From Variety.com's new blog Season Pass, tracking the highs and lows of the new season. If you haven't checked it out yet, click here.

The screener for the first proper seg of "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff "Private Practice" arrived in the mail on Thursday. I'll leave the reviewing to the professionals (Brian Lowry, coming soon). But for my broad-strokes reaction (remember that the Season Pass ratings for this show were based on the two-hour backdoor pilot "Grey's Anatomy" seg that ran in May), I'll say that I can definitely see why creator/exec producer Shonda Rhimes made the call to recast Audra McDonald in the key role of Naomi Bennett (originally played by Merrin Dungey), best friend to Kate Walsh's Addison Montgomery (and her excuse for heading down the Pacific coastline from Seattle to Santa Monica) and recently divorced wife of Taye Diggs' brilliant-internist character, Sam Bennett.

This seg overall is watchable, and beautifully shot, but there's still something that feels a bit amiss here. I can't quite put my finger on it but I keep coming back to the thought: Do we really need this spinoff? But I digress....

Opening moments deal of the seg deal effectively with Addison's resignation from Seattle Grace hospital  and set up the new ensemble of doctor characters that she'll work with at the Oceanside Wellness Group, a touchy-feely non-hospital facility with touchy-feely Westide L.A./BevHills/Santa Monica clients. There's a nice inside-TV reference early on in the seg to Addison feeling the need to sally forth and "throw my hat all the way up in the air." (Think classic TV opening sequence for a show with a femme lead and killer theme song.)

Of the supporting ensemble, the most intriguing to me (as an actor and as a character continues to be Amy Brenneman, who plays the mixed-up shrink Violet Turner. (Is there any other kind on TV?) So all in all, I don't love it as much as I did the first batch of "Grey's Anatomy" segs, but it stays on my Season Pass list.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

The dark gloom of Seattle skies turn bright this season for Shonda Rhimes (pictured left), as she brings her "Grey's Anatomy" spinoff to Los Angeles in the form of "Private Practice."

The overcast weather analogy seems appropriate for the past season of "Grey's" in many ways. The tone of the series was ominous in a bunch of episodes, including arcs on the tenuous relationship between Meredith and McDreamy, George's by-the-threads marriage to Callie, Richard's divorce and Burke's ultimate dismissal of Dr. Yang as a life partner.

And that's just the on-screen tumult.

Of course, nothing got bigger headlines than Isaiah Washington's meltdown and anti-gay remarks, which ultimately led to his dismissal off the show.

(When asked about Ben Silverman's comments, that NBC had talked to Washington about a possible role on "Bionic Woman" while he was still under contract to ABC Studios, Rhimes answered, "I wasn't aware of any conversations." And when prodded for a response on his arrival at the Peacock primetime lineup, she rose above the fray, answering, "He's very talented and I hope he and the show do well, but not as well as 'Private Practice.'")

"It was a dark journey," said Rhimes of the past year, who added later on that it was a "dark season, but I want to get back to having fun."

On Wednesday, ABC topper Steve McPherson agreed, having said "Grey's" would arrive this fall with a slightly lighter tone.

"There was a lot of difficult stuff and emotional stuff going on for a multitude of characters. And I think we're going to get away from some of that  just because of the nature of the storytelling that she (Rhimes) is going to do," he said.

That's not to say Rhimes wasn't happy with the how the stories turned out. She remained on the creative course she set out from Day 1.

"We started with Meredith helping Izzy out of her wedding dress and ended with Meredith helping Christine out of her wedding dress," Rhimes said in bookending the season.

And, yes, she was aware of the unhappiness of some of the hard-core fans — though she didn't necessarily agree with them — those who followed the show to Thursdays from Sundays in a risky programming move by ABC that paid huge dividends.

"I read the blogs," she explained. "I take very seriously what the fans say. They care about the show."