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First Look! Photos from A Very Special "Grey's"

BuzzSugar — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:30:11 -0700

Folks, meet the doctors of "Private Practice"! The first photos of the "Grey's Anatomy" episode that could lead to the Addison-centered spinoff are out, and they're packed with interesting glimpses of the show-to-be.

According to ABC, the two-hour episode will be called "The Other Side of This Life," and it's scheduled to air May 3. Details are still a little sketchy, but we know that Addison will be taking a temporary leave from Seattle Grace and setting out on a road trip to LA. It looks like a jam-packed episode, including:

Cristina shopping for a wedding dress, aided by Meredith, Izzie, and Callie (and, it would appear, Burke's mom)
Addison reuniting with her old med school friends and their buddies, played by Tim Daly, Taye Diggs, and Amy Brenneman
Chris Lowell, shirtless.

View 42 Photos ›

Kate Walsh Gets "Grey's" Spinoff

BuzzSugar — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:52:25 -0800

You've probably figured out by now that Kate Walsh (aka Dr. Addison Montgomery) is one of my favorite things about "Grey's Anatomy." So I am very interested in the news that the late-addition-turned-regular is set to star in her own "Grey's" spinoff on ABC.

According to a Wall Street Journal story published Wednesday, the still-untitled series is being developed by "Grey's" creator Shonda Rhimes and is likely to debut as a two-hour pilot in May.

As "Grey's Anatomy" insider points out, it's less common in this day and age for networks to pursue traditional spinoffs (a la "Frasier") but with a hit like "Grey's," can you really blame them? What do you guys think about the news? To hear my take, read more

So, wow. I'm conflicted about this one. It has been feeling a little crowded over at Seattle Grace recently with so many once-peripheral characters becoming series regulars, and I certainly wouldn't complain about watching an hour of Addison each week. Plus, I think Kate Walsh is a strong enough actress to hold down her own show; she's one of the best on "Grey's" when it comes to handling both the dramatic moments and the funny bits.

On the other hand, I'm worried this might be overreaching - and that it could hurt both shows. I'd hate for this to mean no more Addison on "Grey's," because I think she adds a lot to the dynamic. And as big as "Grey's" is now, I'm not sure its goodwill can carry over to a second show - especially after this somewhat up-and-down season.

I wonder if Kate Walsh was alluding to this when she joked on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last week that with Meredith dead, she'd be taking over. Here's the video:

Taye Diggs to Join "Grey's" Spinoff

BuzzSugar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:20:01 -0800

If Addison Montgomery really leaves Seattle Grace, she might not need to take Mark Sloane with her. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Taye Diggs will star alongside Kate Walsh in the as-yet-untitled "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff announced yesterday.

According to the story, the pilot episode would show Addison on the verge of leaving Seattle Grace, and if ABC picked up the show, she'd be gone. (Too bad, because I kind of wanted her to be chief.) There's no word yet on who Diggs would play.

I know I'm one of three people who watched Diggs' last project, "Day Break," but he totally won me over there. I could see him being a strong enough presence to hold his own with Walsh, and he's not tough on the eyes, either. I've been giving this spinoff a lot of thought, so read more

While it's cool to learn more about the cast, I wish I had a better sense of what this show would actually be about. After a day of thinking on it, I still think a spinoff seems too sudden and too disruptive to what "Grey's" already has going for it. I know some of you think it will work, though, and I'm ready to be convinced. Comment and tell why this is a good move. Also, anyone got a good potential title? My favorite so far, from TV Guide: "Montgomery's Ward."

Source

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 16 May 2009 07:30:01 -0700

Now that the Gossip Girl episode with the spinoff flashbacks has aired, can you see the concept working as a series?
The Grey's Anatomy finale was unbelievably intense. Everyone's talking about it here!
Awesome casting news this week that includes Ed Westwick in Wuthering Heights; Robert Pattinson, Hugh Jackman, and Rachel Weisz starring together in a movie; and a giant ensemble cast of big names in a rom-com called Valentine's Day.
I can't wait for Glee! Go meet the cast.
Martin Scorsese's working on a Frank Sinatra biopic! Who should play old blue eyes?
Apparently when you purchase an IMAX ticket, you might not be getting what you think you're paying for. Check out the details here and tell me if you think it's a rip-off.
Trailer mania! Check out the first official trailer for Disney's The Princess and the Frog, feast your eyes (and ears) on Nine's trailer, and then shudder in fright at the trailer for The Road.
I shared my thoughts on the new Wilco album, and I also highly recommend listening to a brand new Regina Spektor song.

