Kate Walsh's Grey's Anatomy Spin-Off Will Attract Millions

Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd Gets Her Own Show..

Paula Neal Mooney
Paula Neal Mooney, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Feb 21, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
There's something special about Kate Walsh.

Special enough to spin Kate Walsh off from Grey's Anatomy into her own pilot and series.

Fans of Grey's Anatomy already know the 39-year-old, 5'10" blue-eyed Californian who dyes her blonde hair red.

Kate Walsh strolled onto the Grey's Anatomy scene decked out in an all-designer black suit and introduced herself to Ellen Pompeo's character by saying:

"You must be the woman who's sleeping with my husband."

But since then the once "adulterous spawn of Satan" has beguiled viewers.

Emerging as Patrick Dempsey's cheating wife who left Manhattan and relocated to Seattle to try and reclaim her marriage, Kate Walsh's character was initially vilified.

Grafting into Grey's Anatomy
Folks eventually softened on Kate's Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, as the beauty ditched salmon scrubs in favor of a dark blue uniform that signaled Walsh's placement as a permanent part of the medical drama.

Fans also fell in love with Kate's goofy real-life persona displayed in interviews.

"I must say the scenes with Dempsey out in the trailer were pretty fun," Walsh joked honestly about her love scenes set in the Washington wilderness with Patrick.

Med-heads warmed to "the most hated woman on TV" when writers gleaned a sympathetic storyline for Kate -- displaying Addison's loneliness and hurt as the wife of a workaholic surgeon.

Is Kate Walsh married?

Is Kate Walsh looking for a new love?
Those are the main question fans were asking lately, hot on the trails of Kate Walsh's on-screen burgeoning hook up with hot intern Alex Karev, played by Justin Chambers.

Inquiring minds also want to know if Kate is married. According to Parade, she is single.

But today, news of a Kate Walsh spin-off from Grey's Anatomy have message boards a-flying, hot with debate over whether Kate Walsh is leaving Grey's or not.

Astute observers noticed that news reports list her character's full name, Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd, in spin-off reports, leaving the door open to an easy transition back into the Grey's fold if the spin-off -- reportedly to air in May -- dies.

Kate Walsh's spin-off is reminiscent of the Aaron Spelling spin-off of Beverly Hills 90210, when Jennie Garth's Kelly anchored the new Melrose Place.

The success of that calculated risk is one for the late-producer's history book of great accomplishments.

Now the question is: Will Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes experience the same success?

Money in the bank?
The ABC television network is banking on the answer to that question being a resounding, "Yes!"

ABC predicts that Grey's Anatomy fans will follow Kate Walsh and her infectious aura over to her own show in droves to the as yet-to-be-named spin-off.

And judging from the 20-million plus viewers glued to their sets during Grey's last season finale, a Kate Walsh spin-off might be good medicine.
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Published by Paula Neal Mooney

Paula Neal Mooney has been published in various national magazines, such as Writer's Digest and other parenting publications. She has been writing online since 2005, and focuses on the areas of Christiani...   View profile

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  • vero 10/23/2008

    help me...anyone can saw me which is the name of the spin off series with addison shepard??? i'm italian and certainly i don't write correctly...

  • Bea 5/4/2007

    I think the spin-off will be great. The pilot episode was phenomenal! I love Kate Walsh and even after that first episode I fell in love with the cast. It has great, good looking actors and it's witty and funny. It's going to be great, i'll def. watch it.

  • Donna Porter 4/23/2007

    I haven't watched for awhile but didn't even recognize her in the pic as a blond. I thought about catching up via Netflix but, yeah, spin-offs usually bomb.

  • babygrl 3/22/2007

    I think this is a horrible idea. Creating a spin off for a show that shoudl just exisit on its own. To create a spin off would just undermine everything about Grey's and I dont think that I would watch either show. Welsh belongs on Grey's she and the other characters are what make it and to create a spin off would just ... suck .. SERIOUSLY

  • Felicia 3/3/2007

    Kate Walsh is awesome and I love Addison. My favorite character - I don't want her to leave GA. But I'd definitely watch her.l

  • Christine Bude 2/28/2007

    I always liked this character, even when everyone else hated her. I don't know why McDreamy would pick Meredith over his wife, especially after we heard both sides of the story.

  • Joanna Lopez 2/24/2007

    Hi Paula,
    Is she the one that just died? Sorry, this might be a stupid question. I dont' really watch the show. I've only seen like one or three episodes. Like when she had to decide about the two guys, when they found out the blond woman doctor was an underwear model and the introduction of Dr. McCreamy. You can probably tell I've been watching the repeats. Hehe. Great article paula informative as always. Bye

  • AJ 2/22/2007

    NO, NO, NO, NO every single spin off of a show I have loved has been a disaster. PLEASE don't do this to my Grey's too!!!!!!

  • CAbruiser 2/21/2007

    LOVE her!

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