or else!

JS: Thats exposition that happens in life. And its not strange when it happens in life. So we tried to figure out ways to kind of sidle up alongside that feeling. And sometimes, the madness really helped allow us to kind of not cover the tracks of exposition, but in a weird way, support it.

The claustrophobic feeling of the scene is a result of the fact that its all one big interconnected set.

JS: Being true to life of the guys in the diamond district, its such an overstimulated world. First you have this overstimulation [that] each space is over-designed. Theyre filled with insane precious jewels and intricate jewelry and you have deal over deal over deal and gamble on top of gamble on top of gamble.

BS: We wanted to capture the energy of 47th Street [New York Citys diamond district], so we had this space and we built it with the hallway, the showroom, and the back roomall connected for the purposes of realism. You really did feel like you went into it when you walked in. You got out of the elevator, went down a hallway with all these stores, and then entered Howards store. And then right on into the back. It wouldve been much easier to just do each one separate, to get all the camera angles and whatnot, but we built it like it was a real location. So then were like, Oh, lets just shoot it like a real location. We shouldnt keep ourselves so separate from each space. So we really did go in the back and out the front and everywhere else each time.

Further propelling the immersive feeling of the scene is filming it as a single, flowing shot, following around whoever becomes the focus of the scene for that moment.

BS: The day before that shooting, we had our shot list all prepared, and it was something like 45 shots to get in one half-day. It was physically impossible. And were thinking about how do we show this in a way that would be interesting but also catch all of the craziness thats happening. And it was like,Okay, if we can somehow do this in one shot, that would be incredible. And so that was our attempt at doing the sweeping camera motion of it. The whole thing was done in one take. Then we got all the inserts that kind of magnify every moment, and the reverse shot of Sandler.

JS: What it did for the actors is it allowed them to feel the whirling dervish quality of the scene, that theres so much going on. And I think that that added an element of dance to the whole thing because everyone had to be in sync for the camera movements. I remember LaKeith [Stanfield] was like, That shots probably really crazy.

BS: The idea behind it was to capture this feeling directly with like the handoff of responsibility. So youre literally just panning with all of the baton passes to try and get these people out. Youre feeling the emotions and the speed that all these people are going through, trying to get them out. Then on top of that, we had somebody in the showroom also who isnt a part of the scene, just a guy who is hanging out in the showroom, and we went back in later and ADRd a whole scene that hes having, narrating whats going on in addition to the conversations that are going on in the scene. And we were worried, like, Is this too much?

JS: When we first started showing the edited version of that scene, I remember people just being like, Whoa, thats the craziest thing Ive ever seen in my life.

The scene is also a cacophonous dirge of abrasive noisesa buzzer pressed over and over again, a ding-dong ring, a fist pounding on glass, and random mechanical whirring. Putting it all together was apparently like conducting a neurotic orchestra.

BS: When you get to the sound mix, you realize you can actually affect the sound both behind the glass and in front of the glass, and that became another added level of stress, where its kind of hard to hear the other person cause theyre behind glass.

JS: I think the musicality of it all also helped add to the banging, the percussive elements, Roman [Roman Persits] going into the back room . . .

BS: Its literally trying to match your version of reality, which is like a hyperreality, to real life. The buzzer is so loud, and its the perfect buzzer. But we went back and watched a bunch of the showroom scenes and it wasnt feeling real. It didnt feel like what it was supposed to feel like. So we went back to the district and recorded a bunch of Foley and as were in the showroom we hear, Oh there are other people talking. You hear that their cell phone rings are going off. So we added cell phones, and then we went into a bunch of jewelers to get their different buzzers. But when we walked in one where I was just recording sound, and then Josh was listening to the tapes back with the sound designer and hes like, Whats that noise? And it was this high-pitched ahhhhhnnn. Hes like, What is that? And youre like, Oh wait, when we open the front door of this guys space, that noise went off until it was closed. So we put that in every showroom scene. Whenever that front door opens, you hear a very high-pitched noise and that adds a level of stress and this feeling of realness. In my mind, it broke the reality of that whole space. Like, its 100% real.

