Private Practice

ABC Wednesdays

Hey everybody... sorry for the lack of post yesterday. I played hockey last night, so I couldn't get around to any comments. Here we go...

I confess that Addison's character from Grey's Anatomy has grown on me. But all that goodwill is undone by this new spinoff show. I will say that last season's introduction of this new show's cast in GA was one of the first signs that GA was going down in quality. I actually remember being super angry after that episode, because I was forced to watch these characters that I did not give a crap about.

So ABC, in their infinite wisdom of milking the golden cow, decided hey lets give Shonda Rimes a chance to do a spin off!

I could barely watch the first episode and I actually fast forwarded through much of it. It was that bad.

My first beef? I HATE (notice the ALL CAPS) when characters dance and sing on a show. Spontaneous family sing alongs drive me up the wall. Who the heck breaks out into singing and dancing? Or was I just raised in a family devoid of artistic culture? Lo and behold, Addison moves to LA and then she starts dancing naked in front of an OPEN WINDOW! She is a world class doctor and she is not aware of an open window? Just stupid. Of course, her co-worker is living beside her and spies her. Just a cringe inducing moment.

My second beef? What is this show trying to achieve? I didn't laugh. I didn't cry. I don't know what niche this show hopes to fill.

Another thing? All this TV talent has been assembled to act out lame lines.
Mina (my fiance) and I like to play a game (not that kind of game you dirty minded people) where we pretend we are on Grey's Anatomy. Try it out sometime. All you have to do is repeat a line, then rephrase that same line using different intonation, and repeat the line again to emphasize your point. It works in every situation.

IE. "You know this is a really good chicken sandwich!"
"Chicken sandwich?"
"Yes, chicken sandwich."
"It's good?"
"It's good."
"The chicken sandwich is good. I like the chicken sandwich. Chicken is good."

It really makes ordinary days seem extraordinary. Really. Really? Really.

This bad writing habit infects Private Practice. The situations are hokey. The characters are a little too wacky. And really I don't care about any of them, which probably stems from all the ill will I felt towards them in that bad 2 hr GA episode last year.

Finally, I was a bit weirded out by the actress switch, from Merrin Dungey of Alias fame, to this new lady, Audra Ann McDonald,who reminds of the cousin of Serina Williams.

I don't think I will be coming back to Private Practice.

Pop Junk Summary: You know those Halloween candies with the orange and black wrappers? The ones that you open up and they look like caramel, but they end up tasting like... the only apt description I can think is that they taste like how I envision the colour "gray" would taste like. Well, Private Practice reminds me of those candies. I disliked them, but I always tricked myself into eating one again the following year, because they still looked good. Which means I am probably doomed to watch this show again.