private practice

BEVERLY HILLS - At times, Kate Walsh seems a bit stunned by all that has happened to her in three years, from her first appearance on "Grey's Anatomy" to being the star of her own show, the new "Private Practice."

"I could have never, ever dreamed this up," says the San Jose-born Walsh, who left the Bay Area before high school to live in Tucson.

Walsh, who will turn 40 next month, caught the acting bug from Children's Musical Theater of San Jose and other local community theater groups. After graduating from the University of Arizona, she spent close to two decades doing stage work (in New York and Chicago) and playing small to medium parts on such television series as "The Drew Carey Show."

Then, in late 2004, Walsh signed a five-episode deal with ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," a series that had yet to air. Her part: Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, the estranged wife of Dr. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), one of the series' leads.

Walsh's character didn't appear until the 13th episode of the show's first season. But her first, very short scene was memorable. Her opening line to Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) was, and we're paraphrasing here, "And you must be the woman who's been (sleeping with) my husband."

"I had been very fortunate just to be a working actress who hovered along," Walsh says. "And then it was like, bang, 'Grey's.' "

Addison Montgomery-Shepherd proved such a memorable character that Walsh was quickly made a regular on


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what had become television's hottest show. Over time, Addison evolved from an acerbic woman who had slept with her husband's best friend, and was now trying to ruin his new romance, to a sympathetic fan favorite.
Series creator Shondra Rhimes gives much of the credit to Walsh, saying that "Kate's performance had a lot to do with us realizing that there were so many more places for us to take this character.

"She's funny, and she can do the serious stuff really well, and she was so

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strong as a doctor, yet we felt that there was a warmth underneath everything that was happening."
That's what also convinced Rhimes that Addison, and Walsh, could be the focal point of a "Grey's" spinoff. She sketched out "Private Practice" - which moves Addison from the high-pressure world of Seattle Grace Hospital to a wellness clinic in Santa Monica - and brought the idea to ABC executives who were only too happy to do a spinoff from their top-rated series.

When Rhimes told her that Addison was going to be the centerpiece of "Practice," Walsh says she had "something of an out-of-body experience" - and then thought to herself, "What if it doesn't work?"

Walsh says the implications of what was happening didn't really set in until she was reading the first "Practice" scenes, which appeared in a two-hour "Grey's" episode last spring. "I was reading it like a teenager and having tiny screams of joy, and I was thrilled with it. It was like a really super-top-secret, delicious diary of somebody else's I had just found."

Rhimes didn't exactly put all her bets on the popularity of one character, though.

On "Practice," Walsh is surrounded by what Rhimes calls an "amazing all-star team": Tim Daly ("The Sopranos"), Amy Brenneman (her first series role since "Judging Amy"), Taye Diggs ("Daybreak"), Paul Adelstein ("Prison Break"), Chris Lowell ("Veronica Mars") and Broadway star Audra McDonald. McDonald is a latecomer, having replaced actress Merrin Dungey ("Alias") as Dr. Naomi Bennett, Addison's best friend, after the pilot.

But even with the high-powered cast, "Practice" got off to a rough start. The "Grey's" episode that set up the spinoff was roundly criticized by critics and fans of Addison who thought their heroine had gone soft and flighty. (An elevator that talks to Addison in the episode was a particular target of scorn.)

Rhimes admits that the first try was "a little bit of a high-wire act."

"What I learned in writing it is that the tone is a little bit lighter and that there is a little bit more fun to be had," Rhimes adds. " 'Grey's' is, in the best way, high school with scalpels, and 'Private Practice' is more grown up, more like a squabbling family than it is a group of competitive interns."

Tonight's opening episode is somewhat better than the pilot, although it's clear there is still work to be done in defining the characters and setting an overall tone. For one thing, the hour is unlikely to defuse the criticism that the Addison of "Private Practice" lacks the bite and confidence of the Addison who existed at Seattle Grace.

That could be a problem for ABC, which is counting on the show to anchor an entirely revamped Wednesday night lineup, not an easy task for a new series - even one with the pedigree of "Practice."