Part of what stresses out the audience in this scene is watching the performers lose patience in a relatable way. It doesnt happen all at once. Demany is completely over the situation within 20 seconds, the bodyguard takes a little longer, and then Kevin Garnett finally loses his cool a bit too. Its all carefully calculated to elevate your heart rate.

BS: The scene builds in a way, as youre moving through it. Theres a level of frustration that naturally builds and so it had to build to a certain level for Lakeith to get to the energy of him entering that back room when he gets out. Oh, and then theres the bodyguard.

JS: He has my favorite line in the scene. I talked to that actor, Sean, and I said to him, You hate small spaces. And he goes, What? I said, Youre claustrophobic. He goes, Oh shit. Hes in there with Kevin Garnett, this really big guy, and its a small space. More stress. It wasnt in the script for him to say Im claustrophobic. But then he picked the most perfect time to say it, when he realizes hes trapped. And then he does that thing with the door to try to get out, and we actually built the stage so that those doors were locked for real. So hes yanking on that back door, and it doesnt open. Kevin Garnett is actually the most relaxed until when he gets out and he just lets out that sigh. I love that.

Excerpt from:
Anatomy of a scene: Benny and Josh Safdie on creating chaos in 'Uncut - Fast Company

For the year in a row, no series had a bigger year when it came to TV music syncs than Grey's Anatomy.

Tunefind, a music discovery website that partners with The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard to present the Top TV Songs chart each month (ranking songs that appear in TV shows each month using a combination of metrics from Tunefind and Nielsen Music), has revealed its 2019 year-end data, sorting the top songs, shows, movies and more based on traffic and interaction on the Tunefind website.

After reigning in 2017 and 2018, ABC's Grey's Anatomy rules the top shows list yet again, maintaining its reputation as a tastemaker for music discovery on television. In 2019, the series premiered its 16th season. Expect to see the show gracing this list in 2020, as well, as the drama, whose music supervisor is Alexandra Patsavas, has already been renewed for season 17.

Programs supervised either solely or in part by Patsavas take the top two spots on the year-end top shows tally, as Lucifer, co-supervised by Patsavas with Justin Kamps, ranks at No. 2. That's a three-spot jump for Lucifer in 2019 and is two positions higher than its previous year-end best, No. 4, in 2017.

Suits, Peaky Blinders and The Blacklist round out the top five, while the top new show of 2019, Euphoria, ranks at No. 6.

While Grey's Anatomy is the year's top show overall, runner-up Lucifer contains the year's top song, "My Love Will Never Die," performed by AG and Claire Wyndham, from the season four finale, the show's first season on Netflix after FOX initially canceled the series in May 2018.

"My Love Will Never Die" is followed by a fully instrumental track: "The Night King," from the pivotal third episode of Game of Thrones' eighth and final season. The song was scored, like the show's entire run, by Ramin Djawadi.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse reigns as the top movie of 2019 with a budget of $25 million or more, a fitting rule given its soundtrack's No. 2 peak on the Billboard 200 dated Jan. 26 (and seven weeks in all within the chart's top 10). Its most prominent song, "Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)," by Post Malone and Swae Lee, crowned the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in January.

After rules the list of top movies with a budget of less than $25 million, while Netflix's Someone Great wraps as the year's top streaming movie.

As for artists, Ruelle continues her hot streak, as she's never ranked outside the top two of the top artists of each year, ruling 2018's list and ranking at No. 2 in 2017. In 2019, she's No. 2 again, below Billie Eilish, who crowns the top artists of 2019 ranking. Eilish was everywhere in 2019, and television was no exception, with her music appearing in Dickinson, Hawaii Five-O, Veronica Mars, Riverdale and more.

