Private Practice is an American medical drama television series that aired on the American Broadcasting Company for six seasons from September 26, 2007, to January 22, 2013. A spin-off of Grey's Anatomy, the series takes place at Seaside Health & Wellness Center (formerly Oceanside Wellness Group) and chronicles the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery, played by Kate Walsh, as she leaves Seattle Grace Hospital in order to join a private practice, located in Los Angeles. Private Practice also revolves around Addison's co-workers at Seaside Health & Wellness Center, and how they deal with patients and the practice while still finding time to live their everyday lives.
The series was created by Shonda Rhimes, who also served as executive producer, alongside Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Mark Tinker, Craig Turk, and Steve Blackman, who served as showrunners due to Rhimes's duties on Grey's Anatomy.
On May 11, 2012, Private Practice was renewed for a sixth season. The sixth season was the only one not to feature Tim Daly and was announced on October 19, 2012, to be the final season. The series finale aired on January 22, 2013. Reruns can be seen in syndication on some local ABC stations and can be streamed on Hulu and Disney Plus.
Series overview
Season 1 (2007)
The first season deals with Addison's move from Seattle to Los Angeles and her attempts to adjust to a very different type of working environment at Oceanside Wellness Group, a co-op private practice. The first season also deals with her budding relationships with her new co-workers. Among them are her best friend Naomi Bennett, a fertility specialist, and Naomi's ex-husband Sam Bennett, who specializes in internal medicine. Also working within the practice is psychiatrist Violet Turner, pediatrician Cooper Freedman, alternative medicine specialist Pete Wilder, and receptionist Dell Parker. It is revealed early on that the Bennetts established the practice with the rest of the doctors owning a share of it as well. Charlotte King, who serves as chief of staff at St. Ambrose Hospital, works with Oceanside Wellness through her dealings with Sam and her sexual relationship with Cooper.
Season 2 (2008–2009)
The second season begins with the practice dealing with financial troubles. Naomi reveals to Addison that they are in danger of losing the practice due to unpaid debt, causing Addison to tell Sam. This in turn causes a shift within the practice, whereby Sam and Naomi decide the new boss will be determined by a vote among the members of the practice, resulting in the highest vote getter, Addison, taking over. More tension is added when a new practice on the fourth floor, Pacific Wellcare, competes for patients. This new practice, run by Charlotte, is causing turmoil for her and Cooper. Also in this season, Sam and Naomi finally realize they can no longer be friends, and the romantic relationship of Cooper and Charlotte deepens. Addison was romantically linked with Kevin Nelson (played by David Sutcliffe), a police officer, but later realized their relationship was going nowhere. Towards the end of the season, Addison falls in love with cardiovascular surgeon Noah Barnes, who as it turns out, is married and is expecting his first child. Matters become more complicated when Addison realizes that Noah's wife is one of her patients. Archer Montgomery (Grant Show), Addison's playboy brother, made sporadic appearances causing trouble for her and Naomi. Archer was found to have an aggressive brain tumor which was later diagnosed as parasites. Addison sought the professional help of her ex-husband, neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey). After Derek successfully saved Archer, Addison discovered Archer was back to his old tricks by cheating on Naomi. Violet stirred some of her own drama when she began dating Sheldon (Brian Benben), who works for Pacific Wellcare, and Pete. During the latter half of the season, Violet was found to be pregnant although she did not know who the father of her baby was. Furthermore, Violet found herself and her unborn baby at the mercy of a psychotic patient bent on taking Violet's baby by any means necessary in the closing moments of the season finale. Meanwhile, Dell struggled with his own issues caused by his former girlfriend's drug habits. He fights for custody of his daughter Betsey. Some of the medical cases that caused a stir and tension among the doctors at Private Practice was the issue of abortion (a first for the practice), the sex reassignment of a newborn, the sexual activity of a 12-year-old, the switching of embryos for two mothers-to-be and a young couple who later discovered they were siblings.
Season 3 (2009–2010)
In the third season, Violet survives the cliffhanger in Season 2 while she gives her baby Lucas to Pete while she recovers from the ordeal. Addison and Sam get even closer but decide not to become a couple because they don't want to hurt Naomi. Charlotte and Cooper break up, and Dell loses Heather in an explosion which nearly kills Betsey. Addison and Pete become a couple, which causes Addison to get close to Lucas until Violet wants Pete back even going as far as taking Pete to court to get joint custody. Sheldon falls for Charlotte after they start to sleep together. Sam and Naomi's daughter, Maya, gets pregnant and marries the father of her baby, Dink. Derek Shepherd's sister, Dr. Amelia Shepherd, arrives in town. In the season finale, Addison and Sam finally get together while Charlotte and Cooper get engaged much to Sheldon's dismay. Pete and Violet work over their issues, while Dell and Maya get involved in a car accident and the severity of Dell's condition is overlooked while Maya was being attended to in the operating room. Dr. Amelia Shepherd, younger sister of Derek Shepherd (Addison's ex-husband), operated on him but was unable to resuscitate following Dell's heart failure. Maya survived her operation to save her spinal cord and prevented paralysis while at the same time she gives birth to a girl, who also survives the ordeal.