If all this pressure weren't enough, Walsh took time earlier this month to marry her longtime boyfriend, 20th Century Fox executive Alex Young. The ceremony made the covers of the celebrity magazines as well as being a top news story on such shows as "Entertainment Tonight."

But if Walsh is feeling the pressure, she's hiding it well.

"Sure, I know what's at stake here," Walsh says. "But this is like living somebody else's dream: a very, very good dream."

Tonight is the premiere of ABC's Private Practice and Addison is about to go through some major life changes. Dr. Weber is upset after seeing Addison's letter of resignation. She says she needs a change and wants to see her best friend, Naomi. Naomi is shown sitting on the floor crying in the bathroom eating ice cream while her husband, Sam, says he can't do this. As she compliments Violet, she's shown calling a man but not saying anything. Cooper, who also works at the L.A. practice, is left tied to a bed alone. When she speaks of Pete, her thoughts of him go to the kiss that they shared when she first visited L.A. Dr. Weber wishes her the best and Addison is on her way!

After a relaxing shower at her new house, Addison dances around her room naked except she's seen by her good friend, Sam. What an awkward way to find out that you're going to be neighbors. Sam is surprised to find out Addison is not only living in L.A. but hired to work with them. Violet runs into Addison and also is surprised at the news. Seems nobody knew that Addison was hired and nobody is happy about it. Everyone blames Sam, saying Naomi is making a power play because she's upset over the divorce.

Addison has to adjust to her new surroundings. She'll be delivering babies at the practice, not at the hospital. She also won't have a team around her, rather, just Dell, as her assistant. Dell, the cute guy who answers phones and is studying to be a midwife. That's a change. There's no time for a fighting. While a patient is attempting to give a sperm donation, he experiences a stroke and dies. His girlfriend cries that she wants his sperm, even though he's dead.

Addison gets her first patient, Lucy, a young pregnant girl who's going into labor. Meanwhile, Dr. Charlotte King is completely against taking the dead man's sperm while Sam tries to fight her for it. Pete asks Addison if she moved there because of the kiss and she asks him if he's deranged. Sam and Naomi team up to take on Charlotte.

Dell calls Addison out, saying she doesn't respect him or his "midwifery skills". Violet finds a woman on the floor, Jenny, acting strange. Charlotte concedes and Naomi is allowed to collect the sperm sample. Just when all is looking up, the man's wife shows up. The woman on the floor is a patient of Violet's and is in the middle of a store mumbling things and freaks out when she touches her.

Lucy experiences complications during labor and it looks like her heart is failing. Ken, the man who died, has a wife and a girlfriend who both want his sperm. Addison is upset that Lucy is having complications and she's not in a hospital to fully help her do what needs to be done to save her. She agrees to perform a c-section right there and Pete offers to help alleviate Lucy's pain.

Naomi tries to convince Ken's wife to let him go. Addison successfully delivers Lucy's baby but Lucy begins to crash. Addison saves both mother and child and Lucy's father is grateful for the work she did today. You didn't think Addison's first day would be a walk in the park, did you?

Ken's wife agrees to let the girlfriend have the sperm and have a child. Violet figures out why Jenny is having a breakdown in the middle of a store. She had a son who died. Cooper and Violet team up to get through to her in a heartbreaking scene. They succeed and she breaks down on Violet's arms. Sam and Naomi work together to help Leslie, the girlfriend, have a baby.

Addison and Naomi talk over dessert and Naomi says she hired her because she needs her. The staff call them to the conference room to discuss Addison's new position. Naomi apologizes for not letting anyone vote and now, they all want their say. Addison jumps up to tell them she doesn't care if they don't want her, she's hooked. She tells them she's here to stay and walks out.
A great first hour gets this comedic drama off to a fine start. An idealistic lawyer (Peter Krause) suddenly becomes the highly paid counsel for the Darlings, a wealthy and ill-behaved family that is all too often in the news, after his father mysteriously perishes. Think what would happen if the Kennedys mated with the Lohans and you get some idea of the Darlings, whose partriarch and matriarch (Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh) alone are worth the price of admission.