The top composer of 2019 is Ezra Furman, who helmed the soundtrack to the 2019 Netflix film Sex Education, followed by Labrinth, who did the same for Euphoria.

Check out the full ranking for 2019 below, via Tunefind.

Top Songs1. "My Love Will Never Die," AG & Claire Wyndham,Lucifer2. "The Night King," Ramin Djawadi,Game of Thrones3. "When I R.I.P.," Labrinth,Euphoria4. "Phantom of the Opera Medley," Lindsey Stirling,The Umbrella Academy5. "Mannish Boy," Muddy Waters,Sex Education6. "Lost Without You," Freya Ridings,Grey's Anatomy7. "In Every Dream Home a Heartache," Roxy Music,Mindhunter8. "Got It in You (Acoustic)," Banners,The Good Doctor9. "The Woods," The White Buffalo,Marvel's The Punisher10. "Hard Times (feat. Congratulation)," Vision Vision,The Blacklist

Top TV Shows1. Grey's Anatomy (supervisor: Alexandra Patsavas)2. Lucifer (Alexandra Patsavas & Justin Kamps)3. Suits (Oliver Hild & Stacy Wallen-McCarthy)4. Peaky Blinders (Amelia Hartley, Pete Saville & Zoe Ellen Bryant)5. The Blacklist (John Bissell)6. Euphoria (Jen Malone)7. Riverdale (Alexandra Patsavas)8. The Umbrella Academy (Maggie Phillips)9. Sex Education (Matt Biffa)10. Power (Jennifer Ross)

Top New Shows1. Euphoria (Jen Malone)2. The Umbrella Academy (Maggie Phillips)3. Sex Education (Matt Biffa)4. Russian Doll (Brienne Rose)5. YOU (Season Kent & Alexandra Patsavas)

Top Movies (Budget Over $25 Million)1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse2. Joker3. Aquaman4. Creed II5. Avengers Endgame

Top Movies (Budget Under $25 Million)1. After2. Five Feet Apart3. Booksmart4. Green Book5. Good Boys

Top Streaming Movies1. Someone Great2. The Last Summer3. Tall Girl4. The Perfect Date5. The Kissing Booth

Top Artists1. Billie Eilish2. Ruelle3. Jessie Reyez4. Sleeping At Last5. Bishop Briggs6. Freya Ridings7. Michael Kiwanuka8. Imagine Dragons9. The White Buffalo10. Leonard Cohen & Queen (tie)

Top Composers1. Ezra Furman2. Labrinth3. Ramin Djawadi4. Alan Silvestri5. David Holmes & Unloved6. Daniel Pemberton & Frederic Magnon (tie)8. Blake Neely9. Adam Taylor10. Jeff Russo

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Tunefind's Top TV/Film Syncs of 2019: 'Grey's Anatomy' On Top for Third Year, Billie Eilish Rules Artists List - Billboard

James StewartsAnatomy Of A MurderandJeremy Irons and Meryl StreepsThe French Lieutenants Womancome to Blu-ray in March courtesy ofThe Criterion Collection and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Anatomy Of A MurderA virtuosoJames Stewart(Vertigo) plays a small-town Michigan lawyer who takes on a difficult case: that of a young Army lieutenant (The Killing of a Chinese BookiesBen Gazzara) accused of murdering the local tavern owner who he believes raped his wife (Days of Wine and RosesLee Remick).

This gripping, envelope-pushing courtroom potboiler, the most popular film from Hollywood provocateurOtto Preminger(Laura), was groundbreaking for the frankness of its discussion of sexmore than anything else, it is a striking depiction of the power of words.

With its outstanding supporting cast including a youngGeorge C. Scott(Patton) as a fiery prosecuting attorney and legendary real-life attorneyJoseph N. Welchas the judgeand influential jazz score byDuke Ellington,Anatomy of a Murderis a Hollywood landmark; it was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture.

