Spinoff feels sluggish
Chicago Sun-Times, Sep 26, 2007 by Doug Elfman
'PRIVATE PRACTICE' Rating 1
I'm sure you've seen a few chick flicks. So you will be familiar with the doctors-in-heat language of "Private Practice," which smells like this:
- "You have to stop calling here. I'm married now!"
- "I want his sperm now!"
- "The baby's in distress!"
"Private Practice," which debuts tonight, centers on "Grey's Anatomy" side character Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh). She was the strongest-willed woman on that show, which is why she's the only person on "Grey's" I truly enjoyed.
Now Addison leaves the Seattle confines of "Grey's" to shed her ex-husband Dr. McDreamy and to dance (sometimes naked) to a new groove in L.A.
This spinoff show is another signal America is entranced by live- action cartoons of workplaces. "Grey's Anatomy" is a cartoony romanticization of female anxiety. "Private Practice" looks like a cartoony romanticization of female empowerment.
You can expect Addison and Pete to talk coyly about a kiss they shared. Addison flirts with young William the midwife. Sam and Naomi are exes who clearly still love each other, and they work in the same office, how awkward. You get the picture.
Lest ye worry there might not be enough fantasy candy for ABC's core audience of women, show creator Shonda Rhimes has once again surrounded Addison with successful medical men portrayed by beef sticks: Taye Diggs, Chris Lowell (Piz from "Veronica Mars), Paul Adelstein (Kellerman from "Prison Break") and Tim Daly.
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The cast is good news. I've been a fan of all the main actors and actresses at one point or another. Here in particular, Amy Brenneman finds the insides of her shrink character very quickly. And Daly is on the money as a sensitive but confident doc.
But you can see the script and directional tone holding back the actors. They have a lot of promise if they can rise above their show, or if their show improves.
That's why I'm giving the premiere one star (it's a workaday, fairly annoying introduction) but I wouldn't be surprised if "Private Practice" picks up later -- if it grasps a less pandering and more organic texture.
Writers need to find the more genuine article within the rhythm, plots and characters. It needs to breathe, or it will suffocate.
And Walsh shouldn't keep dancing naked accidentally in front of Diggs. A woman dancing happily naked: liberating. A woman who gets flustered by getting caught dancing naked: disempowering. Let a woman have her peace when she wants it, and let her get a piece when she wants it. How hard is that?
- - -
Casting spell of 'buffy'
"Private Practice" producer Marti Noxon used to run the set of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," my all-time favorite show. Can she do for "Private Practice" what she did for "Buffy?"
Q. Do you still get approached by 500 "Buffy" fans a day?
A. No. You know, Shonda [Rimes, the "Private Practice" creator] is a really big "Buffy" fan, and when I first started working there, she said, "I'm so glad you have 'Buffy' paraphernalia [in the office]." I said, "Shonda - I am your 'Buffy' paraphernalia."
Q. Every time I talk to cast members at "Grey's Anatomy," they seem angry they don't know what their characters' future arcs will be. Will the same be true on "Private Practice"?
A: The reason that happens is so many choices are left to the last minute. I've worked on shows where you tell stuff too early [to actors], and it changes at the last minute, and actors feel really betrayed by that. So what they try to do at "Grey's" is, I think, an actually better policy: Wait until you really know the answer.
Q. Was "Buffy" seat-of-the-pants like that?
A. Yes and no. ... Shonda always [keeps] the end of the season to herself. And Joss [Whedon, creator of "Buffy"] was like that too. We always knew where we were going. But courses change a lot.
Q. Are "Grey's" actors just whinier about not knowing their futures?
A. [Laughing.] I can't speak to that.
Q. I thought the season end of "Grey's" was depressing. There was zero joy left.
A. The funny thing is we're getting hit on both sides. On the one hand, "Grey's" is getting hit for being too dark. On the other hand, "Private Practice" is getting hit for being too light [when it debuted softly as a "Grey's" episode in the spring]. Obviously, the goal is to hit that sweet middle spot. "Buffy" had a huge backlash in season six, when Buffy went to that really dark place and that Spike [tryst]. We took so much heat. People hated it. [But] in hindsight, people liked what has happening.
