Kate Walsh News (Page 4)

Spin-offs don't always work, and the May 3 debut wasn't perfect. But in this case, ABC liked what it saw enough to take a shot.

The network is hoping that Kate Walsh will serve as its secret weapon next fall, and officially chose to pick up the Walsh-led Grey's Anatomy spin-off, currently entitled Private Practice, for next season.

In addition to Walsh's character, Addison Montgomery, the new show stars Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, Paul Adelstein, Chris Lowell, Merrin Dungey and Amy Brenneman.

While this certainly simplifies the race for a chief at Seattle Grace (not to mention a number of love lives), many Grey's fans would rather see Addison continue her ongoing Anatomy lesson with Dr. Alex Karev.

Then again, according to our exclusive poll, at least 50 percent of respondents either liked or loved what they saw of the spin-off as it debuted as part of "The Other Side of This Life."

Congratulations to Kate. We'll miss you on Grey's Anatomy, but we'll be watching your new venture and wishing you the best!

Looks like Dr. Addison Montgomery won't have to deal with non-commital men (or Meredith Grey's whining) much longer.

Kate Walsh's controversial Grey's Anatomy spinoff's future was all but confirmed yesterday, thanks to an unexpected investigator.

In-your-face interrogation tactics by Ellen Degeneres, who hosted Walsh on her talk show, helped shed light on the outlook for Private Practice.

Not content with waiting for next week's announcement of ABC's fall lineup, Ellen made a surprise phone call to ABC President Steve McPherson during a taping of her show yesterday, and out asked flat-out if Kate Walsh's much-discussed project will be officially green-lit for a full season.

A visibly embarassed Walsh watched in subdued horror.

The ABC honcho strung her along for a bit, quipping that Walsh "hasn't worked out very well on the air for us," then he let it slip that he "thinks she's in pretty good shape."

We don't think he was talking about her physical fitness, either. This is good news for Kate, whose spinoff was previewed last week in "The Other Side of This Life," even if the experience was a tad awkward.

Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh has been coy about the new man in her life, recently telling People he's "a great guy, but I'm not giving you a name."

But now the mystery has been solved.

Walsh, 39, is dating Alex Young, a production co-president at 20th Century Fox, with a string of big-time credits to his name, including X-Men: The Last Stand and Fantastic Four.

"He's a hotshot," says a friend. "But Alex also has substance. He's a good guy."

Walsh, who stepped out with Young at an April 28 fund-raiser for Barack Obama in Los Angeles, has become pretty hot herself.

On Thursday, she starred in a two-hour special episode of Grey's Anatomy, "The Other Side of This Life," which featured her character, Dr. Addison Montgomery, contemplating a move to another hospital.

The storyline is the basis for a possible spinoff starring Walsh, Taye Diggs and Tim Daly.

And Walsh, who was most recently romantically linked to Brothers & Sisters star Dave Annable, recently told Best Life magazine she's a late-bloomer in love, but is finally ready for a serious relationship.

"I don't need someone with a hot body," she said.

"He can be fat or overweight and have a belly. It's very much about style and substance and humor, interest, curiosity and really being smart."

Spinoffs are a tricky business.

For every success like "Frasier," which was birthed by "Cheers," there's a "Tortellis" flop of the same lineage. The "All in the Family" DNA gave us the "Jeffersons" hit â€" and the "Gloria" disaster.

In recent years, the Los Angeles Times notes, spinning off has been largely replaced by cloning â€" as with the three "CSI" shows, which replicate the same format but with different casts in other cities.

But Thursday, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC's celebrated and culturally resonant medical soap opera, is going old school: The pilot of its presumptive spinoff, starring Kate Walsh as the popular character Addison Montgomery, is embedded within a two-hour episode of the show.

The opportunity represents a big leap forward for Kate Walsh, 39, who, pre-Addison, fell into the "I gotta look her up on IMDB" category.

"I've been very fortunate to be a working actress who hovered along," she said. "And then it was like, boom, 'Grey's Anatomy.'"

Half of Thursday's episode, "The Other Side of This Life," will be a normal episode, filled with love triangles, wedding dilemmas and medical crises; the other half will establish Addison's new world by jettisoning her from the show's Seattle hospital backdrop into a Los Angeles full of old friends and fraught relationships.

Shonda Rhimes, the obsessively secretive creator of "Grey's Anatomy," has let few plot details leak, but the new show's cast members â€" Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman, Merrin Dungey, Tim Daly and others â€" will all make their first appearances Thursday.

Rumored to be titled "Private Practice," the show must vie for a place on ABC's fall schedule, which the network announces to advertisers and the press in mid-May.