Special Features:

Pre-order from Amazon.co.uk*

The French Lieutenants WomanAn astounding array of talent came together for the big-screen adaptation of John Fowless novelThe French Lieutenants Woman,a postmodern masterpiece that had been considered unfilmable.

With an ingenious script by the Nobel Prizewinning playwrightHarold Pinter(Betrayal), British New Wave trailblazerKarel Reisz(Saturday Night and Sunday Morning) transforms Fowless tale of scandalous romance into an arresting, hugely entertaining movie about cinema.

In Pinters reimagining,Jeremy Irons(Dead Ringers) andMeryl Streep(Sophies Choice) star in parallel narratives, as a Victorian-era gentleman and the social outcast he risks everything to love, and as the contemporary actors cast in those roles and immersed in their own forbidden affair.

The French Lieutenants Woman,shot by the consummate cinematographerFreddie Francis(Glory) and scored by the venerated composer and conductorCarl Davis,is a beguiling, intellectually nimble feat of filmmaking, starring a pair of legendary actors in early leading roles.

Special Features:

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Criterion Collection to release The French Lieutenant's Woman and James Stewart's Anatomy Of A Murder - seenit.co.uk

In Anatomy of a Scene, we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series each Friday. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Theres a moment in Greta Gerwigs new film adaptation of Little Women that ignites the screen with as much energy as a fire that sets ablaze a characters dress in the scene prior.

Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) is at a party with Theodore Laurie Laurence (Timothe Chalamet). He asks her to dance. But shes accidentally scorched a part of her dress and doesnt want other guests to see. Laurie takes Jo outside, and they have their own mini-dance party on the front porch bathed in the light of the larger party inside.

They dance in ways that are refined, silly, playful and buoyant all at once. The moment, choreographed by Monica Bill Barnes, has a bit of a punk-rock rebellion quality to it, but also keeps with the time.

I wanted it to feel both totally modern and period accurate, Gerwig said during an interview at The Times.

I didnt want them to be doing dances they wouldnt necessarily know. But I did want it to feel joyful and young, like kids dance.

Gerwig said the idea for this dance came from a Saturday Night Live sketch that features Gilda Radner and Steve Martin, where the two meet in a nightclub and trip the light fantastic.

For our film, we wanted it to be this shimmery moment that feels like maybe it almost didnt even happen, she said.

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How Little Women Throws a Dance Party - The New York Times

Grey's Anatomy ended its 2019 run with a major cliffhanger leaving the lives of many fan-favorite characters in danger. The January winter premiere will address the tragic accident at Joe's Bar in a two-hour crossover that includes the Season 3 premiere of Station 19, and Grey's actress Jaicy Elliot says the episodes are not to be missed.

The actress behind surgical resident Taryn Helm told PopCulture.com the winter premiere will mark a new era for the medical drama, as showrunner Krista Vernoff unites the ABC medical drama with its firefighter-focused spinoff series more than ever before.

"I think from now on you're definitely going to want to watch both shows if you want to keep following what's going on," Elliot told PopCulture.com in a phone interview Tuesday, Dec. 10. "With Krista Vernoff now showrunning both shows, we're all subcategories of this world, this ABC-Seattle version of reality.

"We're all now working together and it's very exciting," she continued. "We love the cast at Station 19. I'm very close with a few of them. This season it's basically just double the stories and double the drama and the love and all of that. And I think that's really exciting."

Grey's Anatomy set the stage for an action-packed crossover event in January when the fall finale ended with a car crashing into the iconic Joe's Bar, with Helm, Ben Warren (Jason George), Pruitt (Miguel Sandoval), Levi (Jake Borelli) and other Grey's and Station 19 characters left in danger.

A preview for the upcoming two-hour premiere event shows the race to rescue the people trapped in the bar, with the possibility the whole building might collapse before getting the beloved characters to safety.

While Elliot stayed mum on specifics for the upcoming episodes, she revealed the cliffhanger ending was just as shocking for the cast.

