Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1445 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-16
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 391 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh, Grey's Anatomy) leaves behind McDreamy, McSteamy, and McSeattle to join California's Oceanside Wellness Center, a private practice that was founded by two best friends from med school. But if she's expecting a drama-free existence, she's in the wrong place. Naomi (Audra McDonald) and Sam (Taye Diggs) Bennett are the perfect couple who aren't together anymore. Pediatrician Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) is a horny Peter Pan looking for love on the Internet. Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman) is a psychiatrist who can dish out the advice, but can't get over her own breakup to a man who has clearly moved on. And then there's Pete Wilder (Tim Daly), an alternative-medicine practitioner so good-looking and charming that Addison can't stop crushing on him, even though she dismisses his brand of practice as New Age-y. Created by Grey's Anatomy's Shonda Rhimes to capitalize on Walsh's popularity, Private Practice has some screwy moments that don't fall in line with Addison's cosmopolitan character. Are we really to believe that Addison is so messed up that she really believes the elevator is talking to her? That conceit would've worked on Ally McBeal's titular heroine, but on Addison Montgomery? We don't think so. The show, which was affected by the writer's strike of 2007, lacks cohesiveness in the truncated 10 episodes on this DVD box set. But still, the series shows promise. Though some of the plot devises are melodramatic at best (Sam has to deliver the baby of a woman who had been robbing the store just moments before), viewers end up rooting for the quirky characters to get their personal lives in order. Though we're supposed to be longing for Addison and Pete to couple up, and for the Bennetts to realize that their divorce was a mistake, it's really Cooper and Violet who have all the makings to be the show's most intriguing couple. The debut season showed some interesting plot devices: two couples whose babies were mistakenly exchanged at birth; a senior citizen with unexplainable bruising on his body; and one of the female characters dealing with her own infertility issues. But the thrust of the show is how the doctors work and play together. Talking to one of her patients, Addison says, "Everyone screws up once in awhile." That can also be the motto for the Oceanside Wellness Center. --Jae-Ha Kim

Synopsis
A spin-off of the popular medical dramedy GREY'S ANATOMY, PRIVATE PRACTICE follows former Seattle surgeon Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as she relocates to Los Angeles to join the Oceanside Wellness Center, a small coterie of fertility and hormone specialists. Still recovering from her failed romances in her previous life, Dr. Montgomery is seeking new possibilities, both professional and personal. At the new clinic, she finds support from her recently divorced medical school classmates Naomi (Audra McDonald) and Sam Bennett (Taye Diggs), and quickly begins a flirtation with the cocky but damaged Dr. Pete Wilder (Tim Daly). Rounding out the staff are the klutzy-in-love friends Drs. Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) and Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman), each with a host of romantic foibles that get in the way of their own happiness. Set against the backdrop of dramatic medical situations, PRIVATE PRACTICE is a warm and funny look at one woman's journey to redefine her future.

Customer Reviews

In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else
Private Practice is a spin off of Grey's Anatomy created by Shonda Rhimes. The show follows the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery as she leaves Seattle Grace Hospital in order to join a private practice (Oceanside Wellness) in Los Angeles. The team at Oceanside Wellness consists of divorced couple Sam (internal medicine) and fertility specialist Naomi Pete (an alternative medicine specialist) who catches Addisons eye, Violet (a neurotic psychiatrist), Cooper (the playboy pediatrician) and Dell, (the office manager/ traniee midwife) who's love with Namoi.

Like any other spin off private practice will always face comparison to its parent show and in such comparisons private practice will always come out the lesser show. However viewed on its own, private practice is an enjoyable show; with some advantages over Grey's including the lack of a titular character and a litghter and warmer atmosphere. Fans of Kate Walsh and her Grey's Character Addison Montgomery will no doubt fall in love with the show, as the charater takes finally get more of a chance to shine. Each of the first seasons 9 episodes (shorten due to the writes strike) allows each of the characters to take center stage, establishing them and the nature of the show.

All things considered, Private Practice is off to a fairly solid start

Addison starts a new life in LA.......,
Private Practice - a spin-off from the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy - debuted in September 2007, with one of Greys most popular characters, Addison Forbes Montgomery (the beautiful Kate Walsh), starting a new life at a private practice medical clinic in LA.

Many have tried to compare the show to Greys, which should be avoided as it has an entirely different tone - lighter, funnier & less OTT-angsty than Greys. You won't see any ferry disasters or ghosts on this show ! It also benefits from being set where it is actually filmed & features location filming out-and-about in LA.

Kate Walsh shines as Addison & easily carries the show. She is surrounded by a small core cast of experienced & talented actors - Tim Daly, Audra McDonald, Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman, Paul Adelstein, Chris Lowell & KaDee Strickland.

After a rocky first episode, the writing improved as the series progressed & the show started to find its own identity & distance from Greys.

It was affected by the 2007/08 US writer's strike & therefore only 9 episodes of the 22 ordered were completed for Season 1. A full Season 2 has just finished airing in the US (& it starts on Living in the UK on 25 June 2009). Season 3 has been picked up for 2009/10 - the only new ABC show from the writer's strike season to still be on the air (RIP Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone etc).

Worth watching as an introduction to the show & characters, but the storylines really start evolving in Season 2.

The extras for this DVD release are -

1. Kate Walsh - Practice makes Perfect - a 30 minute biography of Kate Walsh with friends, family & colleagues contributing. A must-have for any fan !
2. Alternative Ensemble : Behind the Scenes of Private Practice
3. Two Extended Episodes
4. Deleted Scenes
5. Bloopers
6. Audio Commentaries on 1.01 (Shonda Rhimes/Betsy Beers/Kate Walsh), 1.07 (Amy Brenneman/Paul Adelstein) and 1.09 (Taye Diggs/Chris Lowell).

Disappointing
Along with others I bought this as I absolutely love Greys Anatomy and this is described as a spin off of that - in reality it's really disappointing - the actors are poor and the storylines are non-existent