Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Paul Adelstein: Private Practice Prescribes Juicier Drama
With its Season 2 premiere, ABC's Private Practice "grew up" a bit, eschewing flighty romances for bigger drama punctuated by ethical dilemmas. Paul Adelstein promises more of the same, while also previewing what's ahead for Cooper and his strange romance. Plus: Is Prison Break's Kellerman alive? TVGuide.com: It's so good to see the show back.... Paul Adelstein: It's nice to have it back. TVGuide.com: The gang was a little rough there on Naomi, at the end of the premiere. Adelstein: Hey, man, she left us all high and dry! Although in her defense, we probably should have been paying a little more attention. [Laughs] TVGuide.com: Apparently one and only one partner had their eye on the ledger. Adelstein: And the rest of us were in the kitchen snacking when we should have been seeing patients. TVGuide.com: Is that one of the themes this season, that we'll get a bit more into the business of the practice, versus pretty people just flitting around and flirting? Adelstein: That’s a major thing, that the practice itself is in trouble. We have a high-concept idea of what the practice should do, but that butts heads with the financial realities of keeping a business afloat. So there are some splits in the ranks about how we should proceed. On top of that, [series and Grey's Anatomy creator] Shonda [Rhimes] has added a lot of issues of medical ethics that aren’t so black-and-white.
TVGuide.com: It's so good to see the show back....
Paul Adelstein: It's nice to have it back.
TVGuide.com: The gang was a little rough there on Naomi, at the end of the premiere.
Adelstein: Hey, man, she left us all high and dry! Although in her defense, we probably should have been paying a little more attention. [Laughs]
TVGuide.com: Apparently one and only one partner had their eye on the ledger.
Adelstein: And the rest of us were in the kitchen snacking when we should have been seeing patients.
TVGuide.com: Is that one of the themes this season, that we'll get a bit more into the business of the practice, versus pretty people just flitting around and flirting?
Adelstein: That’s a major thing, that the practice itself is in trouble. We have a high-concept idea of what the practice should do, but that butts heads with the financial realities of keeping a business afloat. So there are some splits in the ranks about how we should proceed. On top of that, [series and Grey's Anatomy creator] Shonda [Rhimes] has added a lot of issues of medical ethics that aren’t so black-and-white.
TVGuide.com: In that one case from last week, is that the real deal, that an underage kid's parents can keep him from knowing he has HIV?
Adelstein: That was based on a real case that a doctor brought to the writers. That is a case in which you would have doctor-patient confidentiality on both sides. There are more cases along those lines coming up. There's an episode that deals with a lot of issues surrounding abortion, there's euthanasia.... a lot of medical decisions that aren’t cut-and-dry, but are very important.
TVGuide.com: On the lighter side, Cooper and Charlotte have been going to some very amorous places. Who has more trouble "going there" for those scenes, you or KaDee Strickland?
Adelstein: Well... I wouldn’t say either one of us has "trouble," but you will see this week that KaDee has to don some rather... "interesting" outfits. She has to be a better sport than I, let's put it that way. [Laughs] I'm in my jeans and T-shirt and she has to... well, you'll see.
TVGuide.com: Dare I say that things between the two of them might get more real?
Adelstein: Yes. Cooper has decided that he wants to give it a go and have an adult relationship for the first time in his life.
TVGuide.com: But at what expense to his friendship with Violet?
Adelstein: That’s a good question. Again, him not having been in an adult relationship before, I don’t think he knows how to handle that exactly – and that comes to a head pretty quickly.
TVGuide.com: Has Violet put two and two together to deduce that he's seeing Charlotte?
Adelstein: She knows that he's involved with somebody, given the changes in his behavior. But Cooper is unwilling to fess up to that.
TVGuide.com: Are you, as I am, of the thought that Prison Break's Kellerman is not necessarily dead?
Adelstein: I am definitely of that mind, although there have been no indications that he is not dead.
TVGuide.com: When that van door popped open [at the end of Season 2], I always took it that he was expecting to see whomever he saw.
Adelstein: That's why it was a fun piece of writing, because it could play either way. I'm either being rescued... or I'm being deep-sixed.
TVGuide.com: Do you ever cross paths with your Prison Break "boss," Patricia Wettig (Brothers & Sisters), over there at ABC?
Adelstein: I have, I've seen her a couple times. She's no longer president, you know.