The first season of Private Practice, an American television series created by Shonda Rhimes, consisted of nine episodes that ran from September 26 to December 5, 2007.

A spin-off of Grey's Anatomy, the series tells the story of Addison Montgomery, a world-class neonatal surgeon, as she adjusts to her move from Seattle to Los Angeles and a new job at Oceanside Wellness Group, a private medical practice.

Even though network executives and series creator Shonda Rhimes did not confirm plans for Private Practice, Wyatt called it a "well-known secret" as information about the casting and production was becoming increasingly more available.

[17] The spin-off was officially confirmed through subsequent media commentators, who stated that the two-part episode "The Other Side of This Life" would serve as the backdoor pilot for the new series.

Grey's Anatomy cast members Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl had mixed reactions to the decision to create a spin-off for Kate Walsh's character Addison Montgomery.

[27][28] Tim Daly plays the seductive alternative medicine specialist, Dr. Pete Wilder, and Chris Lowell is the receptionist Dell Parker, who frequently appears shirtless in the office.

[36] The series was called "shallow and smirky" by The Washington Post's Tom Shales, who felt the dialogue and storylines relied too much on sexual humor; he thought the first season would not appeal to Grey's Anatomy fans.

[37] David Hinckley of the New York Daily News was critical of the pilot's opening sequences, finding they represented the show too much as a sitcom, but felt that it found its footing as the episode progressed and more emphasis was placed on "the more nuanced personal and professional sides of its characters".

The series was described as an improvement over the backdoor pilot by USA Today's Robert Blanco, but he criticized the doctors' characters as childish and seemingly incapable of doing their jobs.

Blanco viewed the show as a misstep in Addison's character development, writing that she is "a woman who was once a tough, smart, flawed, sexy adult [who] has turned into a fluttering, indecisive sorority girl".

[40] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times was critical of the show's interpretation of feminism, describing the characters as "one of the most depressing portrayals of the female condition since The Bell Jar", and reminiscent of the "seven stages of womanly despair" in William Hogarth's engraving A Surgeon's Progress.

[41] Dough Elfman of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the actors were better than the show's premise and writing,[42] and The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert described the characters as a "stock cast of whiney healers" and the storylines as "hokey, gimmicky medical cases of the week".