Catching up with Kate Walsh...

I'm trying to bounce back from a post-Denver letdown. After a week of a steady stream of extraordnary experiences, it was a little tough to come down from that settle back in to life in L.A. But Tuesday night's party at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood for the ABC series "Private Practice" did perk me up a bit and I was happy to have my first-ever interview with the show's star, kate Walsh. Here is my column on Kate that appears in today's LA Daily News...

Kate Walsh was charming and every inch the star Tuesday night at a
glitzy party celebrating the release on DVD of her ABC drama "Private Practice," a spinoff of "Grey's Anatomy" that returns for its second season Oct. 1.

On "Grey's," her surgeon character of Dr. Addison Montgomery was not only busy saving the lives of children, she was caught up in turbulent romances with both Dr. McDreamy and Dr. McSteamy, the nicknames for the hunky docs played by Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane, respectively.

But the decision to branch out onto her own show was an easy one.

"It's sort of an offer you can't refuse, doing a spinoff," Kate told me before entering the party at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. "Of course, there's always a little anxiety but I was mostly excited because I was ready to take Addison to the next level...It's sort of unbelievable. I get a whole new show, a whole new cast and in many ways, a whole new character. There's all sorts of different stuff with Addison so the sky's the limit."

Addison left Seattle behind in "Practice" and began a new life in Los Angeles at a medical practice staffed by characters played by Tim Daly, Audra MacDonald, Amy Brenneman and Taye Diggs, among others.

But the show had only completed nine episodes when a writer's strike\ halted all television production mid-season. While some shows hurried back into production to do a handful of episodes once the strike ended, "Practice" did not with new episodes set to be part of the second season.

"I think everyone felt so strange that it was an abbreviated television season but it was a season in its own right and they are great episodes," said Kate, who celebrated her one-year wedding anniversary to 20th Century Fox executive Alex Young on Sept. 1.

For the 38-year-old actress, the newfound level of stardom of recent years took some getting used to. But she is not complaining one bit.

"It's been a massive, fantastic transition," she said. "I feel like\ grateful that I was prepped for it being on "Grey's." I came in a little late to that show, eight shows in, so I got to watch other people handle it before me. We were all there as a group then I left
the nest. It's been fantastic and I could not have dreamed up anything like this. I'm thrilled and grateful and enjoying every second of it."