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Grey’s Anatomy spins off to a quieter, more gentle show, following Kate Walsh’s character, Addison Montgomery, as she relocates to Los Angeles for a more fulfilling life.

The Oceanside Group is a small, privately owned practice. Naomi Bennett (Audra McDonald), fertility specialist and endocrinologist, is the largest shareholder. Her recent ex-husband, Sam Bennett (Taye Diggs), is an internal diagnostician. Violet Turner (Amy Brennan) is a psychiatrist (the shrink Violet who happens to be a shrinking violet), and Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) is a pediatrician, and Peter Wilder (Tim Daly) is an alternative medicine specialist. Joined by Addison and the receptionist\midwife Dell (Chris Lowell), they make up the cast of the mostly disappointing Private Practice.

The first season follows Addison’s arrival in LA, and her integration into the group. On the female side of the show, there is no real character worth looking up to, no role model, as it were. The women are all lonely, out of love, and unable to help themselves. Naomi pines for her ex and eats cake after cake as therapy. Violet virtually stalks her ex-husband. Addison can’t find a man worth dating (and on one of her few tries, she ends up dating a man who steals one of her shoes and putting it in his ‘back door’). The men are just as bad. Peter had a dysfunction and hate-filled marriage with his deceased wife, and now can’t bring himself to get into a real relationship. Coop is desperately in love with Violet, who can’t see him as more than a friend, and Sam can’t seem to figure out if he wants to be divorced or not. Their personal lives are a complete mess, each and every one of them.

Professionally, the group do encounter, in each episode, a somewhat interesting medical mystery or problem. They attempt to put the shock bar up high, from a woman holding up a convenience store while giving birth to a switched at birth mystery. The medical aspect of the show isn’t as bad as the personal aspect of the show. It’s depressing – Grey’s, though it suffers its ups and downs (most notably the dirty tricks the season premiere pulled), it is still a fantastic show. Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey’s is also the creator of Private Practice. Her talent is unmissable; she’s won an emmy for Grey’s, and was listed by Time as one of the 100 people who shaped the world. So what went wrong with Private Practice? It’s hard to say. The show just doesn’t have the same spark, the same oomph, as Grey’s. Though Meredith’s personality is similar to that of the ladies of Private Practice in its sheer pathetic-ness (and I say this as a fan), there are other ladies on the show who more than make up for her weakness. There is no counterbalance in Private Practice.

The first season is only nine episodes long, but there are a good group of bonus features. “Kate Walsh: Practice Makes Perfect” is a featurette about the career of star Kate Walsh. “Alternative Ensemble” takes us behind the scenes of the show, focusing on the cast. There are two extended episodes and deleted scenes, three commentaries and some outtakes, so if you are a fan of the show, there’s more for you. 

I really wanted to like Private Practice, as I spent all day Thursday waiting for Grey’s to kick off, but it just isn’t worth it.

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