I think there's plenty of upside with this show, but at its center is Krause, who's managed to find roles like this that bring out both his likability and stubbornness, as in "Six Feet Under" and "Sports Night."

"Private Practice"
8 p.m, ABC (KMBC)

"Grey's Anatomy" fans know the setup: Finished with men and medicine in the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Addison (Kate Walsh) takes up a friend's offer to join their wellness center in sunny southern California, where she has only one baby at a time to deliver -- plenty of time to flirt with the hunky men in the office!

I was disappointed by the opening episode, which left me with the distinct impression that Taye Diggs (playing a newly divorced doctor in the practice) and Tim Daly (Walsh's first love interest on the show, but I'm sure not the last) were simply working off their ABC contracts that began on other, now-cancelled shows. The portrayals of alternative medicine were unfortunate, as was the forced zaniness.

But ABC specializes in these kinds of sprawling ensemble shows, and Shonda Rhimes, who created "Grey's Anatomy," is promising to keep a close eye on the offspring, so stay tuned.

"Bionic Woman"
8 p.m., NBC (KSHB)

Here's the thing about remaking a show from the 1970s -- most of the people who remember it well aren't important to network executives, because they've aged out of the demographic. So they knock 15 years off Jamie Sommers' age, make her a bartender instead of a tennis pro, and at the end of the first hour turn her into some kind of comic superhero who does battle with another bionic woman on (where else?) a darkened rooftop. The secret group that supervised her superhuman surgery is flipped from the benevolent agency that the 1970s Jamie was more than happy to serve into a sinister underground cabal led by a creepy CEO (Miguel Ferrer). And Jamie really isn't Jamie anymore: She has been, in the words of her even creepier fiancé (Chris Bowers), "hardwired for highly specialized warfare."

Whether "Bionic Woman" proves as successful a makeover as "Battlestar Galactica" (a tall order, indeed) hinges on whether this becomes more than just a one-"Hero" show. The recast and reshot pilot looks better than the one previewed to advertisers this spring. But it had the budget of a movie and won't likely be as spectacular in the weeks ahead. Like young Jamie, it's going to take a while for this show to find its artificial legs.

"Life"
9 p.m., NBC (KSHB)

Radar magazine counted 26 detective shows on the network TV schedule this fall. And while its writers diligently charted the differences between them, most viewers can't be expected to try that hard. They just ask: Is there any reason I should watch another cop show? And in the case of "Life," the answer is "no."

It's not that I didn't warm to the person of Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis), a wise-cracking, insolent homicide solver (yes, "House" with a badge) who went to prison for a murder he didn't commit, only to be unexpectedly sprung, given a cash settlement and allowed to rejoin the force. There's no doubt "Life" is blessed with a fine lead actor, an intriguing premise and better writing than most new shows this fall.

It's just that viewers aren't going to find that promising TV drama buried underneath all the crime procedural. The efforts to spice up the show with documentary film elements (people recalling the Crews case) and personal backstories (Crews' hot female partner, played by Sarah Shahi, has a drinking problem) only compound the problem. Maybe you can't do "Life" on NBC without the bloody corpses lying around. That says more about the limits of network TV than this seemingly doomed show.

Premiere week gains momentum tonight with four―count 'em, four―series premieres. And they're big'uns, too. At 9 p.m. is girl-power hour on ABC and NBC: Private Practice and Bionic Woman. And at 10 p.m. comes Peter Krause's return to series television in Dirty Sexy Money and the American network debut of Damian Lewis in Life.


By the way, if you have not yet seen Damian Lewis lead the 101st Airborne Division's Easy Company from the beaches at Normandy to the Eagle's Nest in Nazi Germany in HBO's 10-part miniseries Band of Brothers, you must go―go now. It's quite simply one of the finest stories ever put to film, due in no small part to Damian's performance as Capt. Richard Winters. You must not die without seeing it―and for all you know, you could be hit by a truck tomorrow morning, so you better get your Band of Brothers viewing in now.

However, if you've already seen Band, your opinion on these four series is welcomed in the poll and in the Comments below. Fire away.