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If you’re looking for something really different on network television, the choice at 9 tonight is a no-brainer.

ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” which has always used music as an extra character, airs an episode dealing with the brain that features songs performed by cast members.

The gimmick has been done before but isn’t as silly as it sounds in this case.

Sara Ramirez (see right), whose character, Dr. Callie Torres, is involved in an accident that threatens her life, has a musical background. She is a graduate of Juilliard and starred in “Monty Python’s Spamalot” on Broadway. Chandra Wilson, who plays Dr. Miranda Bailey, also has performed on Broadway in the musical “Chicago.”

From brief clips supplied by ABC, Ramirez and Jessica Capshaw, who plays her love interest, Dr. Arizona Robbins, on the ABC series, are among the actors who sing in an episode titled “Song Beneath the Song.” In some cases, hospital scenes play in the background while the characters sing. Remember this is “Grey’s,” where characters have been known to come back from the dead and speak to the doctors.

One song prominently featured in the clips is “How to Save a Life” by The Fray, which aired on “Grey’s” five seasons ago. It has since aired on several other TV shows, including “Scrubs” (which also had a musical episode late in its run), “One Tree Hill” and “NCIS.” ABC has also said that “Chasing Cars” from Snow Patrol and “The Story” by Brandi Carlile will be featured.

To be honest, I’ve lost interest in “Grey’s” this season, but will be back tonight to see if creator Shonda Rhimes can pull this off and to see if Callie and her baby (she is pregnant with a baby fathered by Eric Dane’s character Mark Sloan)  survive.

* ABC has announced a summer schedule loaded with reality series that I will mostly ignore. But it also has two dramas.

“Rookie Blue,” which was a surprise success last summer, will be back Thursday June 16 unless the NBA finals go to game 7. If that hoop heaven happens, “Blue” has its second season opener June 23.

The new summer drama is “The Hot Zone,” which premieres Tuesday, June 21. A Canadian and British co-production, it is set in a war zone hospital in Southern Afghanistan, where doctors from several countries try to save military personnel with advanced surgical methods. The cast includes Michelle Borth, who you may remember from ABC’s “The Forgotten” with Christian Slater. Or maybe not.

* One of the more amusing sounding reality series is “America’s Karaoke Challenge,” which features the Karaoke World Championships. Who knew such a thing exists? It premieres on Aug. 8. The cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” is not eligible to perform.

* Attention baseball fans: Time Warner Cable has announced it is planning its longest free preview ever of the Major League Extra Innings package. Digital cable subscribers will get it for free from opening day today through April 10. The package offers about 80 games per week, with 24 games weekly in HD. The cost for the season after the free preview is over is $179 before April 11 and $199 after that. Of course, major league blackout rules apply concerning the Yankees, Mets and other teams that are oddly considered home teams here.

pergament@msn.com

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