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'Private Practice' not so smart |
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Written by Pikachu
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Tuesday, 25 September 2007 |
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PRIVATE PRACTICE
9 p.m. EDT Wednesday
ABC
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Here's what happens when you "go L.A." You dance naked. You find the nearest beach. You let it all hang out. You do crazy stuff. You re-evaluate your life. You get flaky. You find new romance. You get dumb.
Oh girl, do you get dumb. How else to explain the complete transformation of Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery? Occasionally silly, often lovelorn and emotionally lost, at least Addison (Kate Walsh) had dimensions at "Grey's Anatomy's" Seattle Grace. At the Oceanside Wellness Center, she's flattened out — a woman without substance, or much going on upstairs, either, apparently.
Long before this spinoff became reality, some actually questioned whether an actress like Walsh could carry her own show. Watching "Private Practice," you'll come to wonder whether this show can even carry Walsh.
Yes, "Private Practice" is hugely disappointing, and in so many ways that a mere review can't even begin to do all the problems injustice. Let's move to Audra McDonald — who is only one of most beautiful and gifted people on the entire globe, though as Dr. Naomi Bennett she's as flat-lined as Walsh. What happened?
Beats me, except creator Shonda Rhimes seems to have forgotten what made "Grey's Anatomy" so successful in the first place — blunt emotional honesty and a profound sense of the absurd. Maybe she has gone L.A., too.
Actually, "Private Practice" — blessed with what may be the best cast in all of television — feels like it's been cursed by Network Suit Interference Disorder; NSID is when top executives, mindful of how important a new show is, just have to give their nickel's worth of wisdom on every single element. "Private Practice" feels so worked over by committee that it's hard to know where Rhimes ends and the suits begin.
"Practice" actually bowed in May as a back-door pilot episode of "Grey's," but Wednesday night it comes charging through the front door: Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) looks at Add skeptically. "You're sure about this?" She's sure. "I'm gonna wear jeans and walk on the beach and dance naked and be wild and free." It's a cliche, and Addison knows it's a cliche, but what the hell — cliches just wanna have fun, too.
But that doesn't always mean they're fun to be with. At Oceanside, there's Dr. Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein), a sex addict with an unusual variety of conquests. ("Do you think there's something wrong with a woman who wants to call you, ummm, Momma?" he wonders.) There's his roommate, Dr. Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman), who's a loser at love, a true "Grey's" specialty.
Dr. Sam Bennett (Taye Diggs) is a brilliant fertility specialist with commitment problems; amazing coincidence, but so's his ex, Naomi (McDonald), who has breached all sorts of protocol at the clinic by asking Addison to join up without getting the permission of her partners first. She also butts heads with hard-case Dr. Charlotte King (KaDee Strickland), who's boss at nearby St. Ambrose Hospital.
And what brings Addison here? Maybe — or maybe not — that liplock with Dr. Pete Wilder (Tim Daly) — which we saw in the pilot — who may, or may not, have a thing for her, too.
Oceanside Wellness Center is one of those uniquely California conflations. You come here to get babies, or get your head on straight, or learn how to inject some feng shui in your life-spirit. It's nutty, and conspicuously so, but it also means A, B and C story lines that (this week) deal with sperm, pregnant teens and troubled mothers who have lost a child. There's comedy. There's bathos. There's laughter. There are tears.
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