"In a joking way, we know on Grey's that your time can be limited because that's kind of the MO at Grey's," Elliot said. "[However] as good as it is to be on the show, to die on the show is also iconic. So we're placing bets and we're kind of all joking about it. I think we were excited to find out and we're all pretty pleased with the results.

"I think as a fan, I can never get too much information. And I think this second part of the season is going to be very exciting for everyone," she added.

Tragedy struck the ABC medical drama once again on the heels of Helm and the other residents having a big fight with Levi Schmitt, following the reveal he was involved in Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) firing from the hospital at the end of Season 15. Though Meredith is back at the hospital, the friendships have not yet healed.

Elliot said that it might take some time before the doctors mend fences, but the events of the crossover event will have a big impact.

"I know that for Taryn it's going to be a new beginning," Elliot teased of Helm's journey in the second half of Season 16. "She's going to go through a lot and I think she ... A lot happens to Taryn and I'm hoping that she finds a little love for herself in the process."

The Grey's Anatomy/Station 19 crossover event airs Thursday January 23 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. The following week Station 19 will take over the 8 p.m. ET timeslot, with Grey's moving to Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Actress Jaicy Elliot Teases 'Double the Drama' for 'Station 19' Crossover in Winter Premiere (Exclusive) - PopCulture.com

Over the past 15 and a half years,Greys Anatomyfans have been put through the trenches with devastation. There were severalcar crashes, a plane crash, a bus crash, a train crash, and a sinkhole.

Dont forget the active shooter, two explosions in the hospital, the earthquake, and the ferry crash. Somehow, viewers love every minute. Lets take a look at themost devastating momentsin Greys Anatomy history.

For Greys Anatomys second season, Rhimes amped up her writing for the Prime Time slot after the Super Bowl. For two back-to-back episodes of full-out gut-wrenching drama, viewers sat on the edge of their seats, hoping that Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) would not explode.

A patient came into the ER with live ammunition in his chest and paramedic, Christina Ricci, as the only thing holding off an explosion. Of course, Meredith ends up with her hand on the bomb inside the persons chest. When Meredith manages to remove the explosives successfully, she passes it to bomb squad leader Dylan (Kyle Chandler).

Fans let out a sigh of relief until Dylan blows up as he is walking away with the bomb. This event marks the first indication of the devastation to come on Greys Anatomy.

Next, we witnessed the first tragic demise of a fan-favorite character. The beginning of the bus accident episode during season five started as a typical case at Seattle Grace. John Doe jumped out in front of a bus to save a womans life, and he is rushed to the ER.

Fans are left in the dark the entire episode as the surgeons work to save John Doe. It is too late for George OMalley (T.R. Knight) when Meredith finally realizes that he is spelling out 0-0-7 in her hand. At the same time, Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) flatlines and sees George in his Army uniform. Viewers are still distraught that George died, and Izzie did not.

Season six took the devastation to a whole new level with a two-part finale involving an active shooter. A grieving widower enters the hospital with a gun and proceeds to hunt down the doctors who he feels are responsible for the death of his wife.

He shoots both Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) and Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). Meredith suffers a miscarriage right after Derek flatlines. Reed (Nora Zehetner) and Charles (Robert Baker) are murdered, and Bailey (Chandra Wilson) is dragged out from under a hospital bed, where she was hiding after trying to protect her patient (Mandy Moore).

Richard Webber confronts the shooter when he has one bullet left. Instead of shooting Webber, the widower takes his own life.

After helping several people out of a dangerous car accident, Derek got back in his car to return home, only to be hit by a semi-truck. When he is rushed to a local ER, he is conscious but cannot speak. He is silently begging the doctors to rush him in for a head CT scan, but they skip the scan and send him straight into surgery.

Derek dies on the table, leaving Meredith unable to say goodbye to her husband. Many fans ugly cried during this tragic episode. Viewers still argue that Derek deserved a better ending. However, Rhimes could only do so much when Dempsey wanted out of his recently-extended contract earlier than she expected.

