To spend time with Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers, the executive producers who run "Grey's Anatomy" and its spinoff, "Private Practice," is to be introduced to their linguistic particularities.
There is, for example, "Grey Co.," the term they've devised to describe the tonnage of work that goes into overseeing the production, merchandising and musical supervision of "Grey's Anatomy," the immensely successful ABC drama-soap. Those duties belong to Beers, who has a background in film, as opposed to Rhimes, the primary writer and creator of both "Grey's" and "Private Practice."
Also in common conversational usage is "the bubble," the place Rhimes and Beers disappear into in order to get everything done, and "the family" -- the actors, writers, production people and staff who also live in the bubble. They are also attuned to language mistakes made by people from outside the bubble. The controversial actor Isaiah Washington was not "fired" for homophobic utterances, they "chose not to renew his contract," Rhimes said.
And as for the common perception that the pilot episode of "Private Practice," revolving around Dr. Addison Montgomery (played by Kate Walsh) and her move to Santa Monica, was embedded within a two-hour episode of "Grey's" last May, that is not correct.
"It was evaluated as a pilot," Beers said recently over lunch. "When it wasn't really a pilot."
"I always bristle when people say it was a pilot," Rhimes added. "I'm like, 'No, it was an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy.' I feel like no one's ever seen 'Private Practice.' They will."
In fact, they will tonight (ABC, 9 p.m.). Because it has sprung from "Grey's," "Private Practice" is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the new season. It also bears an exceptional burden because of the culturally influential way that "Grey's" is popular. Off-screen, the soapy hospital show has made outsized stars of its cast -- including Walsh -- who have charmed audiences on-screen with their repetitious speech patterns and catchphrases (e.g., "seriously," "whatever" and the "Mc-" prefix).
The two show runners' work has doubled. "The idea is to be able to create an atmosphere in which I can free her up," Beers said, "so that she can do what is absolutely necessary in these situations in which she is, literally, the only person who can do it." With the new show, that means, Rhimes said: "Everything with 'Private' is in my head. I have to find a way to communicate that to the writers."
