TV is the New Reading

‘Grey’s’ spinoff

‘Private Practice’ is

a deep disappointment

I only watched a couple episodes of ABC’s new fall series “Private Practice” and I’ve given up on it. “Private Practice,” as you might recall, is the breathlessly anticipated Dr. Addison Montgomery spinoff from “Grey’s Anatomy.” In essence, Montgomery, played by Kate Walsh, leaves a world-class operation in Seattle Grace Hospital where she can practice world-class obstetrics to take a homeopathic office in a little strip-mall type clinic.

It’s supposed to be this big change she was hungry for. It turns out to be a big change, but not for the better. The fact that she might have a single patient all day, no surgical facilities and no staff seemed to catch her off guard. The fact that her midwife is the group’s surfer receptionist seems to throw her a little. The fact that no one knew she was coming was a pointless and unnecessary part of the fake tizzy the pilot episode had everyone in.

What actually happened when an emergency did take place in her poorly equipped birthing suite was that the entire staff piled into her office and essentially got in her way.

That and everyone seems determined to sleep with everyone else, but no one actually does.

Sadly, this show is meant to be a more mature approach to medical drama. “Grey’s” was about interns, and the making of mistakes. It was about the kind of emotional immaturity that happens when young people are so driven by academics they don’t have the opportunity to learn all of those wonderful dating do’s and don’ts everyone else pretty much has nailed down in their high school years.

“Private Practice” was supposed to be a step up. But so far what’s happened is that Montgomery has danced around in her apartment naked and given her neighbor and colleague an eyeful. And one case that took all day – and advice from every male consult in the building (none of whom is a dermatologist) – was an unattractive stripper who had a rash on her bum.

What really made the decision for me was at the beginning of the third episode, Montgomery woke up and ran frantically around outside gathering nearly every small electronic device she owned because she’d left them all outside and it was raining. And while doing this, she managed to lock herself out of her home. All the while, she complained nonstop about how it was raining.

Excuse me, but didn’t she just move in from Seattle? What happened to, well, let’s see, every article of clothing she owned before moving to L.A.? I didn’t understand this.

Apparently this is not a big deal for everyone else. Last Wednesday’s episode took first place in overall viewership for the evening. My disappointment in a show populated by “doctors” I wouldn’t trust to boil water for tea doesn’t seem to be too widely shared.

That being said, I don’t know, then, what people are tuning in for. If it’s for the usually inimitable Walsh as Dr. Montgomery, she’s not on screen nearly enough and when she is she’s insipid. Honestly, her character seemed to lose about one-third of her brain and half her spine on the trip down from Seattle. Ditto for the rest of the usually brilliant cast.

Now they’re just pretty people standing around making dumb decisions that would actually destroy any other medical practice – except of course for that of plastic surgeons McNamara/Troy. I’m so looking forward to the fifth-season premiere of “Nip/Tuck” Oct. 30 – mostly because the show lives its entire existence over-the-top, so problems with believability don’t actually apply.

As for “Private Practice,” I guess I had higher hopes for a show created by the people who’ve had me at the edge of my seat for the past three years. Now entering a killer fourth season, “Grey’s Anatomy” remains this deeply engaging soap opera, which it has been since its opening scene.

Conversely, the pilot episode of “Private Practice” actually managed to bore me. I wasn’t convinced until I experienced it that that was something these writers and actors were capable of doing.

Live and learn.

Features Editor Terry J. Aman compiles the Best Bets for The Minot Daily News.

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