PRIVATE PRACTICE’s Amy Brenneman is a reporter’s worst nightmare.
Oh sure, she’s as nice as she is beautiful and came armed with a seemingly-endless array of thoughtful answers and entertaining anecdotes for this TV Addict’s one-on-one interview. But just try and ask one teensy little question about the identity of Violet’s babydaddy or what fans can expect on tonight’s PRIVATE PRACTICE season finale and her portrayer, Amy Brenneman, suddenly gives you the silent treatment.
“I’ll tell you a funny story that I don’t even think [PRACTICE creator] Shonda [Rhimes] knows,” shares Brennerman when asked if she ever gets nervous working for the notoriously spoiler-free writer. “I was up in Regina Saskatchewan [Canada] and it was 30 below when I got the offer to do PRIVATE PRACTICE. I was told that when I come back to Los Angeles, I could meet with Shonda. So I said, ‘Great, but I have to read the pilot.’ Which meant my lawyer had to review this huge confidentiality agreement because ‘Camp Shonda’ is so hyper about spoilers. So I get the script that is watermarked with my name on it. Long story short, I return to my hotel room after a day of shooting and half the script is gone! I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ Luckily, one of the prop guys found it and swore he didn’t read it, even though his wife was a huge GREY’S ANATOMY fan.”
Turns out the prop guy’s wife isn’t the only one with a thing for the dysfunctional docs of Seattle Grace hospital.
Once production wrapped on Brenneman’s CBS hit JUDGING AMY and she’d given birth to her second child, the stay-at-home mom got hooked on the show whose spin-off she’d one day headline. “I got really sucked into the whole Izzie/Denny thing,” she admits, adding that it made her decision to sign on for PRACTICE that much easier. “I just knew that this would be a really fun thing to do.”
Watching ANATOMY also clued the actress into the fact that she wouldn’t be trapped playing a bland, one-note character if she accepted the PRACTICE role. “If you have a long to term commitment on a series, you better make sure you have room for all those colors, otherwise you’re going to get completely bored,” she says. “I remember turning to [husband] Brad [Silberling] and saying, ‘these actors, they get to do all that.’ On a dime, Shonda can turn it from funny and romantic to super dramatic.”
Speaking of dramatic… what can fans expect of tonight’s finale? Seeing as it coincides with Violet’s due date and the return of the mentally-unstable patient who lost her own baby a few weeks back, we suspect big things will be afoot. “The nature of a season-finale cliffhanger is that a lot of things are left hanging in the balance,” Brenneman teases elusively. Having already consulted with Rhimes, the actress does finally let slip at least a bit of info: “In terms of Violet’s storyline, something happens that makes the babydaddy thing secondary,” she reveals. “It’s big.” And given the level of secrecy surrounding Rhimes’ creative offspring, that’s practically a major spoiler. 
Don’t miss the PRIVATE PRACTICE season finale airing tonight at 10PM on ABC, “A” Channel in Canada