One of the Doctors is leaving Grey's Anatomy!!

United States
February 21, 2007 2:12pm CST
A friend of mine sent me this.... The good doctors at Seattle Grace may be focused on resuscitating Meredith Grey, but it's another female character who's moving to a better place. According to the Wall Street Journal, ABC is attempting to duplicate the juggernaut success the network has achieved with Grey's Anatomy by moving forward on a spinoff centering on Kate Walsh's character of Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd . A spokesperson for the network told the paper that a series title has not yet been determined, nor has a general plot—whether Walsh's character will remain in Seattle, move back to New York or do something else entirely is still up in the air. ABC Television Studio, the series' producer, confirmed to E! News that a possible new series is in the works. "We are producing an enhanced episode that has a potential for an afterlife," a rep said, declining to comment beyond the details in the Wall Street Journal report. Walsh and Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes are said to be under contract for the new series; neither would comment Wednesday. The show will apparently give plenty of screen time to Addison, who has emerged from hated third party in Grey's Anatomy's central love triangle to become one of the most popular characters on the show. The spinoff would allow Rhimes to be able to focus on a single character, something that is hard to do on the current show, where story lines and screen time are divvied up among 12 regular characters, something Rhimes herself has said is hard to juggle. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rhimes only recently broke the news of the spinoff to the cast, and it's not expected than any other characters will jump ship along with Walsh to the new series—potentially disappointing (and spoilerish) news for fans of the budding Addison-Alex love connection. The castmembers will, however, be involved in the set up for Addison's sendoff. Per the Wall Street Journal, Rhimes is writing a special two-hour episode of Grey's Anatomy that will effectively serve as the Addison-centric series' pilot. The episode is expected to air during May sweeps, allowing time for the network to decide whether or not to pick up the show for placement on its fall schedule. (In other words, ABC is waiting to see if the premise is more Rhoda than Joey.) As it is, Grey's Anatomy, currently in its third season, has routinely topped the Nielsen ratings and just last week averaged 26 million viewers. Even a portion of those figures for the new show would make it a success. Rhimes has reportedly put on hold another of her anticipated projects to move quickly on the spinoff. It's unclear when she made the decision to pursue the new show, but last fall she postponed work on another drama series that was expected to debut midseason. That show was due to chronicle the lives of four female journalists and also had Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Grey's Anatomy's late Denny Duquette, on board to star. That project will now be pushed back even further.
4 people like this
12 responses
@nicolec (2671)
• United States
21 Feb 07
Hmmm...intersting. It's a big risk doing spinoffs. As we've all seen, Joey did not do so well but Frasier was a hit. I'm sure I would give it a chance just out of curiosity. But it's such a great story already on GA, the Meridith/Derick/Addison/Mark mess up. And through Alex in there too. Like i said, it should be interesting.
• United States
22 Feb 07
Yes, I agree with you. Joey just didn't have the same chemistry or something....just not the same as Friends. I'm sure I'll watch the new spinoff, but am skeptical. I like the plot line they've had going with Alex and Addison. I was hoping they'd go more in depth with it, but probably not now? Makes me wonder if Alex and Izzy might get back together?
• United States
24 Feb 07
Wow...I wonder if the end of the last episode had anything to do with this? When Addison told Mark she'd give him a chance if he could stay celibate for 6 months. I would definately give watching a spinoff a shot..tho I think I might prefer to have all the same characters stay where they are for longer. I tried to get into 'Joey' because I really liked his character on 'Friends', but it just wasn't the same without the others to play off of. No chemistry. Hopefully, if this does happen, Addison will be able to come back to Seattle Grace if it doesn't work out!
@jess1874 (1021)
• United States
22 Feb 07
I read about this yesterday and my friend said she saw it on the news so I kinda of figured that Meredith would be ok she's gonna come back to life. I think that something is going to happen to Addison on the show because i'm almost sure she's gonna leave to do the other show.
@caraj444 (1075)
• Canada
24 Feb 07
Wow thats something i hadnt heard about that happening, i would defintly be dissapointed to see Kate Walsh's character go its just starting to get interesting between her and Alex but it could be a good show i guess. I would give it a try thats for sure and Addison is a really good character that they might be able to build a show around.
@kareng (53375)
• United States
23 Feb 07
That's intersting. I will be watching!
• United States
23 Feb 07
Well that's the end of Grey's. Half the fun is the tension between Meredith, Derek, Addison and McSteamy. I love Kate walsh, though, adn Im sure I'll watch the new show!
@cherhost (1072)
• United States
21 Feb 07
Awwww I like her. But kudos to her if she moves on to bigger and better things. Poor Alex. Ah and I thought the sweeps was in March not may... good to know, I now know when to set the recorder!
• United States
22 Feb 07
Ive heard about the Grey's spinoff which will have Addison as the central character. I personally think its way too soon to have a spin off. Most shows get spin offs after the main show has been cancelled or ran its course. Also, they are breaking a cast ensemble that has proven to work and loved by the audience and the critics (they wont best cast ensemble with the SAG and Golden Globes). I also think that its a big risk to do the spin off and a bigger risk for Kate Walsh. What will happen if her show doesnt become a hit, then she totally passed up on the chance to be in a great and big show (Grey's) for a longer period of time. I think Addison is not done with Grey's Anatomy as well. She didnt enter the show until the last episode of the 1st season so technically, she was just in the show for the 2nd and 3rd season and its only in this season that you see a better side of Addison, its only now that her character is evolving and you see different sides of her persona. I think it would be disappointing to pull her out of the ensemble and bring her into a world of her own without the other people in the case in it. I hope Kate Walsh gets a good deal, that in the event the spinoff show doesnt succeed, she can return to Grey's Anatomy. I think she is a pretty good actress too.
• Philippines
22 Feb 07
Kudos to Dr. Addison... she handled the role in grey's anatomy very well... if the mind behind all these have better plans that will make her bloom more then i think that's good for her...
@racheld (840)
• United States
22 Feb 07
I'm a little disappointed here. I thought for sure something was going to happen between Addison and Alex. I think the show is going perfect the way it is and I hate to see any character leave the show. I love it, just as it is!!
• United States
22 Feb 07
Thanks for the news. I heard a rumor that 2 people from GA were leaving the show. I wasnt sure who though. Thanks Again!
• United States
22 Feb 07
Hmm. This could be a good thing and it could be bad. It all depends on how it's handled. Although I think with Kate and Shonda at the helm, it could be very successful. I really love Addison and I would totally watch a show about her.