Viewpoints News (Page 7)

The Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, appears to have a strong heartbeat, writes Chuck Barney of the Contra Costa Times.

Plenty of viewers have panned the new series, even questioning its ability to be picked up (though our exclusive poll shows at least 50 percent of respondents either liked or loved the debut).

In any case, here's a positive review of the Addison-driven series, which began last week as part of "The Other Side of This Life."

Who knew that Seattle Grace's resident neonatologist had a burning desire to be a mother? Or that she had a best friend from medical school named Naomi? Or that she looked really hot in a little red sports car?

Funny what you can find out about a character when she gets fleshed out for a proposed spinoff series.

Last week, fans of Grey's Anatomy got their first peek at Private Practice, which promises to be one of next fall's most buzz-laden shows.

Embedded within the highly rated two-hour episode was the conceptual setup for a proposed new drama pegged to San Jose, Calif., native Kate Walsh.

This writer liked what he saw. Mostly.

He liked the chemistry Walsh's Addison had with Naomi (Merrin Dungey from Alias). He liked the all-star cast (Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman), the setting (sunny Santa Monica), the eye candy and even the sex-on-the-brain approach that we've become accustomed to with Grey's Anatomy.

However, the who's-the-father story thread tied to a pregnant surrogate mom was hopelessly lame.

Most of all, what impressed many was how Kate Walsh seemed very much up to the challenge, displaying the ability to smoothly shift from a strong sense of humor to poignancy and keeping us engaged every step of the way. Any doubts that she can carry her own show should have been greatly eased.

Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) left Grey's Anatomy last week, ostensibly for her own spinoff show, tentatively titled Private Practice.

Now it's up to ABC to decide if that spinoff is justified.

From a numbers standpoint, it's an easy decision. Last Thursday's two-hour episode, "The Other Side of This Life," in which Addison left Seattle Grace for a new start and new pals in Santa Monica, Calif., drew over 21 million viewers.

But from a critical standpoint, it's, well, a Grey area.

The spinoff was greeted less-than-enthusiastically by many Grey's Anatomy fans, who voiced their displeasure on online forums and message boards.

"It was the first time that Grey's has been on ABC that I went to bed before it was over," one fan wrote.

"Addison will never make it on her own show. The characters were not very good on the new show and it was annoying to watch."

"Awful is an understatement," replied another. "I had two phone calls from friends after the first hour and we all had the same opinion - it sucked."

ABC officials, so far, have been quiet regarding the spinoff, the fate of which will be clear Tuesday when ABC unveils its upcoming fall schedule at its "upfront" presentation.

One network insider yesterday described ABC officials as "thrilled" with the show's ratings and "very happy" with its content, which was supplied by show creator Shonda Rhimes (who wrote the two-hour episode).

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Do shows like Grey's Anatomy promote the empowerment of women, or do they actually set women back? Sunday, Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times said she finds something fundamentally wrong with Grey's Anatomy, as well as its upcoming spinoff.

Stanely writes that "career girls" on TV started off "competent-but-flaky" (Mary Tyler Moore, Marlo Thomas), but have devolved into "basket cases" â€" and it's all thanks to Ally McBeal.

Grey's may be saved somewhat by the brilliance of Sandra Oh or Chandra Wilson, but unfortunately, says Stanley, the Kate Walsh spinoff, Private Practice, seems even worse in this regard:

"Sex isn't the problem with the new series; it's the subjugation. Addison looks up her old friend from medical school whose perfect marriage has just ended and finds herself enmeshed with two other mature, reputable professionals: a fertility specialist and a psychotherapist. All three women are lovelorn, sex-starved and prone to public displays of disaffection."

"It wouldn't matter, since the show is admittedly over-the-top escapist fantasy for women, except that it is troubling that even in escapist fantasies, today's heroines have to be weak, needy and oversexed to be liked by women and desired by men."

Along with blaming Ally McBeal for starting this trend, Stanley scolds Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes for not having the sense to correct it.

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Scene: Morning.

Derek Shepherd awakens in bed next to fellow doctor Meredith Grey.

The lovely Izzie Stevens bursts in - wearing only a towel, of course.

She complains, naturally, about another doctor (Alex Karev) who just walked in on her in the bathroom.

Dr. Ben Gbulie, chief resident at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., is incredulous, according to the Washington Post:

"Do you realize there is one attending (doctor) and three residents in the same bedroom right now? In the morning?? And one of them is half-naked?!"

Gbulie and other real-life interns and residents have gathered to watch an episode of ABC's hit medical drama, Grey's Anatomy.

The show's interns at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital practically all live together in one big house, where bed-hopping is a sport.

"Um, noooo, my life isn't really like that," Gbulie said.

