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Private Practice
SERIES: ABC, Wednesday 9:00p (60 minutes)


6.9

based on 25 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?

based on 57 votes
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Starring Kate Walsh, Tim Daly, Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman, Audra McDonald, Paul Adelstein, KaDee Strickland, and Chris Lowell

Addison trades Seattle and her love triangle for California, Taye Diggs, and Tim Daly.

GENRE(S):	Drama
CREATED BY:	Shonda Rhimes
FIRST AIR DATE:	September 26, 2007

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

New York Daily News David Hinckley

Private Practice at first glance looks like it's about to die. But by the end of its premiere tonight it has miraculously come back to life, apparently without even the aid of a tall, handsome, mysterious script doctor.

Salon Heather Havrilesky

Ultimately, asking if Private Practice is good is like asking if a Twinkie is good. The answer is "No" and "Of course!" and, also, "Give me another one."

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

New beginnings can be difficult; there are problems here, though they are not irremediable. By and large the show improves on its pilot.

USA Today Robert Bianco

Still, for all the show's flaws, here's the good news: Practice is far better than the dismal Grey's episode that introduced it.

Variety Brian Lowry

ABC's eagerly awaited spinoff of "Grey's Anatomy" initially qualifies as a disappointment -- hitting completely familiar medical-drama beats while pursuing a whimsical tone it never fully achieves.

Kansas City Star Aaron Barnhart

I was disappointed by the opening episode, which left me with the distinct impression that Taye Diggs (playing a newly divorced doctor in the practice) and Tim Daly (Walsh’s first love interest on the show, but I’m sure not the last) were simply working off their ABC contracts that began on other, now-canceled shows. The portrayals of alternative medicine were unfortunate and too much forced zaniness.

Hollywood Reporter Ray Richmond

The talented cast isn't quite as successful in getting past the shortcomings of a teleplay (from Rhimes, naturally) that's typically light on believability and heavy on the outrageous.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

Kate Walsh seemed like a guest star in what should be her show.

Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy

Even with Walsh's star sizzle and an attractive, talented supporting cast that includes Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Taye Diggs and Audra McDonald, Rhimes still hasn't found her spinoff's storytelling groove

Philadelphia Daily News Ellen Gray

The good news is that the show's first non-"Grey's" episode is a decided improvement and recaptures the sense of humor that the mothership seemed to lose last season. The bad news is that as a medical show, it's so predictable that anyone who's watched any David E. Kelley show in the past 15 years or so, from "Chicago Hope" to "Boston Legal," will see certain plot points coming a mile (or two) away.

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

Tonight's opening episode is somewhat better than the pilot, although it's clear there is still work to be done in defining the characters and setting an overall tone.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

The premiere showcases seven different women, doctors and their patients, in various states of anger, insecurity and neediness. It’s like a Hogarth engraving of the seven stages of womanly despair, “A Surgeon’s Progress.”

Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker

The pleasure to be extracted from Private Practice--well, not so much pleasure as cringey curiosity--resides entirely in trying to figure out what's really going on inside the actors' heads as they skip through this latest Adults Are the New Spoiled Brats fantasy from "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes.

Newark Star-Ledger Alan Sepinwall

Addison isn't very strong or decisive in her professional capacity either, spending most of the pilot waffling on whether she should have left Seattle Grace.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

Fans of Grey's Anatomy femme fatale Addison Montgomery may find her a little dull now that she doesn't have a husband or boyfriend or intern to cheat on or with in ABC's spin-off Private Practice.

Baltimore Sun David Zurawik

While the series created by Shonda Rhimes brings some outstanding performers like Amy Brenneman and Audra McDonald back to weekly TV, tonight's season opener is not very appealing.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

The problem is that Private Practice attempts to drum up comedy from things that aren’t funny and to wring drama from situations that are melodramatic, predictable or reek of barely repressed anger.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

Private Practice manages to turn the viewer off in an entirely different way from the moment it starts.

Newsday Verne Gay

Private Practice is hugely disappointing, and in so many ways that a mere review can't even begin to do all the problems injustice.

TV Guide Matt Roush

This lightweight medical drama still needs serious script surgery.

Washington Post Tom Shales

Spun clumsily and greedily off "Grey's Anatomy," the new series seems shallow and smirky.

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

You can see the script and directional tone holding back the actors.

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

Private Practice is bad. Not "worse than "Grey's Anatomy bad" in the sense that Rhimes really is good at pulling people's heart strings with melancholy and humor.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

It's amazing there's no orthopedist, since the show's so lame.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

Private Practice is just plain McLousy, from its stock cast of whiny healers down to the hokey, gimmicky medical cases of the week.

The average user rating for this tv show is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 57 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nikki gave it a9:
I love this show! I cant wait for it to come back in the fall!

Kimberly Y. gave it a10:
I don't know what these awful comments were all about. This a awesome movie and it along with Dirty sexy money kept this single lady entertained. Please keep this show going! Those who like it probably not online writing it. I know about 8-10 people in my office that couldn't wait each week. It was office talk. You need to cancel dumb stuff like underbelly suggees and all the sill sitcom like According to Jim. Leave something for the serious folk! Private Practice is good and needs to be continued!

Susan L. gave it a2:
Ugh! All these doctors emote and worry about their feelings. I haven't seen so many men cry since the Toronto Maple Leafs did not make the playoffs -- again. Is all of California like this?

Casey J. gave it a0:
TV at it's worst. Boring characters, mostly average actors and a stupid plot, in a world where everybody and everything is retarded. No offense. Skip this one.

Tony T. gave it a10:
I love this show! please bring it back. and who cares everyone on it has one insecurity or another...doesn't everyone in life?

Wilma R. gave it a10:
I really enjoyed this show! I am sad that all of the other ABC shows have returned back to air and this one has not. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU VIEWERS? To be honest, I assumed it had something to do with the writers strike, but as I read on, I see that I was wrong.

Daisey S. gave it a10:
It's a good show and a lot better than Grey's season 4 so far. I am excited to see what is next.

Private Practice SERIES: ABC, Wednesday 9:00p (60 minutes)

Private Practice
SERIES: ABC, Wednesday 9:00p (60 minutes)