But considering that "Grey's Anatomy" is ABC's top-rated scripted show, and more than that, has helped define its upscale, girl-power brand, it stands a good chance of becoming a series.

Stephen McPherson, ABC's entertainment president, said that when Rhimes and fellow executive producer Betsy Beers approached him with the spinoff idea in the fall, "I immediately kissed them," he remembered with a laugh.

"I flipped for it."

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Just a couple of pictures of the lovely and talented Kate Walsh at the Escada 2007 fall-winter show to benefit Step Up Women's Network. We love Kate... even though you have made your thoughts on the Private Practice spin-off star's new bangs quite clear.

We always think she's bangin' (sorry). But how do you feel about Kate Walsh's new look? The Grey's Anatomy actress (and prospective Private Practice star) usually wears her fiery red hair in long layers (left).

But Walsh turned up at Saturday night's GLAAD Awards with a new look, rocking heavy blunt bangs (right)...

Which Kate Walsh hairstyle to you prefer?

More spin-off details are filtering out of Grey's Anatomy headquarters.

Despite producers' efforts to keep a lid on the potential Grey's Anatomy spin-off, tentatively titled Private Practice, some more supposed plot spoilers have been exposed by the Los Angeles Times:

After reaching her personal and professional breaking point, Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) heads down to Santa Monica, Calif.

The plan: to seek advice from two of her old medical school friends, Naomi (Merrin Dungey) and Jackson (Taye Diggs).

This is a couple whom she believes have it all: a beautiful teen daughter, a great marriage and a highly successful health cooperative.

Addison quickly learns, though, that Jackson, also a successful TV health guru, has divorced Naomi. During her visit to California, Addison meets the rest of the gang at the cooperative - a widowed alternative medicine practitioner, a self-doubting therapist, and a male gynecologist who knows little about women - and realizes she's on familiar ground.

Figuring she's due for a change and she'd fid right in with this driven, yet quirky crew, Addison decides to bolt Seattle Grace and join the Oceanside Wellness Group - if ABC picks up the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, of course.

The heavily anticipated Kate Walsh-led Grey's Anatomy spin off finally has a name. A tentative one, at least: Private Practice.

According to Buddy TV, ABC unveiled the moniker for the new show at a star studded media buyers event during network development week.

ABC executives lauded the spin off's spectacular cast that in addition to Walsh, includes Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Chris Lowell, and numerous others.

The Grey's Anatomy spin-off is being touted for its stand alone premise that will take Kate Walsh's character out of the realm of nightmare medical emergencies and incorporated hospital trysts into a setting they think less hard core medical drama fans will appreciate.

In that sense, the proposed name for Grey's Anatomy 2.0 is quite apt.

ABC execs are quick to caution that the name of Private Practice may change, however. The two-hour episode set to sample the themes of the series will debut May 10, but don't think of it as a pilot. Grey's Anatomy is riding a high enough wave at this point that the second series is virtually a lock, whether the initial sample piques interests or not.

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The always-entertaining People magazine "couples watch" contains three mentions of Grey's Anatomy stars - two of whom are in happy, long-term relationships, and another who may be dating another ABC actor. Also, a fourth Grey's star dishes on her desire to start a family...

Ellen Pompeo and her fiancé, Chris Ivery, were spotted partying along with Ellen's pal and Grey's co-star, Sandra Oh, at L.A. hotspot Hyde.

The lovely Kate Walsh and Brothers & Sisters star Dave Annable (pictured), 27, were reportedly taking in the ocean view together at L.A. restaurant Duke's Malibu.

After ordering margaritas, the star we've come to love as Addison Montgomery and her companion headed to the window to watch the sunset.

Also this weekend, Patrick Dempsey and his wife, Jillian Fink Dempsey, were seen holding hands and looking into each other's eyes at the Japanese eatery Katsuya in Brentwood, Calif. The parents of newborn twin sons and five-year old daughter Talula still have the spark. "They looked so sweet together," a restaurant patron tells People.

Meanwhile, Katherine Heigl, who recently announced her engagement to singer Josh Kelley, says they're even more excited about starting a family than they are about their upcoming nuptials.

"Sometimes I get so carried away planning my future, I forget that I have a wedding plan. I end up daydreaming about Josh and me spoiling a little girl or boy," Heigl told Life & Style Weekly.

To prepare, the star of the forthcoming comedy Knocked Up has been practicing with her friend's children, babysitting in her free time. Josh thinks he's found the perfect woman to have children with.

"She'll make a terrific mother," he said.

Here are some neat pictures of Kate Walsh and her abode in the latest issue of O At Home. Click to enlage, and follow the jump for more of them. Looks like the possible Grey's Anatomy spin-off star has a nice McDreamhouse ...

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