The residents and interns in orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, podiatry and general surgery who wander in are all on-call, many of them 15 hours into their shifts.

Amid their harried work lives, it's not easy to be a regular watcher of Grey's Anatomy, but they're likely - even from casual viewing - to know more personal details about the characters on Grey's Anatomy than one another.

Grey's Anatomy is the nation's most popular non-reality program (American Idol is tops overall). Emphasis on "non."

"It's not about the medicine," sixth-year resident Vanessa Ngakeng said. "It's entertainment. Sleep with an attending? No way."

In real life, Patrick Dempsey, who plays Dr. Shepherd, and his wife just had twins. Chandra Wilson (Dr. Bailey) won a Screen Actors Guild award.

"Which one is Bailey?" Gbulie asks. She's the one known as "the Nazi," he's told. It's the character closest to himself, a late-year resident, shepherding the interns.

Judging from room reaction, Miranda Bailey a favorite character because, unlike the attendings who are too busy sleeping with their charges, she keeps the interns in check.

The group's response gets livelier as the show progresses.

So, unlike George O'Malley, real interns wouldn't get to scrub in on an appendectomy on their first day of residency?

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At long last, some good news for Isaiah Washington.

Seven weeks after he stepped on a land mine at the Golden Globes by using the anti-gay slur he'd been accused of using on the set of Grey's Anatomy last fall, the beleaguered star received an NAACP Image Award on March 2 for Best Actor in a Drama Series.

"The first time I was up here I felt deserving of something," a humble Washington said after receiving a standing ovation from the audience at L.A.'s Shrine Auditorium. "This time, I feel privileged."

If only he were informed, too.

When Entertainment Weekly tracked him down after the ceremony to ask if he'll be back at Seattle Grace next season, Washington was cryptic:

"I don't know the facts of what's going on," he said.

When it comes to Grey's Anatomy these days, few do.

Washington's future employment â€" which has been endlessly debated since the f-word incident â€" is just one of the many mysteries and issues swirling around ABC's hit medical drama.

The first involves a war of words over money between co-star Katherine Heigl and ABC Television Studio, which quietly offered salary increases to the cast earlier this season. One insider familiar with the negotiations says the studio first considered rewarding stars Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, and Washington with bigger raises than other cast members.

That likely prompted Heigl to break off negotiations February 27 because she felt she wasn't being treated equally, according to a People source.

ABC fired back a day later, arguing it had approached Heigl with an offer to raise her salary significantly above her current contract and was "surprised to see this gesture reported negatively in the press."

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It's hard to get past the fact that last Thursday's episode, "Drowning On Dry Land" ended with Meredith heading into the light, where she came face to face with Denny and Dylan. Because she's dead.

Denny said so, so it must be true.

Or is she?

Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing how this will turn out until we tune in Thursday. But it seems that all signs are pointing to Meredith Grey's demise. It certainly would make a shocking end to this three-part saga.

But back to what we do know.

Izzie is a rock star on the ferry for saving the guy pinned under the car. But she's a little less than a rock star in the friend arena, after trash-talking Callie to George.

Besides, it wasn't the best timing, as Meredith lay dying in the other room, for Izzie to just blurt out her feelings like that.

As much as she dislikes Callie, Izzie is supposed to be George's best friend. Best friends are supportive and accepting, not judgmental. Izzie needs to let it go and find a way to be George's friend with Callie in the picture.

Alex, meanwhile, finally steps up and takes charge of the missing family member situation, snapping photos of all the patients and victims at the hospital. It took him a while to figure this out, but now that he has, maybe it will help give him a boost of confidence.

Plus, he saved a pregnant woman's life. That pretty much makes Alex the star of the last two episodes. It will be interesting to see how his relationship with this "Jane Doe" develops.

Cristina and Preston hit yet another hurdle as Burke has to face the best friend dilemma. Cristina tries to explain her attachment to Meredith, but the best she can come up with is a story involving dragging a dead body across the floor.

While absolutely hilarious and true, this only serves to upset Burke more, although Cristina didn't willingly compare their relationship to a corpse. It's quite likely that Cristina is going through many "firsts" right now, and she's unable to deal with them emotionally.

Dr. Yang has never really been close to people, and now she has not only a best friend but a fiancé as well. It's a little overwhelming to Cristina to realize how attached she is, and that these people mean something to her. Once she figures out what to do with these emotions, maybe she'll stop saying crazy things about dead bodies.

But now back to Meredith. If she is dead, what does this mean for Derek? He's completely lost as to how to help her. His medical skills mean nothing now; he's banned from the room. All he can do is hope and pray and accept his friends' consoling.

