Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Second chances: Brothers & Sisters

I really didn't enjoy the first couple of episodes of this show. I found everything to be a bit pretentious and melodramatic and I just wasn't feeling the characters at all. But like I've mentioned before, I ALWAYS have this initial reaction to Greg Berlanti shows. It was exactly the same with both Everwood and Jack & Bobby. But for some reason or another, I start watching the show again and find myself really liking it.

Fittingly enough, the reason I started watching Brothers & Sisters again was because of an Everwood alum, Emily Van Camp, who I also initially hated. But she's a really great actress, and I was really curious to see how she was going to be. And lucky for me, ABC.com has the entire season to date up on its website to watch for free. So one lazy weekend I planted myself on my bed with my laptop and just had myself a mini Brothers & Sisters marathon. It grew on me with every episode and now I'm kind of addicted to it.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, Brothers & Sisters is a family drama. The Walkers are an affluent California family with 5 adult children: Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), a wife, mother, and head of the family business; Kitty (Calista Flockhart), a political radio show host who has spent the past several years in New York but has moved back to California for a new job; Tommy (Balthazar Getty), who also works in the family business; Kevin (Matthew Rhys), a lawyer who's gay; and Justin (Dave Annable), a drug addict and vet who served in Afghanistan. Their mother is Nora (Sally Field), and their father, William, dies unexpectedly in the first episode. It's later revealed that he carried on an affair for twenty years with an actress named Holly (Patricia Wettig), and had a daughter, Rebecca (Emily Van Camp), with her.

And the story just kind of evolves from there. William's death leaves a ton of problems for the Walkers: dealing with the fact that he wasn't the man they all thought he was, cleaning up messes he left in the family company, meeting Holly and then Rebecca. And then there are everyone's personal and professional problems as well. Kitty was on a TV talk show for awhile, but now she's working for and dating Senator and presidential candidate Robert McCallister (which was also Bobby's name on Jack & Bobby!) played by Rob Lowe. Kevin's had a string of relationships, including one with an in-the-closet soap star played by Sex and the City hunk Jason Lewis, which he seems to invariably mess up. Justin's been dealing with his drug addiction and has been called back to Iraq. Nora's been trying to figure out her life as a widow and coming to terms with the fact that her husband lied to her for a huge chunk of their marriage. It's kind of heavy stuff, but all this is balanced out with good doses of comic scenes. This past week's episode had a round of charades that was just classic. (Mostly due to Kevin, who's just HILARIOUS.)

But, true to the title of the show, what's really great are the relationships between the siblings. The way they all talk and fight and tease eachother is incredibly endearing. I don't know what it's like to grow up in a big family, but the show kind of makes you wish that you did. Especially now that Rebecca's in the mix, and it's clear that she feels like she was deprived, in a way, of that childhood.

Oh, and Dave Annable (Justin) is now my new TV boyfriend. It's weird, he was Aaron on Reunion and while I remember thinking he was nice enough, on this show I'm seeing him in kind of a new light and he is HOT. And speaking of seeing people in completely new light, I want to end this review by giving some kudos to Sally Field. For years I disliked her for some unknown reason, but because of this show I'm now kind of a fan. She's a really great actress and I definitely have a newfound respect for her.

I believe the show has already been renewed for a second season, which I'm really happy about. Yay for Brothers & Sisters!

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