Spoiler: Private Practice, the copycat

(Because I watch ER at 10 p.m. Thursdays, it is very possible that posts about Private Practice will come a few days late. But I hope that doesn't mean you will enjoy them any less.)

I still don't know how I feel about Private Practice moving to Thursday nights on ABC since it now follows Grey's Anatomy, the show from which it was created. The storylines are pretty similar - especially Thursday night when they both tackled the exact same issue.

On Grey's there was the death row patient who wanted the doctors to allow him to die so that he could donate his organs to a little boy who needed them. Because he was to be executed in days there were doctors, Meredith and Bailey in particular, who thought this seemed like an OK thing to do. On Private Practice a doctor with pancreatic cancer wanted Pete and Sam to provide him with drugs so that he could die sooner rather than later because the later death would have meant a death in a lot of pain.

My favorite line from Private Practice this week was from Pete when he first introduced the idea of assisted suicide to Sam: "It's mercy, not murder." But what I want to know is why would both television shows use this same storyline with the same debate between opposing doctors, some thinking it is the "right" thing to do and others saying it is murder, on the same night?

What is worse is that in two weeks the two shows are combining for what the promo called a "crossover event." If the Grey's people wrote off Addison so that she could have her own show, then what is the point of this combination 2-hour event? I like Addison in her new life and I think muddying it with storylines that include Derek and the others in Seattle may not be a great idea. We'll have to see how it goes, but as a fan of both shows separately, I think this may be a bad idea.