If the miracle in the next episode (titled "Some Kind of Miracle") is for Meredith and she does come back to life, this could forever affect her relationship with Derek.

If he didn't know before, he knows now that he's lost without her. There's nothing like a brush with death to make you appreciate the special people in you life. But if Meredith is really dead... well, a lot of things around Seattle Grace will be changing.

As Billy Crystal's eccentric, miracle-working hermit character told us in The Princess Bride, there's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.

With Meredith's life hanging in the balance, Grey's Anatomy Insider's Seattle correspondent did some brief research to learn how dead our heroine actually is medically. What we learned, at least from the perspective of non-medical experts, is that the situation is grim, but hopeful. See below.

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When Grey's Anatomy left us hanging last week, Meredith was floating through Puget Sound.

This week, Meredith came out of the water, completely blue from the hypothermia and not breathing.

Also? She might be dead.

So how often do people really come back from the dead?

Well, Meredith Grey was completely under water for quite some time.

During that time, she most likely inhaled some water into her lungs, which can lead to asphyxiation and drowning. But the water Meredith was in was very cold, which actually increases her chances of survival.

According to Wikipedia's article on drowning, extremely cold water slows down the body's metabolism, leading to decreased levels of oxygen and blood flow. This can mean that a person who is submerged in cold water for an extended period of time can sort of come back to life.

On the other hand, such cold water led Meredith to become hypothermic, meaning her core body temperature is dangerously low - somewhere around 81 degrees - just before she went into the light and saw Denny and Dylan.

How often do people survive such a harrowing ordeal?

According to Princeton University studies, human beings who are in severe hypothermia will appear dead, but may actually be in a "metabolic icebox," meaning, they can be revived.

The heart is probably still beating, albeit very slowly, but if enough blood is circulating, it could be enough to keep the person alive until they can be warmed up.

Apparently, there have been cases where people who were hypothermic have been given CPR for up to three and half hours and have still recovered without any long-term damage.

In short, there's still hope for our girl, Meredith.

If you can look past the fact that she's the color of a Smurf right now and realize that the supposed best doctors in the country are all gathered around her hospital bed, you'll find a glimmer of hope that she'll pull through.

No question about it, Grey's Anatomy creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes - who wrote "Walk On Water," this week's "Drowning On Dry Land" and next week's "Some Kind of Miracle" - is taking some heat over recent developments.

How could she kill Meredith? Is she forcing a dramatic story line just for the sake of dramatic story line? And what happens next?

Rhimes' thoughts are articulated on her official blog, which you can read here.

But here's an excerpt from her take on "Drowning On Dry Land" and Meredith in particular. Even though she died, which was really sad, at the same time, it was kind of cool, wasn't it? Take it away, Shonda...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, yeah, that was Denny and Dylan.

I'm trying to be all casual about it.

Like I don't care.

Like, you know, Denny and Dylan, whatever. I'm cool, I'm good.

But I almost hugged Jeffrey Dean Morgan to death when he arrived on set. He was nice about it considering the restraining order he should have taken out against me during Season Two. I was glad to see him. And I was glad to see Kyle Chandler who was gracious enough to fly out here and film on one of his very few days off from the very well-written Friday Night Lights.

See, I miss Denny and Dylan. A lot. So it was nice to see them for a moment, wasn't it? Even if Meredith is dead?

You all have some pretty strong feelings about this. I've been reading your comments. Strong feelings. Which I respect. Grey's Anatomy is in its third season and we're doing something a little... different. It's about time we did.

Because, as I said when you shouted your horror about the Meredith-George sex, I remind you that we writers like to follow the characters here and we try very hard not to make story just to make story.

We like to have a point. Meredith being dead is about... well, you will see what it is about next week. She was in pain, this girl. And...

... okay, I don't want to talk about that. Meredith being dead at the end of this episode. I can't. Not yet.

By now, we've all heard the rumors from E! Online's Kristin Veitch and the ominous, foreboding hints from Shonda Rhimes. While you can only put too much stock in spoilers, we can't escape the weight of this bombshell:

Someone will die before this three-part story arc is over.

Now, it's the opinion of the Insider that Shonda & Co. are yanking our chains a bit. What if someone dies, then is revived five minutes later? Could it be that there's a death at SGH that shocks us, but a primary cast member isn't the one who passes away?

Who the heck knows. That's why it's so fun to watch! If we had to put money on it, we'd bet that the terrific ensemble cast remains intact. But just for fun, we've put together some odds on who we think is most likely to enter the great beyond, if that's indeed what's happening tonight...

Ellis Grey - Even
Hey, we've all gotta go sometime.

Izzie Stevens - 3:2
We know Denny comes back, right? And that he's not the only one we see? Could Izzie be reunited with Denny Duquette in the afterlife?

