Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)In 2007, Shonda Rhimes (creator/executive producer of "Grey's Anatomy" and writer of "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement") developed a spin-off of "Grey's Anatomy" titled "Private Practice" based on the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh). For the most part, "Private Practice" Season One lasted about nine episodes and received a so/so reception from fans.
For the second season, viewers were promised a much more exciting season and sure enough, Shondra Rhimes and crew were able to take the series to different heights this time around.
"Private Practice - The Complete Second Season" features 22 episodes (Episode 10-31) on six discs.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"Private Practice - The Complete Second Season" is presented in Widescreen (1:78:1) - Enhanced for 16×9 televisions. Whereas "Grey's Anatomy" tends to be focused indoors, inside the hospital, "Private Practice" has a slick California look. Indoor scenes are well-lit and outdoor scenes are quite vibrant but viewers will notice the grain in the series. Even during the low-light scenes, you do see a bit of noise but compared to other drama series on television, the series is above average in terms of picture quality on DVD.
As for audio, the series is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The series similar is primarily dialogue driven, so it's pretty much front and center channel driven. There is no accidents or any major sound effects or even a lot of music like "Grey's Anatomy" in "Private Practice" but for the most part, audio is clear and understandable.
The show is presented in English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Private Practice - The Complete Second Season" includes the following special features:
DISC 6:
* Patient Confidentiality: Examining Season 2 - (12:52) Creator/Executive Producer Shonda Rhimes and Executive Betsy Beers talk about wanting to focus on the moral and ethical dilemma as doctors for Season 2. The talents also chime in on the various season 2 storylines and add their own personal feelings.
* Life Through the Lens: The Pictures of Chris Lowell - (8:10) Actor Chris Lowell (who plays William "Dell" Parker") showcases his photography and he talks about his inspirations and the cast talk about how he is a talented photographer. While the talents are complimentary, Lowell is more comedic when describing his photography.
* Extended Episodes and Deleted Scenes - 14 deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by Creator/Executive Producer Shondra Rhimes and Executive Producer Betsy Beers.
* Bloopers - (4:17) "Private Practice Season 2' bloopers
JUDGMENT CALL:
With the first season of "Private Practice" receiving so-so reviews, the "Grey's Anatomy" spin-off needed to make sure that the second season was significant enough to captivate the audience's attention enough to stay for all 22 episodes.
So, what better with the country's economy affecting private practices, to show Oceanside Wellness Center in a similar predicament. The early episodes tend to focus on the company on the verge of bankruptcy and the Addison doing what she can to prevent the company from bankruptcy and hoping for the private practice to emerge from its problems.
But along with the company problems, each of the main characters have their own major issues.
Addison deals with major issues with the company (and eventually leading the company), problems with men, the return of her brother (and her brother working for the rival practice), her relationship with her friend Naomi starts to grow apart and we get to see Addison and McDreamy once again during the "Grey's Anatomy" cross-over.
This season's love triangle appears to be between Pete-Violet-Sheldon. As Violet becomes pregnant, she is not sure who the father of the baby is and both men makes things more complicated when each want to be with her. But if anything, the most significant part of season two is Violet's character at the season finale and to say the least, it will be interesting to find out if a major character does not make it for the rest of season three.
As for Naomi and Sam, things get quite interesting with them as Naomi now finally moves on with her life and starts to date other men (including Addison's brother Archer), while Sam starts to show more concern over Naomi as she is seen sneaking off quite often from the practice.
As for Cooper, his storyline becomes the Cooper-Charlotte storyline and Cooper now wanting to be there for his good friend Violet and move in with her and support her during her pregnancy, while Charlotte being the cold-hearted doctor of St. Ambrose and later on developing a rival practice against Oceanside Wellness, she becomes more jealous of the time Cooper spends with Violet.
And as for Dell, he has to deal with his ex-girlfriend's drug problems and finding out that he has a daughter and gets into an even more complicated situation. Talk about a character who's likability seems to have fallen.
And as the characters face their major issues, on the medical end, the series deals with ethical and moral issues. The series definitely received some controversy with episodes such as episode 20 titled "Contamination" which dealt with autism and whether or not vaccinations do cause autism, another that dealt with sexual relationship between a woman and a young teenage boy, accidental switching of embryos, physician-assisted suicide and siblings who have sex with each other and more. Needless to say, both Shondra Rhimes and Betsy Beers definitely wanted to push the button on certain medical issues.
But part of the problem with "Private Practice" is that it seems as if the writers can not keep up the quality of writing with many of their characters and some are not getting the time that they need. I felt that this was an angsty season and a season where characters storylines were a bit uneven. Writers...please find Addison a decent man instead of having her fall for someone that is always taken. Also, remember... Sam? He needs a storyline. And Dell, this character is really being jerked around quite a bit. "Angsty" seems to be my word to describe season 2. And to cap it off, a season finale that takes a story from what we see in the front page and definitely a dark and twisted finale that I was surely not expecting.
Overall, "Private Practice - The Complete Second Season" had a good number of entertaining episodes and the chemistry of the characters are pretty good and overall, I enjoy the problems and rivalry among the private practices but when it comes to the characters and their storylines, I'm hoping Season 3 is less angsty.
If "Grey's Anatomy" stars can have its up and downs but yet find some happiness, I hope the characters of "Private Practice" at least get some of that for season 3.
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Private Practice: The Complete Second SeasonPrivate Practice is a spin off of the highly popular ABC series Grey's Anatomy. Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery, a renowned neonatal surgeon realizes that her life isn't advancing at Seattle Grace and packs her bags and heads off to Santa Monica to start a new life. She reunites with her newly divorced med school friends and joins them in their chic private practice.
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