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Private Practice Casting Not Quite Perfect
It may be a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, but at this point Private Practice is behaving like Extreme Makeover.
Just weeks before production on the highly anticipated series is slated to begin, and just two months after ABC previewed the show to good, though not great, reviews, the network has opted to recast a central role.
A rep for ABC confirmed to E! News that Broadway star Audra McDonald has taken over the role of Naomi Bennett, reunited best friend to Kate Walsh's Addison. The part was originated on May's two-hour launch episode by Merrin Dungey.
Per ABC Studios, four-time Tony winner McDonald was brought in—and Dungey ousted—for the typical, if decidedly vague, bugaboo, "creative reasons."
McDonald will pick up where Dungey left off, as one-half of the newly divorced couple at Oceanside Wellness Clinic. She plays the once and no doubt future love interest to Sam, played by Taye Diggs.
Private Practice got a test run as a special episode of Grey's Anatomy that introduced the new crew. The show was seen by roughly 21 million viewers, and while it easily bested its competition, it was not without its criticisms, chief among them a lack of chemistry between some of the castmembers, particularly compared to the sizzling Grey's ensemble.
ABC, which largely used actors already under contract, apparently decided to heed the detractors' word.
In addition to her new prime-time gig, McDonald has also starred on the now-defunct WB's Bedford Diaries and on NBC's ill-fated Kidnapped; she received an Emmy nomination for the 2001 HBO movie Wit. McDonald most recently starred in the Broadway musical revival 110 in the Shade, for which she received her sixth Tony nomination earlier this year.
Dungey's credits include recurring parts in The King of Queens, Alias, Summerland and Malcolm in the Middle.
The new and hopefully improved Private Practice is slated to begin production in in two weeks.
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