private practice: for what it’s worth…

their clothes ARE super-cute // abc promotional photo

Most people watch different shows for different reasons.  For example, I watch Lost and Bones for two very different reasons; I dislike being asked to overanalyze the contents of Booth’s nightstand (as many people did after “The End in the Beginning”), but I spend my Lost hiatuses knee-deep in alternate reality games whose specific purpose is overanalysis.  Two different shows.  Two different reasons.

You have to accept things for what they are.  Private Practice is really not a very good show.  The plots are all over the place, some of the characters are just downright deplorable, and the relationships are all screwed up.  So why do I keep watching it week after week?  Because even though it basically sucks, it sucks in a good way.

The first two episodes of the season have focused primarily on Violet, recovering from the physical and emotional toll she took when a crazy patient cut her baby out of her and stole it.  (That right there should set up why this show is such a hot mess.)  At the end of Thursday’s episode, she passed Baby Lucas (yeah, they got him back) off to Pete, telling him the best thing for the baby was to not be with her.  Shonda Rhimes basically thinks up the most crazy, cliche storylines she can possible imagine, and then she just runs with them.

And while it’s getting super-frustrating on Grey’s, considering how good that show was in the beginning, it’s working just fine on this show, which has been ridiculous since the beginning.

I’ll excuse the baby-swapping and the still-simmering paternity drama, but there are a couple of things that I just can’t stand.

#1 is Charlotte King.  She’s just such a miserable shrew, and I really wish she would get hit by a bus.  I have seen the exact same scene of her breaking up with Cooper (“Well, you’re in love with Violet!” “Well, you’re a cold-hearted bitch!” “I’m really, really damaged!”) at least a dozen times, and every time, they just end up getting back together FOR NO REASON.  Oh, she’s just so hateful.

#2 is the ships.  Aside from Charlotte/Cooper, which is just painful to watch–I can’t believe they’re trying to pass this off as appropriate near-middle-aged behavior–I still HATE HATE HATE Pete/Violet.  Remember how much chemistry Tim Daly has with Kate Walsh?  Remember their super-hot makeout sessions in the office  back in the first season???  Now remember how damn FORCED it feels between Pete and Violet?  Why are they forcing this ship?  It makes no SENSE.  And, Addison, my God, she’s had more love interests in the last year (David Sutcliffe, Married Guy, and the guy who’s now on Better off Ted) than is really necessary, but they all keep getting better jobs.  Is it possible y’all could, I don’t know, get somebody on a contract to come and play her love interest?  I feel like the show set up Pete/Addison so nicely at the beginning that they’re finding it difficult to get a guy in there who’s worthy of being Addison’s True Love.  (Although, I suppose, is anyone really worthy of her?)

#3 is how flaky everyone is about work.  They’re all always quitting or coming back to the practice or thinking about quitting or getting fired.  STOP IT.

But, yeah, despite all of these egregious problems, I’ll still watch the show.  Because I’m not watching it for the relationships or the plots or the patients.  I’m just watching it for the camp factor–it’s so bad, it’s good.  Oh, and sometimes Addison goes off about her credentials, and it’s always awesome.