Oh-No Shows

Spin-offs are a bad idea. They just don’t work. I understand why the big wigs think they’ll work; they’re taking a well received show and trying to double down. But they’re doubling down with a 12 and the dealer is showing an ace. Last night we watched “Private Practice,” the spin-off of “Grey’s” with the impressive cast. But putting together a show that has familiar and well liked actors raises expectations but has a horrible track record. I can only think of one current popular show that started off with well known actors, and that’s “Desperate Housewives.”

As for “Private Practice,” the writing was awful and the acting sub-par. I’ve admitted it, I like “Grey’s” and in addition, I’ve liked Taye Diggs since Go and Amy Brenneman since Heat. But this show felt totally forced. So they have this nice little private practice in LA, and these young good looking Doctors make tons of cake. We soon find out that they do this in spite of hardly seeing patients.

Our main character, Addison, the world class neonatal surgeon from Seattle just took this job without knowing minor details such as what kind of staff she’d have and what exactly she’ll be doing. Suddenly she has her one patient, a teenger who hid her pregnancy from pops, has gone in labor. Instead of taking her to a hospital, I guess dad took a minute to look in the yellow pages for private birthing centers. Never mind that they didn’t have a doctor in that department till this very day. Of course there are complications with the delivery, and this office isn’t set up for Addison to perform a C-section. They call an ambulance, which we’re told will take 10-20 minutes. In this meantime, she figures that the baby and mother wont survive that long unless she “MacGyver’s” it and performs surgery right there.

They sterilize the room, get everyone in scrubs, find surgical tools they didn’t have and prep for surgery in what must have been 8-16 minutes. Because they’ve started before the ambulance has arrived. Of course they perform the miracle. Oh, did I mention they didn’t put her under? No, they had a Doctor who practices alternative medicine work on the patient so she wouldn’t feel any pain. Whew, dodged a bullet there.

This private practice also employs a shrink. She gets a call that one of her patience has gone off the reservation and is in a store counting tile. So she rushes to the scene, along with the practice’s pediatrician to save the day. They figure out why she’s lost it, I guess she didn’t mention her dead son in any of her sessions. Best of all they some how find this out from some medical files, that I think they found in the managers office.

Best of all was the final scene, where the partners all meet to express their frustration with a colleague for not talking with them before hiring a new doctor. This ends with Addison telling them how bad of a day she’s had, how she saved their asses and she isn’t going anywhere. I think she’s trying to tell the audience she’s here to stay. Um, she’ll be lucky to last as long as “Joey.”

Following “Private Practice” was the premiere of “Dirty Sexy Money” which comes with a sort of all-star cast. Peter Krause, fantastic in “Sports Night” and I hear “Six Feet Under” heads a cast with Donald Sutherland, William (I think) Baldwin and some faces you’ll recognize even if you don’t know the names. Sutherland’s family is obviously inspired by the Hilton family, and Krause’s father was the family lawyer. He has suddenly passed away in a plane crash, which seems to have little impact on Krause. Not till the end when he finds out it might have been murder.

I guess the impressive, which is the wrong word for it, aspect of the show is how well it replicates our feelings for the Hiltons and Trumps of the world. We know we’re watching complete crap, but we’re still intrigued just enough to wonder what will happen next.

I am predicting this television season as the year of the jumping of the shark. “House” “My Name is Earl” “Grey’s” and “24” will all at the very least, take small jumps and maybe giant leaps.