'Grey's' Spinoff Not All About Addison

Zap2It.com | April 16, 2007

Kate Walsh in 'Grey's Anatomy'

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Two-hour episode also keeps foot in Seattle

ABC has released a few more details about the "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff, including the fact that even more familiar faces will be present during the two-hour sweeps episode.

For starters, there's a definite airdate for the show -- Thursday, May 3 -- and a title, "The Other Side of This Life." That presumably refers to the basis for the potential spinoff, with Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) headed from Seattle to sunny Santa Monica to visit old friends from med school.

But the show won't focus entirely on Addison's road trip. Back in Seattle, Cristina (Sandra Oh) is trying on wedding dresses and enduring the input of both her mother and Burke's mom (returning guest star Diahann Carroll) as she plans her wedding. Jane Doe (Elizabeth Reaser) also suffers a setback, forcing Derek (Patrick Dempsey) to perform emergency surgery.

The Addison portion of the episode will feature Tim Daly ("The Nine"), Merrin Dungey ("Alias"), Taye Diggs ("Day Break"), Paul Adelstein ("Prison Break"), Amy Brenneman ("Judging Amy") and Chris Lowell ("Veronica Mars"), all of whom are slated for regular roles if the spinoff, currently titled "Private Practice," gets picked up for next season.

Former "Everwood" regular Stephanie Niznik, Andrea Bendewald ("Suddenly Susan") and Gary Hershberger ("Six Feet Under") will also appear in the episode. "Grey's" creator Shonda Rhimes wrote the episode, which Michael Grossman directed.