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List Price: $59.99 | | Label: ABC Studios
Salesrank: 2520
Released: September 15, 2009 |
| Our Price: $32.99 |
| Used Price: $92.87 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Private 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.
Description of Private Practice: The Complete Second Season:
It's easy to see why Kate Walsh's character, neonatal surgeon Addison Montgomery, was spun off from the hugely popular Grey's Anatomy to her own series, Private Practice. It's not just her looks--beautiful but accessible, silent movie eyes, and a forthright jaw--or her obvious intelligence. Her acting has flashes of an uncommon freshness, a sense of unbridled spontaneity. This quality isn't always there, though her performances are never less than capable. But when you catch that moment, that sly twinkle or a flicker of sadness, Walsh is remarkably charismatic. Standing out like that is no small feat when surrounded by such sterling TV and film veterans as Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Taye Diggs, Paul Adelstein, and Audra McDonald.
Montgomery works at Oceanside Wellness Centre, a cooperative medical clinic in Los Angeles, where private lives and medical cases collide on a regular basis. In the second season of Private Practice, financial ruin looms over the team as they grapple with such hot-button cultural issues as abortion, teen pregnancy, vaccination, and the right to die, as well as more esoteric issues like accidental incest and a hermaphroditic baby. The doctors engage in vigorous ethical debate and even more vigorous sex as they bounce off each other romantically and professionally. After an uneven first season, the show's skilled writers, producers, and directors have found a tone that smoothly balances moral debate, personal drama, and light comedy. Maybe it's a little too smooth; sometimes the characters' quirks seem overly packaged, their private needs too easily gotten around when the plot demands it. But the show's writers have a gift for swift acceleration. Each episode leaps forward, scenes building on each other until every issue--and every personal complication--has been squeezed for maximum effect. Though moments may push credulity--the season cliffhanger is a jaw-dropper--Walsh and the rest of the charming cast will keep you engaged. --Bret Fetzer
Private Practice: The Complete Second Season Reviews:
Anticipation 
2009-11-17 - This series promises a lot and delivers. Much darker story lines and great acting. Only disappointment with DVD is they don't have more bloopers and commentaries with the actors. I really loved the commentaries on S1 dvd. Thank goodness more than 9 episodes in this season. Can't really fault with this one.
Private Practice 
2009-11-15 - It was worth the wait! I fell in love with the characters from the first season slowly and by the end of the season you, as the viewer, were quite moved by the story lines. Private Practice Season Two is better. Kate Walsh's character has mellowed the goofiness of the first series and the other characters storylines are superbly written for this new season. Each and every actor is excellent. And then the cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is exactly what it is... WOW!!! I had to ask a freind who lives in the States what happens - I cheated, but it tells you that it is a doosey!!! Buy this DVD and have a blast.
Led by a great integrated acting ensemble, Season 2 is fun!
2009-10-17 - My expectation of "Private Practice" was that it would be the ugly stepsister of the somewhat tedious Grey's Anatomy melodrama. But surprise, it turned out to have verve, flash, flavor and character all its own. I rarely rate anything 5 Stars, so 4 is pretty good, per my rating standards.
Led by a great integrated acting ensemble, Season 2 is fun. Overdone, of course. Too much sleeping around. It's hard for a show to have that much sleeping around without running out of combinations of who can sleep with whom, without having to have them go gay (or bi, at the least). And too many babies. Too much stirrup time. Babies make for inherently bad TV from the get-go -- start with stale done-before conception stories. Then add maternity, neurotic parents, complications at birth, blah-blah - well, it is just something to be waded through until something else happens. And, as Practice keeps up a lively pace, I know it won't be stuck in the stirrups for too long, though darn, it will soon go back to those stirrups. The Violet baby story is an exception. I'm only halfway through, but the rounds of interaction between Violet, Pete, and Sheldon are imaginative and funny.
Kate Walsh is arguably the best actor on TV. The Dr. Addison Montgomery character allows her to display that rare talent of seamlessly running the gamut from comedy to drama, and everything in between. That's particularly unusual in someone quite as beautiful and compelling as Walsh. Taye Diggs (Dr. Sam Bennett) is heartstoppingly hunky, and, as is the case with Walsh, totally gifted. The casting is exceptional -- Chris Lowell plays the intelligently sweet Dell. Tim Daly (Dr. Pete Wilder), Amy Brenneman (Dr. Violet Cooper), Audra McDonald (Dr. Naomi Bennett, who looks alarmingly like Sam's twin sister), and Brian Benben (Sheldon) - all outstanding. Always, of course, exceptions..... If the chalk-on-blackboard nasal twanging Charlotte could be made to go away, that would be a big plus. The Big Daddy scenario .... what were they thinking? The addition of an edgy woman would add balance, but the gap between edgy and brittle is a big one. The Charlotte character is so without grace it flaws the already chemistry-absent relationship between Charlotte and the huggable-as-a-labrador puppy, "Coop" (Dr. Cooper Freedman , so well done by Paul Adelstein). Archer was an empty suit .... One of those previously non-existent family members who appears out of the woodwork and whose presence is meant to be filler material. He was thankfully a temp and is off the scene. The need to have more temps show up, so as to keep up with the sleeping-around part, appears obvious. I only hope the bar is held high, so as to not dilute the otherwise near-flawless casting. A Betty White character, a stereotypically sweet and elderly, but spontaneously and splendidly caustic character would round out the cast.
As is the case with the rest of the series, the patient stories keep up a fast pace and are, for the most part, both well-written and well acted. There's a great variation and not a lot of the usual predictability. It's great the doctors are so very gossipy. Except for Naomi, they have the collective maturity of a bunch of fifth graders. It is just a little weird when they stop to gossip over a patient undergoing surgery, but then again, it's not like someone can really die. A few weaknesses, of course, mainly those feeding into my pet peeves: Stiletto heels on professional women ~~ in real life, they are worn by prostitutes and teenagers with low self-esteem; Birthing pushing, screaming: -- "Push, Push," Oh rah! (enough already); Bland filler-materials ~~ appear-out-of-the-woodwork family members, showing up to fill a scripting gap; Confusion over whether it wants to be funny drama or seriously dramatic (I vote for funny drama- the human assets are sufficiently talented to pull it off).
All in all, enjoyable, varied, and entertaining. I'll come back for more.
I'm loving it...
2009-10-07 - season one was already amazing, but the second season might even be better. the stories are really great, innovative and predominantely touching. the actors make you feel as if you were a part of their lives. the cast is just amazing and this show just brightens up my day! heads up to those incredibly talented actors and i want many more seasons of private practive!!
A few entertaining episodes, cool crossover with "Grey's Anatomy", a dark season finale but wow, this season was...."angsty".
2009-09-15 - 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.
