ABC Releases New "Private Practice" Stills

ABC has released new "Private Practice" stills to reflect the cast changes that occurred during the summer when one original cast member was let go and two were added. Take a look, after the jump.


"Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes and ABC came up with the idea for their medical series spin-off centered around the character played by Kate Walsh earlier this year when the show became a blockbuster on Thursday nights.


The producers then put together the cast mainly from people who had already had a contract with ABC Studio and for some reason were available at the time (Taye Diggs' and Tim Daly's respective series "Daybreak" and "The Nine" had flopped).


The so-called backdoor pilot was shot as an extended 2-hour episode of "Grey's Anatomy" which aired at the beginning of May sweeps. The viewers and critics however were not impressed.


Although ABC had said they would decide whether to pick up the series or not based on the success of the "pilot" episode, it was clear the network was going ahead with the show regardless.


ABC then promised a much different tone when the show premieres in September and decided to make key changes in the Santa Monica-set drama's principal cast.


They let go Merrin Dungey (she played Addison's best friend Dr. Naomi Bennet who owns the practice) and replaced her with Audra McDonald. It is not clear why Dungey left the series.


The network also hired KaDee Strickland (pictured below) to play Dr. Charlotte King, Chief of Staff at a nearby hospital.


Charlotte believes the doctors at the chic, co-op, Oceanside Wellness Center work with unorthodox methods inferior to hers and comes in direct conflict with them.


Therefore the final cast (as posted below) is: Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery, Tim Daly as Dr. Pete Wilder, Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner, Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett, Audra McDonald as Dr. Naomi Bennett, Paul Adelstein as Dr. Cooper Freedman, KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King, Chris Lowell as William Dell Parker.

Check out the old photoshoot (produced before the changes) by clicking HERE.

Also, check out the latest 60-second ABC promo below.

"Private Practice" premieres Wednesday, September 26 at 9/8c on ABC.

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