Toob Talk

From the makers of Grey’s Anatomy comes… a show that feels exactly like Grey’s Anatomy.

Not that that’s an entirely bad thing. I happen to like Grey’s. And I’m sure there will be plenty of people who like Private Practice just as much. But unless they differentiate themselves, unless they get a more distinct feel, they’re not going to keep the 14 million viewers they had for the pilot.

The good news is, the show has potential. Kate Walsh did wonderful things on Grey’s with Addison, who was originally supposed to be a short term character when first introduced. Other members of the cast–Tim Daly, Amy Brenneman, Taye Diggs, Paul Adelstein and Chris Lowell–will look very familiar to frequent TV viewers. They’ve all been on good shows. Most of those shows were canceled before their time. They’ve got talent and the characters have potential to be good.

In the pilot, though, they’re all kind of flat and dull. That was the biggest difference from the first episode of Grey’s. That didn’t leave me feeling like it was dull.

Hopefully, over the course of the next few episodes, the show will come into its own. It took Grey’s a while to really hook me. Maybe Private Practice will work the same way.

Tonight the DVR will once again be running full tilt.

Smallville kicks off it’s new season at 8 p.m. on the CW up against My Name is Earl on NBC and Ugly Betty ABC. I dropped off of Ugly Betty at the end of last season when life got a bit crazy. I meant to be caught up on it by now… I’m not. So I’ll try to jump back in, because I really do like the show.

The same thing happened with Grey’s Anatomy which kicks off its new season at 9 p.m. It’s up against the new season of The Office and will eventually be up against Supernatural on The CW (though it appears they’re re-running the Reaper pilot… strange). CSI is also back on CBS, but I haven’t watched that regularly in years.

Things calm down a little at 10 p.m. when the only show I’m interested in is ABC’s new one, Big Shots. The cast alone leaves me wondering how it’s going to play out. Christopher Titus and Dylan McDermott and Michael Vartan? How can you not tune in?