Q. Is the growth of strong women on TV reflected by strong women behind the scenes?
A. TV is a great place for women to write. In movies, it's so rare you can write for a female protagonist, outside of indie movies. ... Women have so much authority [in TV]. I work for a lot of female executives.
- - -
ALSO NEW
"Bionic Woman" (8 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Jaime Sommers returns to TV 30 years after Lindsay Wagner played the woman who was built faster and stronger. Michelle Ryan steps into the role fairly well but is overshadowed in the ** debut by an apparently evil bionic woman played by "Battlestar Galactica's" Katee Sackhoff, who steals the show. Tonight, Jaime goes from bartender to bionic bartender. There is promise here, but it's off to just an OK start. The writing is even-keeled. The direction is capable.
"Life" (9 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Here is a completely traditional- looking cop drama that doesn't do much fancy, but it's somehow an effective little ** show. Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) is a detective who was imprisoned wrongly, then he gets out and returns to crime-solving with a somewhat crazy, somewhat Zen approach. He has a habit of saying things aloud to himself, not realizing it. Lewis is quite good. And I like a fair amount of the writing, like when he says, "It's the universe that makes fun of us all," because "maybe it's insecure." It's a bit too conventional and could use some tinkering, but the real question is, will you take to its quirkiness?
"Dirty Sexy Money" (9:01 p.m., WLS-Channel 7): And now the most depressing part of my job, calling a TV series the worst new show of the fall season. Soapy "Dirty" is a terribly written, edited and acted melodrama about an idiot attorney named Dan (Peter Krause) who chooses to disrespect his good family life and his wife's intentions by taking over his father's horrible lawyer job, which appears to have killed the old man. So Dan works for the stupidest, richest, unsexiest and vilest family in New York. The patriarch (Donald Sutherland) is sketchy, but the kids are worse. They get arrested, get caught up in sex scandals, do drugs, decry enemies as being "poor" and have a bastard child despite being a married reverend. What makes this despicable is you're supposed sympathize with these dull nasties. Or, maybe the writers want you to love to hate them. I just hate to hate them. Zero stars.
'PRIVATE PRACTICE' Rating 1
I'm sure you've seen a few chick flicks. So you will be familiar with the doctors-in-heat language of "Private Practice," which smells like this:
- "You have to stop calling here. I'm married now!"
- "I want his sperm now!"
- "The baby's in distress!"
"Private Practice," which debuts tonight, centers on "Grey's Anatomy" side character Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh). She was the strongest-willed woman on that show, which is why she's the only person on "Grey's" I truly enjoyed.
Now Addison leaves the Seattle confines of "Grey's" to shed her ex-husband Dr. McDreamy and to dance (sometimes naked) to a new groove in L.A.
This spinoff show is another signal America is entranced by live- action cartoons of workplaces. "Grey's Anatomy" is a cartoony romanticization of female anxiety. "Private Practice" looks like a cartoony romanticization of female empowerment.
You can expect Addison and Pete to talk coyly about a kiss they shared. Addison flirts with young William the midwife. Sam and Naomi are exes who clearly still love each other, and they work in the same office, how awkward. You get the picture.
Lest ye worry there might not be enough fantasy candy for ABC's core audience of women, show creator Shonda Rhimes has once again surrounded Addison with successful medical men portrayed by beef sticks: Taye Diggs, Chris Lowell (Piz from "Veronica Mars), Paul Adelstein (Kellerman from "Prison Break") and Tim Daly.
Advertisement
The cast is good news. I've been a fan of all the main actors and actresses at one point or another. Here in particular, Amy Brenneman finds the insides of her shrink character very quickly. And Daly is on the money as a sensitive but confident doc.
But you can see the script and directional tone holding back the actors. They have a lot of promise if they can rise above their show, or if their show improves.
That's why I'm giving the premiere one star (it's a workaday, fairly annoying introduction) but I wouldn't be surprised if "Private Practice" picks up later -- if it grasps a less pandering and more organic texture.
Writers need to find the more genuine article within the rhythm, plots and characters. It needs to breathe, or it will suffocate.
