The first season of 'Private Practice' is engaging, entertaining and far too short! Thanks to the Writers Guild of America Strike, the first season is a paltry nine episodes. Just as you are beginning to cultivate an addiction…wham!...it ends.

In this spin-off from 'Grey's Anatomy', creator Shonda Rhimes took what was ultimately the most likeable character in the Seattle Grace melodrama, Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) and made a show about her. Not surprisingly, you'll actually like 'Private Practice'.

For even the most avid 'Greys' fans have to admit that sometimes, just sometimes, the show, its plot and its characters are really really annoying. Not so for 'Private Practice', where relationships are (slightly) less incestuous, friendships seem real and the characters possess at least a modicum of maturity.

The whole family practice/holistic healing approach is also pretty novel in a genre dominated by blood-soaked hospital hysteria.

At the invitation of her friend Naomi Bennett (Audra McDonald), neonatal surgeon Addison Montgomery leaves her adrenaline-fuelled job at the dysfunctional Seattle Grace for the Oceanside Wellness Centre in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.

It's a small family practice which tries to treat its patients holistically and as individuals. On the staff are fertility specialist Naomi, her ex-husband and mind/body expert Sam (Taye Diggs), psychologist Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman), paediatrician Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein), alternative medicine guru Pete Wilder (Tim Daly) and practice administrator/wannabe midwife Dell (Chris Lowell).

Their strengths and weakness meet in ways which are familiar, believable and often very entertaining. By the time you've whizzed through the first nine episodes, you'll be ready to ditch the insipid self-absorption of 'Greys' for the sun-kissed wholesomeness of 'Private Practice'.

Extras

The DVD includes a 'True Hollywood Story'-style featurette on Kate Walsh (did you know she was the fat girl in 'The Drew Carey Show'?), a few deleted scenes, and a bloopers reel. Nothing spectacular, but if you're hit with a post-binge depression, it'll help ease the pain.