Brothers and Sisters season 1 thread (1 Viewer)

[Jason_V]

I think it was more of a business vs. pleasure thing, especially since Kitty has absolutely nothing to do with the business. It would be unethical to let her know what was going on, even though they were "dating". Jonathan may be a lot of things, but he doesn't strike me as the vengeful or mean type.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thought I'd toss this out, it's my first post for this show. I find it interesting to see Sally Field's performance on this show and somehow be reminded of how she was on ER as a bi polar mother. I can't separate the two characters. The way she acts towards Calistia Flockhart's character seems similar to the way she acted towards Maura Tierney's character on ER. So to me, she seems a little off, crazy, even before her husband dies in the pilot. Just a thought.

 

[Jason_V]

I think the easiest way to separate them is to look at at the things she did in ER versus the things she does in Brothers & Sisters. In the previous, she was emotionally off the deep end at all times. Getting fired from some jobs, making odd clothing...you name it. Those were things legitimate people wouldn't be doing.

In the latter, she is trying her damnest to be a good mother and person while being confronted with all these ghosts: Holly and Kitty, high on the list. She may not always be right and doesn't know when to bite her tongue sometimes, but she is a person I feel I could meet on the street.

Sidenote: I completely loved her on ER and I think she's just wonderful here. Especially when she starts to fight with Kitty. This is now one of my most-looked-forward to shows of the week.

 

[Kong Chang]

Ack, I wrote this long thing only to lose it because of some keyboard command failure :frowning:

Anyway, I also love this show to death.

Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) is my most favorite character from the show (and he's only a guest star too...go fig). Though I really love Sally Field's acting. She deserves an Emmy and win it too.

Love Treat Williams, hope to see more of him. Sad to see Matthew Settle's character of Jonathan leave the show. Hope he'll come back for more dynamic prattle with Kitty.

With a full season, not sure how they're gonna create more conflicts that won't end up being cliched?

 

[Patrick Sun]

10/29/06

This episode was funny and snarky at times, and poignant for the wrap-up. So, maybe there is something more to Amber than her bubbliness. Kevin just can't get it right with Scotty, it seems. Tommy shooting blanks and married to a hottie, life's not fair. Nice ending scene between Nora and Sarah.

I find it funny that Saul is needing to come up with the password to get into the account that might have the $15 million that was embezzeled, but if Rifkin was still Sloane, he'd just have Marshall crack the code in lickety-split. It's pretty obvious that Saul thinks the password is either "rebecca" or "becca" and the other thing to draw from Holly's revelation that she has a daughter is that it's the love child between her and William Walker. I keep hoping the daughter shows up and that they cast Emily VanCamp
in the role (as it would appear that Berlanti is using some of the cast from his former show).

Nice Six Feet Under cameo with Robert Foxworth playing the lech who tries to feel up Nora.

 

[Jason_V]

First off, it's about time we had a storyline for Tommy that didn't revolve around work. It's nice to see him actually have an "other" life that doesn't include the business. He's not my favorite character right now, but with everyone else having their time in the spotlight, it's definately his turn now.

This is one of the show's I look forward to on a weekly basis, but something about this one made me cringe. I think it was because everyon acted completely out of character, as if they had been co-opted by pod people or something.

- What would make Tommy and his wife to make out in the coat closet of a benefit dinner? That's an incredibly teenage thing to do for someone who always acts and sounds mature and grown up.

- Considering Kevin wasn't comfortable with Scotty kissing him two weeks ago in the restaurant, the fact that he instigated the kiss behind the scenes at the benefit doesn't quite fly. Granted, it can be rationalized away by the fact he was drunk. By the way, how much wine/champagne did he drink to get that drunk? Was it a lot or is he just a lightweight?

- It's incredibly rude and selfish of Saul to bring Holly to the benefit, knowing full well how his sister feels about her. What would possess him to do that? I know he has a right to see whoever he wants to, but it doesn't excuse the betrayal of his sister, who he should be closer to.

- Justin, dude, what are you thinking? Asking your boss on a date with your entire family? Telling her she'd look good in a toga? Have you never heard of sexual harassment? And why the heck did she accept? I'm sorry, but this has disaster written all over it.

Every week, after the show, I always feel like I should make up with my family. But then that feeling goes away when I realize I could be Kitty and Kevin and Sarah all rolled into one. Good lord, do I really want to subject myself to that?

