After a very long break, Private Practice returns tonight for a whole new season of dysfunctional doctors trying to find their way through life. It's been a long while since Private Practice has been on the air. Along with its Wednesday night neighbors Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice ended its abbreviated freshman season way back in December of last year due to the WGA strike.

Over the summer, Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Private Practice and its progenitor Grey's Anatomy, and her cast of ridiculously good-looking actors talked to television critics about how she is planning to reboot the show for its second season.

Tonight's episode will act almost like a new series premiere, which will welcome fans who watched last season and also allow new viewers to get up to speed on quickly. “I really wanted especially the first episode to be an episode that if you've never seen the show, you would be able to step right into it,” Rhimes said.

This promo clip for season 2 of Private Practice really proves Rhimes' point: it reminds us of the premise of the show – how Addison moved to sunny Los Angeles to start over – plus hints at the new developments in store for this season.



Another thing that Rhimes has updated (thank God!) is her overly wordy episode titles (e.g. the pilot episode was called “In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else”) for short and sweet ones. Here is ABC's official synopsis of tonight's premiere, entitled “A Family Thing.”

“At Oceanside Wellness, friendships are tested and secrets revealed when Addison (Kate Walsh) discovers that Naomi (Audra McDonald) is concealing the practice's financial problems. Meanwhile, Violet (Amy Brennerman) wonders what secret Cooper (Paul Adelstein) is keeping from her, while Cooper himself has to decide whether or not to reveal a medical secret to a patient, on the season premiere of Private Practice.”

Rhimes also indicated that the medical plots would involve more ethical dilemmas that “cause debate and conflict and are very interesting.” I think this means that we should all brace ourselves for some highly suspect and unethical behavior from doctors who have already proven themselves to be extremely lax in the ethics department. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, however, because it does give the characters interesting material to work with.

Of course, no amount of medical ethics can replace relationship angst. Addison will have to deal with some romantic issues because David Sutcliffe will be reprising his role as the cop who is smitten with our red-headed heroine.

Don't miss tonight's season premiere of Private Practice at 9pm on ABC.



-Debbie Chang, BuddyTV Staff Writer
Source: ABC, StarNewsOnline
(Image courtesy of ABC)