The first week on the new season came and went so quickly and the second week is damn near gone too. So here's everything else that caught my attention...







PRIVATE PRACTICE: The Grey's Anatomy spin-off was dogged by criticism all summer after the "backdoor pilot" aired towards the end of Grey's 3rd season. Me personally, I dug it. There were some kinks to work out, but there was definitely a show that I would tune in to watch. Kate Walsh gets to stretch her comedic muscles a little more after being angst ridden "dark and twisty" Addison. "Shiny, happy" Addison is way cooler. I've been a fan of Taye Diggs and Tim Daly for the longest but these two dudes have had series after series canceled on them. Amy Brenneman, Paul Adelstein (who was originally cast as Dr. Burke on Grey's) and Chris Lowell (who I'll always refer to as Piz from Veronica Mars) round out the cast nicely. Audra McDonald replaces as Merrin Dungey as Addison's best friend from med school. That was the best thing they could've done. No disrespect to Merrin, she'll always be Francie from Alias to me. Audra has better chemistry with Kate and Taye, which is very important. She also seems more of a presence. Her character, Naomi, is the one in charge at the Oceanside Wellness Center. Naomi seems to be a force of nature, the one you get when you need to call in the big guns. I didn't really get any sense of that with Merrin. In Merrin's defense, maybe after adding Audra to the cast, Naomi's character was tweaked to better suit the actress. They tweaked Paul Adelstein's character as well. He was originally supposed to be a gynecologist who was clueless about women. But now he's a pediatrician. Another late addition to the cast is KaDee Strickland. She's Dr. King, Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose Hospital. She's not really cool with the staff at Oceanside Wellness. But something tells me that may change. I thought wasn't gonna dig this new character, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Dr. King kicks ass.

The first episode Addison resigns from Seattle Grace and buys a house in L.A. next door to Sam (Taye Diggs). Naomi hasn't told the rest of the doctors at Oceanside that she hired Addison. Violet (Amy Brenneman), a psychiatrist, attempts to help a grieving mother cope with the loss of her son. Cooper (Paul Adelstein) swings by to help her out. Addison, Pete (Tim Daly) and Dell (Chris Lowell) figure out how to deliver a baby before the mother dies while in labor. Sam and Naomi go head to head with Dr. King over a dead man's sperm (no pun intended). And Pete thinks that the reason Addison moved to L.A. was because he kissed her.

I wish Addison would've had a chance to say goodbye to Callie, Derek, and Bailey before she left. She already had a sense of closure with Mark and Alex. But at least she said goodbye to the Chief, who kind of let he door open for her at Seattle Grace, just in case Private Practice flops, which I seriously doubt that it does.

rating: @@@ out of @@@@@

The second episode picks up steam. Addison, Naomi, Cooper and Dr. King deal with a switched baby scenario. Violent continues to deal with her baggage from her failed relationship. Pete treats a stripper for a rash and gets Addison jealous, even though she won't admit it. Sam makes a house call and discovers that an elderly woman has been poisoning her son and her grandson. And Naomi has trouble dealing the fact that Sam may be moving on before she does.

rating: @@@@ out of @@@@@




BIONIC WOMAN: Probably the most maligned and the most anticipated series of the season. I'll admit, as a fan of the original series, I was definitely a hater. But like most haters, I judged the show before I saw anything. I peeped a clip of fight scene from the first episode. And needless to say, I was hooked. They were successful in updating Jamie Sommers for 2007. Miguel Ferrer as a creepy government agent was a good move. And so was adding the notorious Isaiah Washington to the cast. It was a weird sense of symmetry, Washington making his debut on Bionic Woman as his character on Grey's was given closure in his absence. British actress Michelle Ryan is the new Jamie Sommers. She's likeable and attractive. Her Jamie is trying find her place in the world, juggling her new job with this mysterious agency with being a legal guardian to her younger sister. I like the show, but the acting can be lame at times and some of the dialog is cheesy. But this isn't Shakespeare. I'm mostly watching for Jamie kicking somebody's ass from week to week.

rating (both episodes): @@1/2 out of @@@@@





UGLY BETTY: This show took me by surprise last season. It's got something for everybody. Engaging, yet melodramatic storylines, comedy, superb acting, and a serious amount of eye candy. I mean what other show could boast that they've had Salma Hayek, Lucy Liu, Rebecca Romijn AND Vanessa Williams as a part of the cast. Even greater than that, America Ferrera knocks it out of the park every week.

