Brothers and Sisters - The Complete First Season (2006)

Brothers & Sisters

A co-worker and very good friend tried to convince me to watch this series when it first came out but I told her it conflicted with another series that I was already "hooked" on. Needless to say, she convinced me to buy the first season and I can honestly say I couldn't wait to purchase season 2!!!! This is the greatest TV series I think I have ever had the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy as it is just like family to me!! October 30, 2008

Brothers & Sisters Season 1

This show is great entertainment. From the story, all the way to the fantastic cast! October 22, 2008

A thoroughly enjoyable family drama

I have come to BROTHERS AND SISTERS somewhat late in the game. I had some initial interest in it when Marti Noxon was the show runner during the developmental stage, but after replacing several original cast members and after Noxon left over "creative differences" and persistent rumors from the set that the show was in utter disarray, I opted not to watch it. I had friends who watched it, however, and reading critics I knew that the show had managed to get past its initial problems it had developed into a critically well regarded show. Though not viewed as being in the same class as the best productions on TV like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, THE WIRE, LOST, and THE SHIELD, it had clearly created a place for it as a well regarded family drama.

I have just finished watching all of Seasons One and Two of the show. I have the first episode of Season 3 DVR'd and after watching that I'll be ready to start watching it live next Sunday. I very much enjoy the characters on the show and largely watch the series for that reason. I'm not certain that the overarching series narrative is as good as the group of characters that they have assembled. I've been put off by a relative timidity in the story telling. So far the show bears a strong resemblance to a high class soap opera. A highly regarded critical study of soap operas bears the title STORIES WITHOUT END. I find that applies to BROTHERS AND SISTERS. The stories here never end, but they never really go anywhere substantial. Contrast that to the series on which Marti Noxon previously worked: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. That landmark series featured a number of stories that had ends, as well as beginnings and middles. Things happen on BROTHERS AND SISTERS, and there are a host of mini story arcs, but as a whole the show is not characterized by a number of master narratives that frame and carry the series forward. Contrast this with another show by show runner Greg Berlanti, ELI STONE. One of the joys of that show is following the central story of whether Eli is a modern day prophet or whether he is merely plagued by visions caused by his brain aneurysm. The closest to a master narrative on BROTHERS AND SISTERS is: siblings and parents strive to get along while keeping and revealing family secrets. As a result, the show sometimes just feels like a superior reality show.

What makes what is overall a fairly limited concept work so well is a great and talented cast. The cast is filled with both Hollywood veterans and newcomers, with both American and superb imported actors. In one of the major recastings, Sally Field took over as the matron of the Walker clan (interestingly, she and Tom Skerritt, who died in the first episode, played a married couple in STEEL MAGNOLIAS). Frankly, she didn't seem right to me at first. I felt that she had a tiny bit of trouble finding her character, though with the reputed chaos onset in the beginning that might not be surprising. I loved Calista Flockhart on ALLY MCBEAL and was initially excited about her return to TV, but I found (and still find) her role as a right wing journalist off-putting. To be honest, neither she nor her future boss/love interest Rob Lowe make especially convincing right wingers. They seem like everyday folk with tags and labels tacked onto them every once and a while. Lowe will make a quip about school vouchers to give some superficial credibility to his being a conservative, but neither the leftists nor the leftists on the show seem convincingly political. It is more like window dressing than anything. I've always liked Rachel Griffiths. I originally saw her in several British productions where she spoke with her natural accent and then loved her on SIX FEET UNDER where she affected an American accent. That role makes her very easy to accept on BROTHERS AND SISTERS as an American. I was previously unfamiliar with the world of Welshman Matthew Rhys, but he sports a perfect American accent, as does Aussie John Pyper-Ferguson, who I previously knew only from an unsympathetic character on my favorite current show, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (he played the CAG from Pegasus who pulled a gun on Apollo while they both sat in their Raptor). I enjoy both Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty (who had both been on ALIAS -- it took me a long, long time to stop seeing Rifkin as Arvin Sloane, which I eventually did, though I got a huge blast out of the guest appearance of Joel Grey at the end of Season One, who memorably portrayed "the Other Arvin Sloane" on the series). Although I didn't initially care for Dave Annable as the youngest Walker sibling, Justin, he eventually became one of my favorite characters. I like Sarah Jane Morris, who I remembered from FECLITY, but she really hasn't been given much of a chance to shine on the show. Part of my enjoyment of the show has been limited by two actors I have never really enjoyed: Rob Lowe (I disliked him in the early eighties and I still dislike him now) and Patricia Wettig (another ALIAS veteran -- her husband Ken Olin was a producer on both shows). Late in the season one of the more interesting additions to the series was made with the debut of a new half-sister to the Walkers, Rebecca, played by the impossibly cute Emily Van Camp.

On the micro level this is a very good show. On the macro level I am still not sure it is really going anywhere. As an unambitious, "small" show I enjoy it a great deal. And I definitely plan on sticking with it. I just wish that they were a bit bolder in their storytelling. Many of the creative staff worked on both FELICITY and ALIAS, but so far they've demonstrated little of the boldness found on both of those shows. Still, sometimes a pleasant show involving likable, interesting characters is enough. As long as you don't think about how much more it could be.
October 1, 2008

Why ?

GREAT SHOW! But....Why do we have to see men kissing ? I realy dont like this piped into my living room. August 2, 2008

THIS is why the networks are moribund.

I'd give this series NO STARS except I believe that even an egregious piece of dreck must have some redeeming quality or feature. In this case I can't think of one but I will concede I may be overlooking some aspect of production or...something.

A friend of mine wanted to give this show a try and, having read some positive reviews on this site, I thought it would be a shot. We got through the first DVD and I've called it quits. I really don't want to waste any more of my time on this boring, unengaging crap. At least real network soaps, which are likewise a total waste of time, are laughable and amusing on a sort of low camp, intended level. This is like, what, CBS or ABC's (or whatever) pathetic attempt at competing with HBO and Showtime? The plotting is really lame, the scripts are even more lame, the pacing to accomodate commercial breaks is annoying (although, granted, somewhat more subtle than in previous decades) and the acting is mundane. Calista Flockhart, who I've never seen in anything because, again, I don't do network schlock, is a big bore. Sally Field is wasted in this mess and must badly need money.

"Brothers and Sisters" REALLY suffers when compared to an exceptional family-themed series like, say, HBO's "Six Feet Under". In fact, the comparison is almost apples to oranges. It's as though ABC or whatever network decided: yeah, let's do a show about a family in crisis who's patriarch dies in the first episode, have a lot of sibling conflict, throw in a gay son wno is responsible and keeps things going but has a lousy social life, a prodigal son who isn't involved in the business, an angry, self-centered matriarch who really loves her children but is screwed up and dealing with her own issues, oh! and let's get thaactress, what's her name? Yeah, Rachel Griffiths, who was that show on HBO....and what have you got? "Six Feet Under" without the great writing, great acting, great cinematography AND wonderful originality.

The DVD disk itself was somewhat difficult to navigate. In addition, episode three included a really silly and annoying commentary track I was unable to disable. Therefore I didn't play the third episode.

If you like network TV fourth-rate knock-offs of first rate cable shows, then by all means buy and enjoy "Brothers and Sisters". All others of discriminating taste, beware and save your money and your time. July 7, 2008

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