'Private Practice' is trying to find itself

It was a spinoff of the hugely popular "Grey's Anatomy." And one of that show's best characters, Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh), moved to "Private Practice."

The result was never better than just OK. Despite a great cast that included a number of proven stars — including Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs — the show seemed to flail around trying to find itself in its writers' strike-shortened first season.

"For me, it was about delineating sort of what the medicine of 'Private Practice' is versus what the medicine of 'Grey's Anatomy' is," said creator/executive producer Shonda Rhimes. "'Grey's Anatomy' is all about the surgery, and 'Private Practice' — this season we're honing in on really making it a show that the stories tell more of the ethical dilemmas that our doctors have to face."

There will still be stories about surgery because, well, Addison is a surgeon.

"But there's also just very high stakes in terms of the sort of medicine of people's everyday lives that raises questions about sort of what-would-you-do-if-you-were-in-that-situation things that cause debate and conflict and are very interesting."

Well, that's the intent. And, certainly, Rhimes is trying to push the show in that direction. The second-season premiere (Sept. 25) includes a storyline about parents who conceived a baby as a donor to save the life of the child they already have.

Of course, that's been done several times before on several different shows.

And there's apparently an attempt to make the characters a bit more relatable than they were when they were all rich, successful and living in sunny Southern California. Let's just say they're not going to be quite a rich as they were in Season 1.

Cast members weren't happy when the strike cut their first season to just nine episodes, but they think the long layoff has given Rhimes a chance to "find" the show.

"Obviously, we didn't want the interruption," Walsh said. "But then, in the end, the scripts are so great and strong this year."

"I feel like it's starting over in a good way," said Daly (Dr. Pete Wilder). "When you do series television, there's always a period where you're trying to find the show. When we stopped, we were kind of trying to find the show. And I think we have taken a big leap in terms of where we started this year."

Brenneman (Dr. Violet Turner) agreed with Daly.

"His sister (and her "Judging Amy" co-star, Tyne Daly) used to say, 'With every series, you should throw out the first six episodes because you're nervous,"' she said.

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