Season 4 (2010–2011)
In the fourth season, Brian Benben and Caterina Scorsone were upgraded to series regulars. The season begins with the aftermath of Dell's death, and what happens to his daughter Betsey. Violet and Pete get married in the season premiere and begin a new life with their son Lucas. Addison and Sam reveal their romance to the staff of Oceanside Wellness, a development that Naomi accepts, upon which she leaves leave town to learn. Cooper and Charlotte get engaged. Charlotte is raped and badly beaten by one of the patients at her hospital. She tells only Addison about this, and swears her to secrecy. Later everyone finds out but she initially refuses to identify Lee McHenry as her rapist. It is later revealed that Violet was raped when she was in college. Charlotte eventually identifies Lee at the urging of Sheldon. She goes to the police, but since she did not come forward immediately, prosecutors decline to charge Lee. However, when he threatens his girlfriend, she stabs him in self defense, forcing Charlotte to save his life on the operating table. His girlfriend reports this to the authorities, which results in his arrest. In the season finale, it is decided Oceanside Wellness will be closed, and a new practice will be opened. Naomi decides it would be best to move to New York to be with Gabriel.
Season 5 (2011–2012)
On January 10, 2011, ABC renewed Private Practice for a fifth season. Audra McDonald, who plays the character Naomi Bennett, did not return as a regular cast member in the fifth season of Private Practice. Following the departure of Audra McDonald, Benjamin Bratt was added to the series as a regular cast member. He plays Jake Reilly, a fertility specialist "who is quite accomplished and up to speed with cutting-edge technology and procedures." The fifth season focuses on Amelia and her drug addiction, and the entire practice trying to save her life, ultimately deciding to have an intervention for her, and thus sending her to rehab. After rehab, Amelia finds out that she is pregnant by Ryan, a boyfriend who got her back into drugs and later died of an overdose. She finds out that the baby does not have a brain, but ultimately decides to take the baby to full term and donate the organs to save other children's lives. Later in the season, Cooper was revealed to have had an 8-year-old son from a previous one night stand. The son, who is named Mason, is portrayed by child actor Griffin Gluck. While Gluck initially served as a guest star, he was promoted to series regular later in the season. Gluck is notable for being the first child to be a series regular in Private Practice, or in the original series Grey's Anatomy. Mason's mother named Erica sought out Cooper after discovering that she was stricken with cancer, and she dies later in the season. Season 5 also deals with Addison not being able to have her own children, only to be able to adopt a child, Henry, just as Amelia's tragic news is given.
Season 6 (2012–2013)
On May 11, 2012, ABC renewed Private Practice for a sixth season, which premiered on September 25, 2012. Tim Daly, who plays Pete Wilder, did not return to the main cast in Season 6. In the sixth season premiere, Violet finds out that Pete hasn't shown up for court and assumes that he ran off only to find out later that he had a heart attack jogging and died. Charlotte finds outs that she's pregnant but is happy because her IUD will most likely destroy the pregnancy, only to find out she's pregnant with triplets. After a difficult pregnancy and even delivering one of the triplets at 26 weeks, Charlotte and Cooper eventually have three healthy daughters. The final episode of the series brings many happy endings: Addison and Jake marry; Sheldon quits the practice to spend time with his love who's dying of cancer; Sam and Naomi remarry and will be having a second baby; Amelia has found the love of her life; Violet finally gets over her issues with Pete's death and announces she's started writing her book.
Shortly after the May renewal, speculation arose that this would be the final season of the series. This appeared to be confirmed when Kate Walsh announced on , that she would leave Private Practice after the thirteenth episode of season six. Private Practice creator Shonda Rhimes confirmed on October 19, 2012, that Season 6 and the show would end with the thirteenth episode.
Crossovers Throughout the series' run, Private Practice had a handful of crossovers with its sister show, Grey's Anatomy.
Season 1 Private Practice: Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.) appears in the opening minutes of the first episode convincing Addison to stay in Seattle. She says that she is leaving and he tells her he'll keep her job open for as long as he can and the two part ways. Grey's Anatomy: Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) returns to Seattle Grace for the first time since she left to perform a risky operation. She is shocked to learn how significantly everyone's lives have changed since she left. Note: This episode took place while Private Practice was on an extended hiatus due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.
Season 2