Photo courtesy of The CW

Grey's Anatomy Rundown: Episode 15, "Before and After," and Private Practice Rundown: Episode 16, "Ex-Life"

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:30:54 -0800

With a special crossover event comes a special crossover recap! On this week's two-hour Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice combo, Addison and Naomi (and eventually Sam) take Archer to Seattle Grace in the hopes that Derek can treat the parasites in Archer's brain. The old med school friends reminisce about the lives they used to have, before divorces and children and those other complicated things.

Meanwhile, Cristina learns about Owen's mystery woman, Alex starts to suspect something is really wrong with Izzie, and - back in Santa Monica - Violet faces one of her biggest fears about motherhood. Ready to talk about it? Just read more.

When Grey's was just starting out, it was about two very distinct groups of people: the interns, who mostly acted like children, and the attendings, who were occasionally sloppy messes but were ultimately still adults. Private Practice, I always thought, was meant to put the spotlight on people in the "adult" phase, and the jury's still out on whether that experiment will be successful, but for these two episodes, the focus on the older crowd worked for me. I actually felt somehow cheated that we'd never gotten to see Addison, Derek, Naomi, Sam, and Mark interact before. Hearing the song Derek wrote for Addison and performed at their wedding, watching Addison test Derek's medical skills and having Derek rise to the challenge, hearing Archer list off all the sins he'd perpetrated on Addie's friends over the years - I guess it felt like what might have happened if Shonda Rhimes had decided to move all of Addison's favorite people to Seattle for the spinoff rather than take Addison away.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Addison and Naomi arrive at the hospital (followed in short order by Sam, who says he has no idea what he's doing there; that makes all of us) with Archer in tow, and Addison essentially asks Derek for a miracle. He doesn't think he can pull it off - and, for what it's worth, Archer hates Derek and so doesn't think he can do it, either - but for Addison, he'll try. Addison says she made Derek very small in her mind after the divorce so she could move on, but now she needs him to be the great and powerful surgeon she always pumped him up to be. And he is; he gets all the worms out (despite one dicey moment) and Archer's back to being an ass in no time.

But Derek's brilliance doesn't last: Performing Jen's aneurysm surgery right after Archer's procedure, he nicks part of her brain, and things go terribly wrong. Addison ends up involved, trying to treat Jen's sick son, and this time, she's the one who needs to be the surgical goddess. It's an interesting flip of the tables to see Addison up against the wall with Derek relying on her to save a life. And again, all seems to have gone right - until the final few minutes, in which Jen starts babbling nonsensically.

The medical stories are fine, but honestly, once Archer seemed to be stable, I stopped focusing on the medicine and started paying better attention to the relationships between these old friends. I loved Sam reconnecting with Derek, Sam saying he got a midlife crisis earring and Derek assuring Sam that Meredith isn't a midlife crisis girlfriend. I chuckled at Addison talking to Mark, having Mark respond in a professional manner, and Callie immediately stepping in to explain that Mark's met someone and thus wouldn't be responding as his typical lothario self. And I loved them dancing and drinking at the bar, like it really was the afterparty of some school reunion.

But beyond their stories, a ton of other things happened, too; here's a quick scoop:

Owen's mystery woman turns out to be his ex-fiancee, whom he dumped in a two-line email and then hadn't told he was back from war. In fact, Owen hasn't told anyone he's back from war, even his mother, because he doesn't want them to see the hardened person he's become.
Izzie's game for the interns is cute and clever - and makes no logical sense, but I'll ignore that - but it's mostly useful because it gives Alex another indication that something might be really wrong with Izzie. In addition to that whole dead-boyfriend thing, she now doesn't seem to be seeing very well. Alex loves her, but he really wants to run.

