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RSSWill Practice make Perfect . . . an early look at the season premiere of 'Private Practice'
So I'm here at the Television Critics Association Press Tour in beautiful Beverly Hills. And what's really strange about this year's shindig is that we weren't able to see any of the pilots before arriving, which makes talking to the stars and producers a little difficult.
It would be as if you read a brief synopsis of Romeo and Juliet and then had to interview William Shakespeare. So I hear it's a love story that doesn't end well, could you talk about that?
I got to see most of the new J.J. Abrams series Fringe when I arrived at the hotel (it was airing on the closed-circuit television) but I was also jet-lagged and desperately trying to find my other black shoe so I wasn't exactly focused. I'll save my comments on Fringe until I have a chance to give the series its proper due. To my great dismay, the cast of Fringe wasn't here. They instead appeared via satellite from New York where they are filming the series. You know what this means don't you? They are keeping me from my Pacey. That's right, Joshua Jackson finally returns to series television and I am robbed of my chance of meeting him in person or asking my well thought out question, "You're still totally adorable. Could you comment on that?"
The networks are showing the season premieres of many of their returning series. So this morning I woke up to watch Private Practice -- you remember Private Practice, don't you? The Grey's Anatomy spin-off that was really bad yet I couldn't stop watching (call it the Paul Adelstein effect). Well there are good and bad things to report about the second season premiere that will air on October 1 and guest stars Amy Acker (yay!) and a returning David Sutcliffe (double yay!) as Addison's potential love interest. To use a chocolate analogy, to me before the show was like white chocolate (and as you know I don't like white chocolate). The second season premiere is like white chocolate wrapped in a dark chocolate coating. I like some of the improvements they've made but the core of the show still needs work.
The season premiere does directly address one of our chief complaints from last season -- how can a practice survive when they only see one patient a week and most of their time is spent ogling each other. However the things that bugged me most about the show are still there -- including the positively preposterous dialogue. In the opening scene, Addison and Naomi go on and on about how they are not being kissed and Addison talks about her virgin lips. Later Sam laments to Pete that our women are giving us problems. These type of scenes don't exactly inspire confidence.
To me the biggest problem the series had was that Addison had a personality change once she left Seattle for L.A. She lost all her gravitas and became a flighty, flirty woman who occasionally remembered she was a doctor. And I, for one, want old Addison back. Hints of OA (original Addison) are in the second season premiere and I can only hope this trend continues.
This all got me thinking of the returning shows, what do you think the biggest problem with the series was and what are your suggestions to fix it. Talk about it below.
Where are you? Where? Where? I really want to know
By now, you've probably all heard the news that William Petersen will stay on as a producer on CSI but will become a recurring character next season. My sister sent me an email this morning that said why oh why is Grissom leaving CSI?
I have to agree with the panic. As I discussed in May when talking about Gary Dourdan's departure, unlike other procedural dramas, CSI is about the characters and the crime. I'm worried now that Sara, Warrick and Grissom are all no longer series regulars. Yes they will all appear in the season premiere but I think the show needs them on an ongoing basis. I'm not sure I'll feel the need to tune in each week if Gil isn't there. How about you?
CBS is making the season premiere of CSI available to us tonight so I should have more to report about CSI on Friday.
Best News of the Week
Arthur Frobisher is not quite dead yet. He's feeling much better. Okay maybe he isn't feeling better but reports of Arthur's death in the season finale of Damages were greatly exaggerated. Ted Danson confirmed yesterday that he will return to the series when it comes back for a second season in January but he said that he didn't even know how long he would be around for.
FX showed a preview of the second season to the critics and it looks great. Timothy Olyphant will play a man Ellen meets in grief counseling (and I also kind of read him as a potential love interest) and William Hurt has a connection to Patty Hewes that seems like she would rather forget.
But the absolute best scene that FX showed us was between Patty and Ellen where they are discussing the Frobisher case over dinner in a restaurant. It was chilling. I cannot wait for next season.
Where Have I Seen Them Before
Kathie recognized Rachelle Lefevre as the woman at Bruce's work who the men had a bet about on Swingtown. She was Dana, the prostitute Jerry was dating on Boston Legal, the stripper who married Adam on What About Brian and Sue on The Class.
Kathie's eagle eye also recognized J.P. Manoux as the man working with Brandon in the mail room on My Boys. He's Neela's boss Dr. Crenshaw on ER.
Diane recognized Brian Krause, Leo on Charmed, as the firefighter who turned out to be the bad guy on The Closer.
Diane and Joe both caught Percy Daggs, Wallace on Veronica Mars, as the boyfriend of the witness who got shot on In Plain Sight.
DJ recognize Ryan McPartlin as Trina's high school sweetheart on Swingtown. McPartlin was Riley on Living with Fran and Captain Awesome on Chuck.
And I can't believe I haven't pointed this one out to you before. Erin Daniels is Syliva Davis on Swing town. She was Dana on The L Word.
That's all for today. Sorry this post is late but I'm trying to make sure that I don't miss a second of the press tour. I'll be back on Friday with hopefully a preview of the premiere of CSI, quotes of the week and more. Have a question? Seen a familiar face? Want to nominate a quote of the week or a topic for discussion? Write me at amytvgal@zap2it.com. Talk to you on Friday.
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I so agree about wanting OA back. The funny thing is that when Addison did her guest return to Grey's toward the end of the year, she was way more OA than Private Practice Addison. I was actually just thinking about fall TV and what shows I might just p*** on returning to, and I was considering quitting Private Practice, but now I may give it a chance. It all depends on whether the signs that OA was still there when she visited Grey's was actually a sign that the producers/writers/Shonda/whoever have also realized the personality shift that happened when they spun off the character and are looking to rectify that.
I was watching the All Star game with my boyfriend last night on Fox, so of course they kept showing ads for their fall series. They were advertising Fringe when I suddenly sat up and said, "Pacey!" My boyfriend just looked at me confused for a moment and then moved on. :)
"I'm not sure I'll feel the need to tune in each week if Gil isn't there. How about you?"
Every bit of any CSI I've ever seen has left me stunned that shows this bad were ever made. You take Grey's Anatomy, now, I don't like that show at all, but I can at least comprehend how it might appeal to people with different tastes than mine. Same with, say, Desperate Housewives and Pushing Daisies. But the CSIs? It's like all the most brain-dead bits of some terrible Michael Bay movie ham-fistedly pasted together with music video editing, complete with laughably over-the-top dialogue spouted by a bunch of placeholders p***ing for characters, terrible "acting", and an insultingly stupid cops and robbers world-view. It's like The Wire, if The Wire were made by some 10% percentile 8 year olds who only ever thought about money.
I agree about OA. I mean, I was never crazy about her when she was on Gray's but on Private Practice it wasn't about being a doctor; it was about the chick who made the Cadillac commercials. Maybe some people watching network TV can identify with that but I just can't.
They have to have some humanity other than how much sex than can have and she needs to learn to breathe through her nose instead of just her mouth. She looks like she's trying to imitate Elvis's sneer.
Sorry - it's hotter than crud outside and this show was one of my biggest disappointments last year.
I've never watched CSI for the personal stories (really what would be the point?) and have never understand why people obsess over the little personal details the writers dole out. I also think most of the characters are extremely replaceable. However, Grissom is the one character who is NOT replaceable. The show won't be the same without him. At least if the rest of the ensemble were intact they might be able to minimize the damage to the show, but losing Grissom, Sara, and Warrick at the same time is going to be pretty hard to recover from.
mmmmmmmm.....pacey......
A week without William Peterson is a very bad thing.
Thank goodness for reruns.