And Walsh shouldn't keep dancing naked accidentally in front of Diggs. A woman dancing happily naked: liberating. A woman who gets flustered by getting caught dancing naked: disempowering. Let a woman have her peace when she wants it, and let her get a piece when she wants it. How hard is that?
- - -
Casting spell of 'buffy'
"Private Practice" producer Marti Noxon used to run the set of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," my all-time favorite show. Can she do for "Private Practice" what she did for "Buffy?"
Q. Do you still get approached by 500 "Buffy" fans a day?
A. No. You know, Shonda [Rimes, the "Private Practice" creator] is a really big "Buffy" fan, and when I first started working there, she said, "I'm so glad you have 'Buffy' paraphernalia [in the office]." I said, "Shonda - I am your 'Buffy' paraphernalia."
Q. Every time I talk to cast members at "Grey's Anatomy," they seem angry they don't know what their characters' future arcs will be. Will the same be true on "Private Practice"?
A: The reason that happens is so many choices are left to the last minute. I've worked on shows where you tell stuff too early [to actors], and it changes at the last minute, and actors feel really betrayed by that. So what they try to do at "Grey's" is, I think, an actually better policy: Wait until you really know the answer.
Q. Was "Buffy" seat-of-the-pants like that?
A. Yes and no. ... Shonda always [keeps] the end of the season to herself. And Joss [Whedon, creator of "Buffy"] was like that too. We always knew where we were going. But courses change a lot.
Q. Are "Grey's" actors just whinier about not knowing their futures?
A. [Laughing.] I can't speak to that.
Q. I thought the season end of "Grey's" was depressing. There was zero joy left.
A. The funny thing is we're getting hit on both sides. On the one hand, "Grey's" is getting hit for being too dark. On the other hand, "Private Practice" is getting hit for being too light [when it debuted softly as a "Grey's" episode in the spring]. Obviously, the goal is to hit that sweet middle spot. "Buffy" had a huge backlash in season six, when Buffy went to that really dark place and that Spike [tryst]. We took so much heat. People hated it. [But] in hindsight, people liked what has happening.
Q. Is the growth of strong women on TV reflected by strong women behind the scenes?
A. TV is a great place for women to write. In movies, it's so rare you can write for a female protagonist, outside of indie movies. ... Women have so much authority [in TV]. I work for a lot of female executives.
- - -
ALSO NEW
"Bionic Woman" (8 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Jaime Sommers returns to TV 30 years after Lindsay Wagner played the woman who was built faster and stronger. Michelle Ryan steps into the role fairly well but is overshadowed in the ** debut by an apparently evil bionic woman played by "Battlestar Galactica's" Katee Sackhoff, who steals the show. Tonight, Jaime goes from bartender to bionic bartender. There is promise here, but it's off to just an OK start. The writing is even-keeled. The direction is capable.
"Life" (9 p.m., WMAQ-Channel 5): Here is a completely traditional- looking cop drama that doesn't do much fancy, but it's somehow an effective little ** show. Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) is a detective who was imprisoned wrongly, then he gets out and returns to crime-solving with a somewhat crazy, somewhat Zen approach. He has a habit of saying things aloud to himself, not realizing it. Lewis is quite good. And I like a fair amount of the writing, like when he says, "It's the universe that makes fun of us all," because "maybe it's insecure." It's a bit too conventional and could use some tinkering, but the real question is, will you take to its quirkiness?
"Dirty Sexy Money" (9:01 p.m., WLS-Channel 7): And now the most depressing part of my job, calling a TV series the worst new show of the fall season. Soapy "Dirty" is a terribly written, edited and acted melodrama about an idiot attorney named Dan (Peter Krause) who chooses to disrespect his good family life and his wife's intentions by taking over his father's horrible lawyer job, which appears to have killed the old man. So Dan works for the stupidest, richest, unsexiest and vilest family in New York. The patriarch (Donald Sutherland) is sketchy, but the kids are worse. They get arrested, get caught up in sex scandals, do drugs, decry enemies as being "poor" and have a bastard child despite being a married reverend. What makes this despicable is you're supposed sympathize with these dull nasties. Or, maybe the writers want you to love to hate them. I just hate to hate them. Zero stars.
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