''Practice'' Makes Imperfect

The biggest problem this show will have to overcome is the fact that every character is dumb. And I don't mean that flippantly; I literally mean they're stupid. A man comes to Oceanside Wellness with his young daughter, who's about to give birth. He's angry that she hid her pregnancy from him, but only when she goes into congestive heart failure during the birth does he mention that her mother died in childbirth. Dumb! Then there's Violet, the psychiatrist, who encounters her patient having a psychotic break in a shopping mall, and says aloud, ''What the hell happened to her?'' Dumb!

But Addison gets the prize. This woman left Seattle and moved to California without realizing she wouldn't have a staff or a hospital room for her births? And she's an ob-gyn who doesn't know the word midwifery? And when she grudgingly allowed Buddha Boy Pete to assist in the birth, she seemed to have no understanding of his qualifications, even though he's a doctor. Still, he used acupuncture instead of anesthesia. ''Are you sure she's not going to feel anything?'' Addison asked Pete. ''I'm sure,'' he said. ''Are you really, really, really sure?'' she asked, like an 8-year-old child.

Eastern medicine: 1. Western medicine: 0.

So, TV Watchers, will Addison's new beginning earn her a place in the television pantheon alongside such superb spin-off subjects as George Jefferson and Frasier Crane? Or will she go down with the likes of Chachi Arcola and Joey Tribbiani? Do you find the dialogue repetition charming or annoying? How many episodes will it be before Addison and Pete sleep together, and then, inevitably, Addison and Sam? Should the celebrate-the-moments-of-your-life cheesecake-sharing scene between Addison and Naomi be a weekly occurrence? Are you thrilled that they dropped the damn talking elevator? Still, is the cutesy Private Practice missing some of the — dare I say — gravitas of Grey's? Bottom line: Will the rocky birth that this show is having yield a healthy baby series that will grow and mature into a fine adult drama?

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