While Private Practice takes a break tonight for the airing of the CMA Awards, I thought it a good time to share some insights I learned from chatting with Tim Daly on the future of Oceanside Wellness's Eastern medicine guru, Dr. Pete Wilder.

The good doctor has been toiling away this season in his corner of the practice helping patients with holistic remedies while attempting to be a friend to Addison. I was glad when his old friend Meg showed up to give his character a new dimension, and I look forward to Pete's character mixing it up with the other doctors. Based on my conversation with Daly, it's clear he feels the same way.

I'm glad Meg showed up because it's a catalyst for helping us get to know about Pete's past. Why is he so tight-lipped around the office about life before Oceanside?
I had a talk with Shonda [Rhimes] at the end of last season about Pete and where he came from, and I think it sounds a lot more interesting to have him immersed in a Western medicine world in sort of a badass way, you know? Doing something like Doctors Without Borders. In terms of why he doesn't talk about his past, I don't know when we'll see this, but a traumatic moment in Pete's life was the death of his wife. How he was sort of navigating the world and finding a way to connect with people in a way that's more intimate and more useful than just kind of slicing and dicing. When we'll find about more about that, I don't know, but that’s what we've decided, so . . . I think it makes him very interesting.

To see the rest of my interview with Tim, just read more.

Do you have more fun as an actor exploring Pete's emotional side, or do you prefer it when he's sleeping with Cheetah Girls?
Well, I think both, but let me say this: I think what we'll discover about Pete is that he's ready to evolve a little bit. Another thing with Pete and learning about his medical background is that it opens up storylines, I think, that everybody last year realized that acupuncture is terribly nondramatic. You know there's not a lot of acupuncture emergencies. [Laughs] It's like, “Just relax for 20 minutes, I’ll be right back."

Because Pete practices alternative medicine, it seems like it's hard for his storyline to interact with the other doctors'. Do you want that to change? Is there anyone you hope Pete spends more time with?
Well, with all due respect to our guest stars who are fabulous, fabulous actors, I crave more time with the regulars. I never act with Audra McDonald (Naomi Bennett), I mean, I never act with her! It’s crazy, I want to act with her really badly. I've got to act with her a tiny bit but it's like I always really want to work with the people who are already there.

Paul Adelstein's character, Cooper, is getting a lot of the funny, quirky stuff this season with Charlotte, etc. Pete's been a bit more brooding and serious. Do you wish Pete got more funny stuff?
Well, I mean, the answer is yes, and I remember back to the pilot or whatever the hell that was that we did, but Pete was pretty quirky and funny in that with Addison. I really loved him, so yeah, I would love to have that. But you know, I think you'll see he's not totally devoid of fun.

If Pete showed up at Seattle Grace Hospital, which doctor would he be romantically interested in?
I think it would have to be Sandra Oh's character. Pete would calm her down.

How do you feel about this whole Pete and Addison as friends thing? Any hope for more romance?
OK, I'll just try to say this in the most delicate way I can: I think Pete and Addison as friends is bullshit, it's just bullshit! You know? I don't believe it at all. When I first read that I was like, are you kidding me? First of all, we'd never actually seen them have a conversation that indicated they were friends. They're always more endearing when they're really hot for each other. So I don't believe they’re friends. They can say it all they want. Not that they don't like each other, but I don’t think they're friends.

Photos courtesy of 2008 ABC, Inc.