To sum up the first two episodes of the season: Santos, Hilda's fiance, was killed in a botched robbery. Justin is an intern at Mode. Betty lies to Daniel and keeps Wilhelmina's infidelity a secret. In exchange, Wilhelmina pulls strings for Ignacio to come home. Ignacio was planning to come back to the States regardless, but his past catches up with him. Bradford and Alexis bond. And Christina tells Henry that he may not be the father of Charlie's baby. Damn that's a lot in just two episodes.

rating (both episodes): @@@@1/2 out of @@@@@



GREY'S ANATOMY: After the uneven Season 3, I was looking forward to this season to see if the new direction would pick things up again. Burke's gone never to return again. Addison is in L.A. now, moving on with her life. Meredith, Cristina, Alex and Izzie are now residents. Callie, the new Chief Resident, is their boss now, instead of Bailey. The former interns go over Callie's head and turn to Bailey for help. Poor Callie is having hard time adjusting to her new job. The Chief rips her a new one every five minutes. Bailey undermines her authority and her marriage to George is falling apart. I'm a huge Sara Ramirez fan. While I'm glad to see her still on the show (there was crazy speculation of her not returning to Grey's and maybe even joining Kate Walsh on Private Practice), Callie is really going through it right now.

Speaking of George, what the hell happened to this dude? He used to be my favorite character. Now, he is a major asshole. Dude is cheating on Callie with Izzie. They slept together towards the end of last season. After that, it was an emotional affair. He seemed more devoted to his best friend/mistress than his own wife. But the second episode of Season 4 implied that it's now a full on affair. They are definitely getting it in. Katherine Heigl (Izzie) and T.R. Knight (George) are best friends in real life. And even though T.R. is gay, you can't front on the chemistry they have. I don't like the George/Izzie pair-up the way it was presented. But, no one is ever in a happy, healthy relationship on this show. I can definitely relate to being sexually attracted to a best friend of the opposite sex, so George and Izzie do make sense in a way. If they would've hooked up early on with no romantic entanglements, this would've been a pair-up that would not have polarized the Grey's fan base. Instead George/Callie/Izzie are like Meredith/Derek/Addison all over again. At least now with the O' Stevens/O'Callie storyline, it doesn't seemed forced to me anymore. It's really getting interesting. And now that Callie knows, it's on now. Sara Ramirez hinted that after Callie finds out about the affair, she's going to be taking action. I can't wait to see what she does next. Izzie gave herself away in the second episode. From nervously handing surgical utensils to the ultimate faux pas, giving Callie (her sworn enemy) a compliment after the Chief handed Callie her ass for the millionth time in the middle of a surgery.

I actually like Mark now. With Addison gone, him and Derek have the opportunity to bond again. They are well on their way back to being friends. At first, I thought Eric Dane was just alright as an actor. It wasn't that, it was just that he wasn't given much to do besides being eye candy for the ladies or the occasional comic relief. Mark actually has a heart. He's looking out for Derek and Callie. And if they put Mark and Callie together again, I wouldn't be mad at that. They seem to be more even matched than Callie and George.

Chyler Leigh as Mer's half sister Lexie is probably the most hated character on the show. I like her though. She's young, pretty but overly idealistic. And Mer doesn't want anything to do with her. Can you blame her though? Mer's issues mostly come from her dad abandoning her. And Lexie is a painful reminder of that. Sandra Oh (Cristine) and Chandra Wilson continue to amaze me week after week. And Justin Chambers (Alex) and James Pickens (The Chief) round out the cast nicely.

I know left out Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey. Don't get me wrong. They're amazing actors. They have great chemistry, yada, yada, yada. But Mer and Derek's relationship (after Derek and Addison finally divorced) is the least interesting part of the show to me. You know they're going to get their happy ending, no matter what. Who knows? I could be wrong.

rating: (first episode) @@@
(second episode) @@@1/2