Credit: Netflix

Shonda Rhimes does anything but make background television, and that has been obvious since Grey’s Anatomy first premiered in 2005.

The Television Academy inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 2017, after the emotional medical drama and Scandal had turned her into one of American television’s defining showrunners. Quite the CV, isn’t it?

Rhimes also founded Shondaland in 2004, then created Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, while the company later produced Station 19 and Queen Charlotte, but what makes a Shondaland show? It’s the characters who feel human, someone you’d have a chat with on the subway, and you cannot help but give credit to the storylines that feel earned.

Her 2017 Netflix deal pushed Shondaland into a new chapter when Bridgerton became a huge hit, while Inventing Anna took a complex character like Anna Delvey and made a cracking drama out of it. So, where do you start with all this Shondaland carry-on? Well, these five show the range of her empire and are well worth getting into.

Five Shonda Rhimes Netflix shows you need to watch:

The Residence (2025)

A murder inside the White House: who wouldn’t want to watch that? And now that we have your attention, let us take you on a tour of The Residence, which uses this premise without making it political.

The case begins when White House chief usher AB Wynter is found dead during a state dinner, leaving detective Cordelia Cupp to work through 157 suspects. You’d need a lie-down after reading that list. Uzo Aduba plays Cupp, who is a birder, and that habit shapes how she watches people and spots what others miss, while FBI agent Edwin Park keeps questioning her methods, which makes for a thoroughly enjoyable kerfuffle.

Shonda Rhimes is the executive producer of the show under the Shondaland banner, while Scandal writer Paul William Davies created the series, so secrets are part of the furniture.

Grey’s Anatomy (2005–)

This is where the whole Shondaland empire began. Grey’s Anatomy was her first television series, which premiered in 2005 and put her name on the map. Rhimes has said the pilot was the first episode of television she ever wrote, and now the series is heading into its 23rd season. Talk about making an entrance.

The story starts with Meredith Grey arriving at Seattle Grace as a surgical intern, and from there, all hell breaks loose. It’s not just the medicine but friendships, relationships, ambition, you name it. Meredith grows from intern to surgeon as the hospital keeps throwing new crises her way, and after all these years, Grey’s Anatomy remains the longest-running prime-time medical drama on American television. Not bad for a first go, is it?

Bridgerton (2020–)

Bridgerton took Shonda Rhimes into period drama arena, and you can see what might have attracted her plain as day. She found Julia Quinn’s books while on holiday and saw the potential at once. Romance with consequences: hell yeah! And here it comes with a lot of family, so you can bin the idea of a peaceful courtship through the window.

Each season follows a different Bridgerton sibling as marriage and Lady Whistledown’s gossip cause no end of trouble for the whole ‘Ton. Nobody’s business stays private for long, which is exactly how Whistledown likes it. Rhimes executive-produces the series and has done a marvellous job making it look like another basic period drama. It has gossip and lust as well as grand declarations of love, and who can say no to that?

Inventing Anna (2022)

It’s funny how a show can make you change perspective faster than a speeding bullet, and Inventing Anna did a good job there. Before the show, Anna Sorokin was a mere con artist who committed massive fraud, but after this Shonda Rhimes classic’s release, people saw her in a different light.

The show takes us to Sorokin’s life, where she passed herself off as the wealthy German heiress Anna Delvey and worked her way into New York society, leaving journalist Vivian Kent to piece together who she is and how she got away with so much.

Rhimes created the limited series after reading Jessica Pressler’s 2018 article about Sorokin, making a choice that says plenty about her take on Anna: she never met Sorokin before writing the series because she did not want Anna’s version of herself shaping the character.

She had become interested in the contradictions between other people’s accounts and her own, which is why Vivian’s investigation was the basis of the plot, and kudos to Julia Garner for doing such an outstanding job making us believe she’s the real Anna.

How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020)

Shonda Rhimes knew exactly where How to Get Away with Murder belonged, bagging creator Peter Nowalk’s series, to executive produce it under Shondaland. This time, the story takes us into the world of criminal law; nothing like a murder case to complicate the syllabus, is there?

Viola Davis plays Annalise Keating, a law professor whose students find themselves caught up in a murder. Luckily, the law is exactly what they need to save their own skin, but then, all is easier said than done, especially when you find yourself rooting for the ‘criminals’. Davis made television history in 2015 when she became the first Black woman to win the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series’. Quite the achievement, really, all thanks to Shonda.