I’ll admit it: I’m kind of excited by the news that ABC is planning a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff focusing on Kate Walsh’s appealing Addison Shepherd. Yet while I’ve got faith in Shonda Rhimes’ vision, I’d hate to see network suits water the project down into a sitcom called Addison!, about a neurotic pediatric surgeon living out of a high-end Manhattan hotel populated with wacky characters. To avoid such a heinous possibility, I thought we could all participate in a little brainstorming session to ensure the spinoff’s success. Shonda, PopWatch will gladly take an associate producer credit (and a cut of the profits, natch) if any of these ideas inspire you. I’ll start with my pitch — which might be a little too Grey’s-meets-Brothers & Sisters to qualify as truly original. Then again, it also features babies. And everybody loves babies!
Deciding she’s never given up on finding true love, Addison decides to go the single-mother route, visits a fertility clinic for artificial insemination, and winds up pregnant with — egads! — triplets. Overwhelmed by the news, she accepts a job as chief of surgery at an Arizona hospital, where she can live closer to her retired parents (Ellen Burstyn and Paul Sorvino — remember their delicious pairing on That’s Life?), viciously competitive dentist sister (Téa Leoni), wannabe-actor gay brother (Dermot Mulroney) and his hubby (Blair Underwood), who just so happens to be one of Addison’s best friends from med school/new coworker. The series could then focus on Addison’s quest to juggle her career, her triplets, her overbearing family — and, of course, a couple of potential McMatches.
Okay, PopWatchers, your turn: How would you spin off Addison from Grey’s? Ready, set, pitch!
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GREAT premise Slezak…love the cast, the setting (Arizona vs. Seattle), and though it IS a bit too Brothers and Sister-y, they shouldn’t deviate too much from your concept. I think I just mostly like the idea of a “viciously competitive dentist sister” and a prominent gay character on the show (which Grey’s lacks, presumably because they’d then have to create about a dozen other gay characters to involve in wacky/random/improbable hookups so the one gay character doesn’t get lonely)…and no Joe the barkeep doesn’t count as “prominent”
Mostly though, I’ll check it out because Kate Walsh is terrific…and there’ll be NO SIGN OF GREY…yes! I’m a card-carrying Meredith hater, so I’ll at least give this project, which’ll have a VERY appealing skinny/whiny/mopey-character-free zone, a look.
while i think a sitcom would be great for kate walsh (her timing is always on point), i’d love to see her trade barbs in a dramedy set in a research hospital in new york. pair her up with a demanding boss played by edie falco, a painfully competitve rival played by michelle rodriquez, a romantic foil played by (good call) blair underwood, and a few other coworkers filled out by lynn chen (saving face), julie ann emery (hitch), and of course alison janney. there’s room for her (yes again) gay brother played by james marsden, her divorced parents played by victor garber and isabella rosellini. throw in recurring guest star embeth davitz as the ex sister in law, a running thread about battles over research cases, worries program funding, and constant bickering among the competing doctors, and you’ve got the basis for a great show. so long as the patient of the week phenomenon doesn’t take hold.
NOOO please don’t take Addison away from Seatle Grace
HUGE MISTAKE
HUGE, sure Kate Walsh deserves to have her own central storylines but the beauty of G.A.is the diversity of characters and having Addison as part of the clique is great and so is the under the surface flirtatin between he and Alex; so is her friendship with Callie (who odd as she is i’ve grown to love)(again diversity and reality, the worls is ful of odd people like her). The natural evolution of the Addion character has her becoming good friends and confidante to Meredith.
LET ADDISON STAY!!!!!!!
I think the triplets idea is fairly rotten, though the casting sounds pretty good…
just put caroline dhavernas in it and i’ll watch
just put caroline dhavernas in it and i’ll watch
After Derek breaks Addison’s heart, she is lured back to her hometown (Los Angeles, maybe?) by her anrgy-girl-with-issues sister (Holly Marie Combs), who is a nurse in a decaying, declining urban hospital run by an evil overlord (Anthony Stewart Head). As she struggles to mentor a crop of new students (Justin Chambers as Alex Karev, Charisma Carpenter, Christopher Marquette and Josh Charles) and to deal with a corrupt but sex-ay boss and juggling her own recovery from depression with the sister and family issues, she recruits her old friend Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) to come out to LA and help her turn it all around.
The only acceptable spinoff for me is:
After Addison (finally) realizes that Meredith is the love of Derek’s life, and Mark reaffirms himself as a manwhore, she decides to return to NYC to find true love, advance her career, and get the hell out of dodge. Welcoming her back to NYC are her fresh-faced gynie interns (played by unknowns), viciously competitive dermatologist sister (Tea Leoni), colleague/med school friend (Andre Braugher), retired parents (Powers Boothe and Isabella Rossellini), BFF (Lauren Graham), who also happens to Derek’s spunky-and-filled-with-problems-herself psychiatrist sister Kathleen. When the Chief (Ian McShane) brings in two new doctors to the hospital, played by Carlos Bernard and a clean-shaven Dermot Mulroney, sparks fly at the hospital.
