Addison's Anatomy

On Thursday ABC showed the long awaited "pilot" for the Grey's spinoff centering on Addison. It was an interesting way to introduce us to the show: mashing up scenes of Addison in L.A. in with scenes from Grey's 1.0.

Grey's (the flagship):

Remember when the show first started out and Meredith and Christina were so dramatic and messed up and wishy-washy and Burke and Derek used to just look at each other and go, "Sheesh, these women..." Well, now, it's totally Burke and Derek who are freaking out for no reason and being all annoying. The craziness is not as endearing coming from the 40ish men. Get over it, boys.

My other problem was that after Meredith's stepmom died (and what even happened to her, by the way?), the Chief and Bailey have Meredith go tell her dad. Meredith? How is that her duty? The Chief should have told him--if he got slapped in the process he at least had it coming for having an affair with Thatcher's first wife. Poor Meredith--things are just not going her way these last couple weeks. First she almost dies, then her mom does die, then her stepmom dies, then her dad slaps her, and then Derek chats up the girl from Reunion in a bar.

The scene of Christina trying on the wedding dress was awesome. There should have totally been more of that.

Private Practice:
Ugh. Seriously... Grossest. Show name. Ever. Apparently, Shonda's goal for Grey's 2.0 was Grey's but slower, older, and soapier. Well, it was definitely slower. And its cast (except for Piz) are all about Addison's age, so it's older. (I actually think this was one of it's problems. One of the cool things about Grey's is the three different age groups and how they interact.) And I guess it was soapier too, which is saying a lot now that Grey's has almost-deaths, amnesia, and Gizzie.

I thought Addison's Anatomy was going to be good. I like Addison. I like Piz. I like L.A. I like Taye Diggs. I love Tim Daly. And I love Merrin Dungey. So I was excited. Then I see during the credit list that David Anders was in the episode. David freaking Anders! Then I was crazy I-can-barely-sit-still excited. So it's understandable that they didn't live up to my expectations. It would have been hard to meet them, actually. The show does have potential--I think it just needs some tweeks.

1. If you have David Anders in your episode, use him for frak's sake. Give him more than one line ("do you know who the father is?") and something more interesting to do that just stand around. And, come on, like Sark knocked up the weird girl from Joan of Arcadia. Sark is sooooooo out of her league. Sark is out of everyone's league.
2. Make Francie/Merrin/Naomi more funny. She can be hilarious (Kitty on Malcolm).
3. Let Taye be funny too. He was a little funny, but there's room to improve.
4. Give Tim Daly's character a distinct personality. Don't just make him a Dreamy/Steamy hybrid with a dead wife.
5. Either change Shrinking Voilet or lose her. She was painful to watch.
6. That other guy? Lose him.
   
7. Piz needs to be more than the hot receptionist. Especially since he's the nerdy nice guy on Veronica Mars. Make him goofy or something.
8. More interesting patients. It must be hard for Shonda, etc. to come up with interesting patient stories after making 3 seasons of them on Grey's. Maybe they should have a few patients who are recurring characters.
9. And question: if Francie/Naomi is the best fertility specialist ever, can she not do something for Addison other than just say, "You can't have a baby."

Oh and this isn't about TV, but Spider-Man 3: love!

Harry painting a picture + Harry making an omlet = Fantastic movie!!!

(I love Harry.)