Out of the "Grey" and into the black

This may sound redundant to many people, BUT -

I am watching the worst episode of "Grey's Anatomy" ever.

Tonight's hyped two-hour root canal is nothing more than a painful and poorly disguised vehicle to promote the spin-off Addison series that few "Grey's" fans asked for or even support. I'm watching Kate Walsh's Addison - whose character I generally enjoy - prance around a gaggle of cookie-cutter two-dimensional characters in some California clinic obviously being set up to be her new confidants and coworkers in a seperate series, and I'm mortified for Walsh and writer Shondra Wilson and the plethora of other people behind this rather pathetic maneuver.

Addison is sobbing in an elevator because it may be too late for her to ever bear a child - and I don't even care. I'm actually channel surfing during commercials, and the only reason I keep clicking back to ABC is out of some misguided sense of loyalty to check in on the other characters - Meredith and McDreamy, Cristina, George, Alex and Izzie.

I mean, seriously.

What happened to the magic behind the first two seasons? My roommate and I kicked around some theories: Maybe it was just better drama when Meredith couldn't have Derek; maybe we're missing Denny Duquette; maybe Wilson and her writers got swept up in all the good press and have just gotten sloppy. I just don't know.

I've watched this third season limp along like an exhausted surgical intern during a 48-hour shift after a night of inappropriate sex with a superior, rooting for it to pick up its feet and PLEASE get better, and tonight's doubleheader (or double-headache) may just be the straw that gets this particular viewer turning her attention elsewhere on Thursday nights.

Seriously.