Audra McDonald-related stories
Posted Oct 9th 2008 10:23AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Private Practice, Reality-Free
Mainly because I watch
Pushing Daisies at 8, but also because I can't find much else to watch at 9, I've tuned into the first two episodes of
Private Practice's second season. During last year's aborted first season, I tuned in and out, curious to see how the
Grey's Anatomy spin-off was progressing. What I found was a) a show that was too busy making its thirty- and forty-something doctors act as immaturely as the twenty-something residents at Seattle Grace and b) that Kate Walsh's character of Addison Montgomery went from strong and funny to whimpering and lovelorn.
The second development was especially disheartening, since Addison had become my favorite
Grey's character by far, mainly because through sheer force of her acting ability, Walsh was able to turn Addison from a one-dimensional enemy of the Meredith-Derek relationship to the surgeon we rooted for the hardest.
But in the first two episodes, most of what I liked about Addison has returned. And what isn't there is on the way to coming back.
Continue reading It's good to see the old Addison Montgomery back
Posted Oct 1st 2008 6:41PM by Patricia Chui
Filed under: Interviews, Private Practice, Reality-Free
My first true TV crush was probably Jordan Catalano on
My So-Called Life. Dreamy, troubled, with eyes like pools of water -- and he sure
leaned great, didn't he? And then there was Casey McCall on
Sports Night, Josh Lyman on the
The West Wing ... OK, so maybe I have an overactive fantasy life.
Celebrities are no different from you and me. On AOL TV's new video interview series
Outside the Box -- in which TV actors interview each other --
'Private Practice' stars
Kate Walsh,
Taye Diggs,
Tim Daly and
Audra McDonald sit down and rap about stuff like Addison and Pete's "carnal destiny" and Taye's "tiny little dog" (not a euphemism ... I don't think).
Continue reading Kate Walsh has a thing for boys with big eyebrows - VIDEO
Posted Jul 10th 2008 6:01PM by Kelly Woo
Filed under: Interviews, Celebrities, Private Practice, Reality-Free
Outside the Box is an upcoming video interview series from AOL TV, where stars of your favorite shows sit down and answer questions from fans. This is your chance to (sort of) talk to celebrities!
We've already asked you to submit questions for the
cast of Scrubs and the
stars of Dirty Sexy Money, and next on deck are Kate Walsh, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs and Audra McDonald from
Private Practice.
Practice has one of the sexiest casts on TV. Daly and Diggs and Paul Adelstein and Chris Lowell AND David Sutcliffe? Come on. That's not even fair. The show's first season was interrupted by the strike, but I'm hoping that the time off gave creator Shonda Rhimes space to refine the storylines, just like she did with
Grey's Anatomy. When we left off, Addison had gotten her mojo back and asked police officer Kevin on a date. I'm hoping to see more of that (and "I don't get stood up. I'm Addison.") when season 2 starts.
If you've got a burning question for the four
Practice stars, submit it in the comments below by Tuesday, July 15. Don't forget to include your first name and city/state. And try to come up with something other than "ur hot, will you marry me," OK?
Posted Dec 5th 2007 10:19PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(S01E09) "He's fighting for her." - Dell about SamWhat could be the last
Private Practice episode in a long while (this was the last episode completed before the writers' strike) finally gave Dell a good amount of screen time. However, it felt like it was too little too late.
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which Dell Finds His Fight
Posted Nov 22nd 2007 12:38AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(S01E08) "If they talk about us, we should talk about them." - Sam to Pete and CooperI'm not sure I like the port Cooper found in his storm and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone thinking this (let your voice be heard in our poll). It's clear they are trying to make Charlotte more meaningful but for me, it's too little too late. The character was almost as poorly introduced and as useful as Nikki and Paulo were on
Lost. Let's hope that the
Private Practice writers know where they are going with this because it could ruin the show's best character: Cooper.
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which Cooper Finds a Port In His Storm
Posted Oct 31st 2007 10:21PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(S01E06) "Don't wake the tiger." - Pete about CharlotteAnd down the rabbit hole Charlotte went. (For those who didn't get the title twist, it refers to
Alice in Wonderland in which Alice goes down a rabbit hole and ends up in a fantasy/dream world.) Per our
poll in last week's review, out of the 306 people who voted by the time I typed this line only 1 said they liked Charlotte the best. I'm not sure that this somewhat Charlotte-centric
Private Practice episode will have viewers relate more with the character.