Although some viewers might argue that the death of McDreamy should be at number one, others whole-heartedly sob during the plane crash you will never forget.

At the end of season eight, Meredith, Cristina (Sandra Oh), Derek, Lexie (Chyler Leigh), Arizona (Jessica Capshaw), and Mark (Eric Dane) board a small plane to Boise, Idaho to perform an epic surgery, separating conjoined twins.

On the way there, the plane crashes in a forest, leaving over half the cast of Greys Anatomy fighting for their lives. Lexie dies as Mark confesses his love to her. Mark soon follows after spending an entire month on life support back in Seattle. Arizona loses her leg and is never the same again (at least not for many seasons). It was the tragedy fans are still not over.

If you are ready for more devastation, Greys Anatomy is still going strong in its 16th season. It will return from winter break on Jan. 23, 2020, to ABCs9 p.m. time sloton Thursday nights.

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'Grey's Anatomy': The 5 Most Devastating Moments Ever RankedFor When You Need a Good Cry - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Relationships on Greys Anatomy have been all over the place over the last 16 years, with a lot of them being more creative than the usual prime-time soap. Many of the romances there have led to some interesting insights into how people treat one another, if also some incredulous moves that bothered some viewers.

One of the hottest relationships in the history of the show was the marriage between Derek Shepherd and Addison Montgomery (first), then later Meredith Grey. Of course, she became a widow as a result of his death, leading to one of the biggest romance heartbreaks in TV history.

Since then, some fans think the show has floundered on the relationship front. On Reddit, fans think the show has simply run out of gas and pulling out far too many tired romantic devices.

Theres definitely still fans for Greys Anatomy based on the response to critical analysis pieces and ratings, including those who use DVRs to watch. This kind of fan devotion should make the writers happy, though any writing team will feel burned out after 16 years.

Most writers start to run out of ideas within a decade and may feel like they want to expand their horizons with movies or a different TV genre.

Since the writing team is headed by Shonda Rhimes, theres a powerful figurehead who seems to always stay inspired in her storytelling. Even so, Rhimes has probably felt burned out herself more than once juggling dozens of characters.

All possibility exists she let some characters stagnate a little over the years and ultimately wrote them out as a result after not being able to fix their story trajectories. In some peoples view, it was because she had some personal issues with actors like Patrick Dempsey and Katherine Heigl.

Those rumors have never been confirmed. Still, its worth looking at some of the overused romantic tropes the show has used in the last season to prove the shows writing team might be tired.

Anyone who reads Reddit regularly will see that many Greys Anatomy fans chat on there as well, sometimes critically of the contrived plots the show concocts in recent seasons. Someone wrote in recently complaining about three overused romantic tropes the show leans on when they seem to run out of ideas.

One of those is the romantic triangle, something seen recently with Owen, Amelia, and Teddy during the previous season. Outside of being a reliable complication in romantic entanglements, triangles have probably been done more than any other romantic plot in TV sitcoms and dramas.

Setting them up always seems contrived and usually resolve in typical disastrous ways.

Then theres the so-called catastrophe card where one of the characters finds out they have a disease, or maybe even discovering theyre pregnant. No medical drama has ever done more character health/event catastrophes like Greys has.

Maybe theyve done it better than anybody else, yet they seem to be copying themselves in the last few years.

Any Greys fan would probably argue the above tropes are a major part of the shows brand and shouldnt be deviated from. Perhaps this is why the show continues to bring in respectable viewer numbers.

Shonda Rhimes hasnt addressed the above plot devices in interviews. Regardless, most should expect theyll continue to tap into them as convenient plot devices because fans probably like the familiar stories theyve seen for years.

There is such a thing as comfort TV. This might be the first medical drama to maintain classic tropes as a form of nostalgia rather than reinvent the wheel late in the game.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Fans Criticize Writers For Repeating This Tired TV Trope -- Again - Showbiz Cheat Sheet