Just a theory. As terrific as Izzie is on the show, she's been lost from day one. Stevens being killed while trying to save the patient trapped under the car would almost be appropriate, and that ferry boat she's on looks like it could explode at any moment.

Richard Webber - 5:2
He had planned to retire anyway, is reeling from Adele leaving him and has lately contemplated his legacy at Seattle Grace. He's also a little older. Dr. Webber passing away would make the race for Chief of Surgery even more intense, and it's a development that certainly isn't that big of a stretch (though we really hope he stays)!

Meredith Grey - 3:1
We really can't see Meredith dying. However, she's the only one missing - and sinking in the ocean - at the beginning of tonight's episode.

Derek Shepherd - 5:1
Okay, there's no way Shonda would take McDreamy from us. Would she? We'd put the odds at 10,000:1, except for Rhimes' ominous warning that the events tonight and next week will be the last thing we'd ever expect.

This would qualify.

Mark Sloan - 10:1
He'd be the easiest to get rid of in terms of continuity. Steaminess aside, Mark hasn't brought much to the table since he joined Seattle Grace as a full-time attending.

But he already faked us out with by almost quitting once, and we aren't convinced they'd have him leave the show without him contributing more to it first. Odds are, the best is yet to come from Eric Dane's Dr. Sloan.

Alex Karev - 20:1
He's becoming a bigger, better person, and a more complex character every episode. Besides his budding infatuation with Addison, Alex has really grown as a medical practitioner. The only problem could be if he keeps putting himself in harm's way to rescue people. That pylon was heavy!

Nurse Olivia - 25:1

She'd be easily replaced, that's for sure, and syphilis can be deadly if untreated. But surely there's some life left in this character - and would dispensing of such a minor, recurring bit player result in all this hype? If so, we want our money back.

George O'Malley - 50:1
Yes, we heard the rumor that T.R. Knight wants out. But we don't buy it. The transformation from the bumbling, grieving George to the more confident, married Dr. O'Malley is just beginning. He's been one of the focal points of the third season, and the death of Bambi would cripple everyone else. Meredith puts the Grey in Grey's Anatomy, but George is the glue.

Callie Torres - 75:1
Maybe a month ago it would have worked. But they're not going to kill George's father and his wife in the span of a few weeks.

Preston Burke - 100:1
A lot of people have speculated that Dr. Burke is the frontrunner in this undesirable category following the Isaiah Washington controversy. We highly doubt it. If he were going to be removed, it would have happened already. We also don't know how long ago these episodes were filmed. With a major life event on the horizon, and having already been shot at the end of Season 2, Preston seems an unlikely candidate to go.

Addison Montgomery - 125:1
She's still one of the characters whose life we know the least about outside Seattle Grace, and one of the emerging leaders of the surgical staff. All we know of Addison is her romantic entanglements. Our guess is the writers have a lot more planned for the ex-Shepherd.

Cristina Yang - 500:1
There's not a single reason we can think of why we would lose Cristina. Every member of the cast is great, but week in and week out, she remains one of the show's most compelling, entertaining characters.

Miranda Bailey - 2,000:1
Strong but all too human, she's the heir apparent to the Chief of Surgery position down the line, and the interns need their Nazi like never before. Besides, Chandra Wilson won the SAG Award!

On her official blog, Grey's Anatomy creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes - who wrote "Walk On Water" as well as the second and third parts of this three-episode extravaganza - talks a little bit about it.

Shonda's full thoughts on the episode can be viewed by following the link above. Here's an excerpt about "Walk On Water" and specifrically Meredith, in which Rhimes explains some of the symbolism involved, and swears she didn't just throw our girl off a pier for no reason.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I, like McDreamy, have a thing for ferry boats.

Ferry boats are awesome and, in fact, very safe. Ferry boats are amazing.

Ferry boats are a metaphor for Meredith, you know.

What I was interested in was Meredith and how she was doing after being hurt by her mother. And the devastation of the ferry boat was the best way to physicalize Meredith's pain.

The little girl? She's also a metaphor for Mer. A motherless lost girl who can't speak for herself and disappears? Okay, that's too obvious. But you all know Meredith's been doing a dance with death for some time. Y'all know that if you've been watching. She's dark, our girl. She's dark and twisty. And I worry about her.

Now, I'm really worried about her because she's in the water and I want to be clear with you: I don't put people in the water for no reason. Meredith's got issues, she's got serious Mommy issues and she's broken and she's in the water.

I killed Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

I blew up Dylan (Kyle Chandler).

I'm not entirely playing by the rules of TV here.

There's a point. And it's coming. [I have my] fingers and toes crossed that it works.

Because what happens next... well, just wait and see.