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which Charlotte Goes Down The Rabbit Hole
Posted Oct 24th 2007 11:20PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(S01E05) "You guys are so not friends. You are like a corporation." - Violet to Sam In case you didn't know,
Private Practice was
picked up for a full 22-episode season. That means more Pete and Addison flirting, Cooper and Violet circling around one another, and, sadly, more of angry Naomi! Even if
reviews of the first episodes were not stellar, the show has been improving. Most importantly,
Private Practice has been strong in ratings, which led to its pick up.
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which Addison Finds A Showerhead
Posted Oct 18th 2007 8:42PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Private Practice
Kristin from E! Online reports that ABC has picked up
Grey's Anatomy spin-off
Private Practice for a full season. Even if fan comments (
including my own) about the first episodes were not all positive towards the writing and acting of the show, enough of viewers watched the series (that's 12 million viewers just last Wednesday) to grant the show a pick up.
Yep, that means we are stuck with angry Naomi for a complete season! It also means that Addison will not go back to Seattle Grace, something a good number of
Grey's Anatomy fans wanted to see happen.
Continue reading Private Practice gets a full season order
Posted Oct 10th 2007 11:44PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(
S01E03) "I don't fit here." - Addison
In my last
Private Practice review, I mentioned that I didn't like Naomi much, mostly because she is always angry and rarely smiles. A little over 40% of the TV Squad readers who participated in our
Naomi poll agreed that the character needed to lighten up while about 31% doesn't care for her at all. That's over 70% not liking her! I hoped that in time, I would start to at least tolerate her. But this week's episode didn't help me achieve that goal. She is just not an enjoyable character and I really don't relate to her. I'm starting to wonder if changing the actress to play Naomi was a mistake. This whole Naomi situation worries... especially when I add it to the other flaws the show has.
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which Addison Finds The Magic
Posted Oct 3rd 2007 11:17PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(
S01E02) Even if
Private Practice had fair ratings for its premiere,
the reviews for the first official installment of the
Grey's Anatomy spin-off were not stellar. Actually, at the time I write these lines, out of the 733 readers who voted in our "Will
Private Practice be part of your weekly watch list?"
poll only 146 (19.9%) said they would definitely watch the series while 398 (54.2%) said they would give it a few more weeks but weren't sure about the show yet. The remainder, that's 25.7%, said they would not watch more episodes. I fall in the second category.
So did this week's episode of
Practice delivered the goods to have some of the undecided stick with the show?
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor
Posted Sep 26th 2007 11:47PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Private Practice
(S01E01) You think I moved here because you kissed me? - AddisonTechnically,
Private Practice aired its first episode within the
Grey's Anatomy 2-hour long "
The Other Side of This Life," which aired last May. After the episode aired, most of the fans were quite vocal about
their hate (or disappointment) towards the Addison spin-off. ABC, probably knowing that part of the pilot's failure was due to the fact it aired within a
Grey's episode and that the spin-off could do better on its own, decided to pick up the series and ordered 13 episodes.
Now that the first official episode of the series aired, we can properly review, analyze, and critique
Private Practice and decide if we hate it or not.
Continue reading Private Practice: In Which We Meet Addison... (series premiere)
Posted Jul 2nd 2007 1:41PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Celebrities
Scott Patterson, who played Luke Danes on Gilmore Girls, will star in the CW's Aliens in America, a new comedy that airs Mondays this fall.
Aliens in America focuses on the friendship between two sixteen year olds: an American high school, Justin Tolchuk (Dan Byrd) and his friend, a Muslim exchange student named Raja Musharaff (Adhir Kalyan). Patterson will play Gary, Justin's father. He's taking over the role from Patrick Breen, who portrayed the father in the pilot episode.
Continue reading Patterson joins Aliens in America
Posted Jul 2nd 2007 8:01AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, Grey's Anatomy, Celebrities
Here's one of the big problems with airing your "pilot" episode as part of the run of the series from which it spins off: if you decide to make any cast changes, those changes will be pretty obvious.
Case in point: The millions of people who watched the
Private Practice spin-off episode of
Grey's Anatomy saw Merrin Dungey playing Dr. Naomi Bennett, the friend and fertility expert that Addison Montgomery visited in L.A. because she was looking to have a baby. However, come fall, Dr. Bennett will be played by noted Broadway actress Audra McDonald (pictured),
according to the Show Tracker blog on the LA Times' web site. There was no word on why the role was recast.
Continue reading Dungey out, McDonald in on Private Practice
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