George helps get Sadie kicked out of the program! Or she quits - whatever - because she's exposed during the game for knowing nothing. She tells Meredith she'd hoped Mere would pull her through, and Mere tells her to grow up.
Sam has an asthma attack, and his friends theorize it's because he's freaking out over Naomi being with another man. But it's actually just because Bailey gave him an inhaler he was allergic to. Um, whoops?
The moment with Addison and Callie in the chapel is sweet: Callie offers up a prayer that serves to tell Addison she's kissing women now, then switches gears and assures Addison that "you're an amazing doctor who saves babies. God knows who you are."
I'm relieved that Charlotte finally gets why Cooper's moved in with Violet, even if she still doesn't completely agree with it. When Violet starts worrying that she, too, could develop postpartum depression, Cooper sweetly lists off the things he'll do to keep her rested and sane.
Addison: "We called Meredith the 12-year-old. What do we call Lexie, the preschooler?" Mark: "She's a woman."

Overall, I think the smaller moments in these episodes worked best for me, the ones where we got to see the friendships that brought Addison and Derek together and led Sam and Naomi to marry and form their practice in the first place. I'm relieved that Meredith didn't freak out over the rose petal and that Archer didn't die, big things that could have potentially thrown the whole story off course. I'm a little worried about the promos for next week, with all the "Surgeon . . . or God?" stuff, but we'll cross that bridge in a bit. For now, tell me: How did the first real installment of this crossover work out for you?

Kate Walsh Goes Public About Private Practice

BuzzSugar — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:30:03 -0700

As Addison Montgomery, Kate Walsh has gotten to play one of the smartest, sassiest women on TV. Addison entered Grey's Anatomy at the end of the first season and quickly became a favorite - so much so that she scored her own spinoff, Private Practice, last year. Earlier this week, I got a chance to chat with Walsh about some of the changes to Private Practice this year and her all-time favorite Addison moments. Here are highlights:

What do you think has changed about the show between season one and season two?
I think that the show has really found its voice and center this season, and everything is flowing a lot more seamlessly between medical cases and the character relationships. In every case, there's an issue of ethics to debate. And then of course, the personal dynamics playing out as well. It's action-packed and there's more surgery so you get to see Addison back in that position of strength, while you still have this dichotomy of her personal vulnerability and fallibility. I liken it to a good bottle of wine that's opened up and breathed and it's ready to be tasted.

Are there any similarities between working on this show and Grey's, and are there differences?
As soon as I'm in the scrubs I feel kind of like old Addison. It's a familiar archetype for me and I really love playing that, so I'm happy that there's more surgery for me to do this season. And then it's totally different in the practice and the dynamics, and we're all sort of adults who sometimes behave like adults and sometimes behave like kids. But I think in Grey's I was definitely more the adult as the attending and the interns were a little more the kids, at least professionally. It's interesting - it's totally different in the sense that the hospital is much more the kind of archetypal structure where the doctors sort of ping-pong around like little pinballs but they're confined by the walls of the hospital, where this is much more about progressive medicine and ethics and social issues and the city plays a character in itself. You see people at home, and you see everybody sort of coping with where they are in their adult lives that didn't turn out the way they might have thought they would.

To hear how Addison has changed this season and learn Walsh's favorite Addison moment, just read more.

How has Addison changed between season one and season two?
I think that she's much more grounded this year and has sort of found her sea legs, as it were, and much more in an alpha position. so the outsider thing is just not really there - she's still new, personally, to a lot of these characters, but professionally she's really on her game and definitely in a power position.

Yeah, she does seem to have a lot more power this time.
Yeah, I think that's something that we realized we kind of missed and wanted to implement again. . . . She's really strong and really super-skilled and one of the best at what she does, and we wanted to make sure that we show that both in her status within the practice but also doing more surgery and handling more cases and not being afraid to debate and piss people off.

When is Addison going to find a good man?
She's looking. You're going to see her dating. I think you'll see Addison happy and appreciated by a man, so that's been super fun to play.

Addison initially went to Oceanside to have a baby. Do you think that will come back at all, either through adoption or something else?
I think it might. It's certainly not playing out now. . . . It's all about work right now, and dating. She's let that go for the time being, that's shelved, and she's exploring all this other stuff.