At the end of the first episode, she finds Alex waiting at her doorstep professing his love for her. And that he’s decided to do his internship in NY under her tutelage.
Ok it might not be to bad because at first Addison wasn’t suppose to be a series regular… So as long as Meredith lives and her and derek are happy together Im fine…
A Spin-Off would be horrible. There’s only so much good that Grey’s can do. Don’t spread it too thin.
gymclassreject, that’s brilliant!
Addi Loves Chachi!
I love the idea of casting Carlos Bernard on the show. The world has been so much less since Tony got axed from 24. Let us ogle him some more! Dermot Mulroney and Josh Charles are also great calls.
“Shepherd’s Crook.” Drama. 60m. After a weekend of hard McWhoopie leaves her lame, partially amnesiac, and transported to the 1930s, Dr. Addison Shepherd acquires a stylish cane and uses it to keep a ramshackle house full of scampish orphans in line!
I adore Addison, and Kate Walsh, but I’m just a little nervous about taking Addison away from Seattle Grace, mostly for stupid reasons, i.e. I really wanted her and Alex to hook up.
There doesn’t need to be much of a plot as long as Addison is able to make out with everyone.
I like Addison too much for her to have her own spinoff –she should stay on Grey’s.
Shonda Rhimes needs to focus on the one show she has that actually works instead of losing one of the most interesting characters in her already hit show. Kate Walsh is a great actress and after Sandra Oh and lately Ellen Pompeo has great storylines to come. Shonda be smart IF IT AIN’T BROKEN DON’T FIX IT!!!!!
Um, everybody does NOT love babies.
Only one problem with your senario, Paul Sorvino died a few years ago didn’t he?
I love Addy and wish her all the best!
She returns to a top job in NYC. McSteamy follows her back to NYC after he coincidentally gets an offer at the same place — this keeps some tension between them and two known characters in the spinoff. She rebuffs McSteamy and meets others. She hangs with Derek’s sister from an earlier episode (Embeth Davidtz), who is very aggressive. The sister sleeps with McSteamy and carries on with him, pissing Addison off. Addison falls for her new chief (a hot black or Latino actor because Shonda likes diversity and inter-racial mixes, say Blair Underwood or a hot unknown on the rise). But the relationship is rocky and complicated by the guy having a former flame on site (sympathetic yet horny nurse Kristin Davis). Shonda will also add a gay story line and prominent gay character since Grey’s is missing a central gay character and perhaps a handicapped doctor as well. Oh yeah, some horny interns too.
With all her heartbreak in Seattle, Addison gives up on men and gives the fairer sex a try.
She moves to Key West to have a beautiful backdrop and plays around with a different hot chick every week.
NO HOW COULD THY LEAVE 1 OF THE BEST CHRACHTHERS ON GREYS OFF! SHE SHOULD BE GIVEN THE CHIEF OF SUREGRY AT SEATALE
Addison moves to a large hospital in a new big city. She then proceeds to work long hours with a mix of good-looking and not-so-good-looking people (with much more of the latter). She spends most of her down time at the hospital in an office/call room. She doesn’t break hospital protocol, violate treatment standards, or let her personal feelings interfere with her patient care, because these things are unethical and could damage her career. Most of her cases are run-of-the-mill, and the exciting ones are generally only exciting to medical professionals. After struggling to meet someone, she settles for an average-looking colleague because she doesn’t have the time to meet anyone outside of work, she ain’t young anymore, and non-MD guys are intimidated by MD females. The show is entitled, “What would really happen.”
Just build a show around her involving a lot of good looking people making frequent booty calls. I smell both a smash hit and booty.
Huge mistake. Hasn’t Shonda learned from previous shows with one main person the driving force behind the show (X-files, OC, Alias, Buffy etc), that when the driving force behind the show focuses on another show or a spin-off, the original show suffers? Keep Addy where she is, Grey is great with her, and she is great there.
Am I the only one annoyed when she gets called Addison Shephard still? She got divorced and goes my Montgomery now.
Spinoffs almost never work. Keep Addison where she is. The show needs her. This is preferable to her riding the rocket to ruin that a typical spinoff is.
Honestly? I’d keep Addison on GA, but I’ll follow her because Kate Walsh made her such an interesting character. Gymclassreject has the best pitch and the only changes I would make would be taking out Alex and finding a great intern role for Caroline Dhavernas (the genius of Wonderfalls)
Like Frasier, if this is to succeed, they need to come up with a very different vibe from GA with a strong supporting cast. I have major doubts this is going to work.
How about Addison becoming extremely bitter and jaded and turns into the female version of House? LOL