TONIGHT, ON DOCTORS WITH PROBLEMS HAVE SEX: In large part because I've been watching them on significant DVR delay, I haven't written about our friend Shonda Rhimes' two Thursday night shows, which have both been having pretty darn solid seasons, though through two very different paths. Grey's Anatomy has reaped big dividends from committing to making the dramatic events of last season's finale have consequences for the characters. After two seasons where external events have required cast changes, we have a stable cast, and we're following them as they cope with trauma in unexpected ways. In particular, we've seen very good work from Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson, and the Callie/Arizona plot has been an interesting one. Sure, not everything is working--Sarah Drew's character often comes off as more annoying than endearing, and Kim Raver's character isn't fitting in entirely--but this is easily the best season in several years.
Private Practice, on the other hand, has reaped benefits from fairly quickly getting past the "Maya gets married/has a baby and Del dies" ending of last season and instead going in a different direction, with Audra McDonald disappearing for most of the first half of this season. In part because she was added after the backdoor pilot and was originally written as an outside antagonist, KaDee Strickland always seemed a little outside the scope of the show--she's slowly moved into the spotlight with her relationship with Cooper and joining the titular practice. However, with the current plotline, she's finally gotten some really meaty material to work with, and is knocking out of the park pretty consistently. Again, not everything is working (the Sam/Addison relationship is kind of boring, "Sheldon is a sex god" played childishly, and the Pete's mother plotline was silly), but this one storyline has been so well executed that it's elevated the entire show.