From the four years of playing her, do you have a favorite Addison moment?
There's this moment when I was sitting at one of the nurse's stations in one of the episodes of Grey's and I'm watching Karev walk by and am sort of like a hungry animal. There's like this one moment where he's walking by, like, pushing a cart and then Callie busts me salaciously looking at him. There are tiny, little moments like that.

Buzz In: Which TV Characters Could Carry Their Own Shows?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:30:21 -0800

I was just getting a kick out of this fun slideshow that invents new TV series for characters trapped in bad shows. It got me thinking: Which supporting characters on any shows, good or bad, would I follow if suddenly they were given a show of their own?

Now, let's keep in mind that this is a magical, make-believe world where spinoffs don't automatically suck. I agree with that list's author about Cristina from Grey's Anatomy; I'd follow her no-nonsense attitude anywhere. How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson could do little else but drink beer and make wisecracks for half an hour, and I'd tune in. And, OK, this one's kind of cheating, but if I could choose two characters, I'd give House and Wilson their own little side show to House - no medicine necessary, just wisecracks and innuendo.

What about you? Which great TV characters could you imagine having shows of their own?

TV Tonight: The "Private Practice" Preview

BuzzSugar — Wed, 02 May 2007 23:15:31 -0700

It's here! It's time! I feel I should declare a holiday - "Private Practice" Day - and spend the whole day watching "Grey's Anatomy" DVDs to prepare for tonight's event. In case you somehow hadn't heard, tonight's two-hour episode, "The Other Side of This Life," could also be the pilot for "Private Practice," the proposed Addison-centric "Grey's" spinoff. I've been lukewarm about the spinoff from the start - I want more Addison, but I want her on "Grey's" - but despite my best efforts to be skeptical and cautious, I'm incredibly excited about tonight.

Besides, Addison's trip to LA isn't the only big development in tonight's episode - there's also Cristina trying on wedding dresses and Meredith getting slapped by someone. To watch ABC's preview of the episode, read more

Rewind: This Week's Buzz

BuzzSugar — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:30:01 -0800

So much television news, so little time! I've been running around LA at the TCA Press Tour and have learned so much juicy info. Check out all the scoops I uncovered about beloved shows like Grey's Anatomy, The L Word, and Fringe, as well as brand-new shows like United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie.
And speaking of television scoops: Josh Schwartz shared details with me about the Gossip Girl spinoff.
I also learned that United State of Tara scribe Diablo Cody will be making a guest appearance on one of her favorite shows right now: 90210!
It was also a great week for new music. Check out this song from The Decemberists and take a listen to a new track from Neko Case's upcoming album.
Also kicking off this week? The 2009 Sundance Film Festival. I love this time of year. This week I started sorting through the hype to bring you info on movies that look like they have promise.
For example, take a look at this documentary from Chris Rock.
For all you Watchmen fans, looks like there is some light at the end of this crappy legal tunnel - and it looks like the movie will open on time, March 6!
Finally, in case you somehow missed it, this week marked the return of American Idol.

Photo courtesy of Showtime

Bad News for Big Shots - But Good for Private Practice?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:35:16 -0800

Big Shots, one of those new shows that I wished would be better than it was, has been pulled from the ABC schedule, effective immediately. It's a curious decision given the writers' strike - the show had three finished episodes that could have aired, and you'd think any original programming these days would be better than repeats.

Not so at ABC, apparently; instead of Big Shots, the network will air repeats of Private Practice in the post-Grey's Anatomy time slot for the next three weeks. (Grey's will be in repeats the whole time, too.)

There's speculation that the move could be a tryout for Private Practice in the post-Grey's time slot, but I really hope that doesn't happen. For one thing, Private Practice seems to be doing just fine on Wednesdays. For another, I think putting the spinoff after the original would just make Private Practice look weak. I already miss Addison at Seattle Grace; seeing the shows back-to-back would only make that worse.

I've already said I'd like to see Cashmere Mafia air after Grey's to take on NBC's Lipstick Jungle. But if that doesn't happen, what about Dirty Sexy Money? It's a good show that's being mostly forgotten in its current time slot, and it shares the soapy tone of Grey's but is different enough that viewers might stick around to watch it. I know I would - what about you?