 

[Patrick Sun]

After Saul and Nora's "understanding" from the previous episode, Saul is striking while the iron is hot. Saul is simply tired of living to not offend Nora, he's moving on, and he's probably had the hots for Holly for years, and it wasn't until William died that he now has a chance with her.

Justin's just a knucklehead, plus he probably thinks of her as his contemporary, not just his boss, plus, she's smoking hot.

Tommy's probably like those CEOs who suffer from infantilism (all business at work, but a kid at home). I'm just stretching it, but the idea being that Tommy's not as tightly wound at home as he is at work. Plus, Juliet is a nice looking woman too.

Kevin is so oblivious to the class distinction between him and Scotty (in terms of cater-waiter wages vs. lawyer wages) and he definitely did insult Scotty on many different levels with his offer to pay for his catering job for the night. That was just a poor social faux pas on his behalf. Perhaps he hasn't had to deal with people that run under his social circle and just doesn't get the economic inequities between him and Scotty. Hopefully Kevin learned something this evening.

BTW, B&S kept 75% of Desperate Housewives ratings last night, so I suspect this show will stick around for the year.

 

[Kong Chang]

Ugh, I hate that I can't do Alt+0233 on this forum >

 

[Jason_V]

I would think the complete season pick up plus the good ratings would confirm that.

 

[Kong Chang]

It's already been announced on the abc.com official site. How can that be a spoiler? A spoiler is something that hasn't been officially sanctioned by the network. And it was released the same day on ABC.Com as the current episode on Sunday.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Obviously you don't participate in the "Lost" threads, or other threads that have a decent sized fan following, but in order to keep episodes "fresh" for people who don't watch previews, we ask that members keep discussion of upcoming episode previews in spoiler text. It doesn't matter if the details are online elsewhere. It's a matter of courtesy to accomodate both types of viewers.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Just when you thought you'd seen it all, here comes an episode about a family arguing about sperm donation. Pretty funny stuff, and William's daughter with Holly is finally coming to light.

It's no wonder Kevin hasn't had a good long-term relationship, Kevin's an a-hole in tense situations. Scotty was right for not putting up with that crap.

 

[Jason_V]

I have never gone from laughing hysterically to crying in such a short amount of time. While everyone getting to the cottage at the same time was highly predictible, I couldn't help but bust a gut over the reactions everytime someone else showed up.


You would think that after last week's fiasco about Kevin paying Scotty's wage for the night he would have reigned everything in. Telling Scotty to support him or shut up is definately a deal breaker and I hope, for his dignity and pride, that Scotty tells Kevin to F off and walks away. Kevin, it seems, is so used to being right that he can not accept any kind of criticism.

His sob story at the end with Kitty about it being hard knowing he was gay all his life...sorry, it's no justification for being as rude and cruel as he is. Millions of people go through the same thing-and worse-and don't abuse people the way he does.

 

[Kong Chang]

Kevin needs a good slap of reality when it comes to dating. That was so rude and vicious of him to yell at Scotty. Even I would have left if he didn't respect my opinion. Scotty is not in the next 2 eps accordingly

This episode was really well done. Hopefully, people now can branch off into their own worlds now that family time will be more limited.

 

[Patrick Sun]

This was a pretty strong episode, interweaving Kitty's account of 9/11 with Justin being recalled to serve in the war effort in Iraq; couple that with Nora taking the next step with the contractor, and Sarah reaches out to her step-son and in the process getting the idea of William's password to the account, and Kevin inserting his foot in mouth once again but manages to keep apologizing in the right manner to reach out to Scotty. Oh, and loved it when Sarah calls Saul "old man" as she storms off from Holly's place after finally confirming Rebecca's paternity and getting Holly's side of the story, but the situation still incenses Sarah. Justin returns to the only thing he know that removes him from the pain of living.

I don't know why, but seeing Tom Skerrit as William on the show now is weird because we now know what a cad he was, living 2 lives as it were.

 

[Jason_V]

The MINUTE Kevin told Scotty "now we're equal", I wanted to reach through the TV and slap him. After trying to pay Scotty to be his date AND telling him to shut up last week, you would think Kevin would be just a bit careful about what he said. The ending of that story-with Kevin apologizing on the phone-was really well done if only for the reason Scotty did not take him back immediately. There needs to be fallout from this.

I usually don't have these kinds of reactions, but seeing the flashbacks to 9/11 and the immediate aftermath were very hard to watch. They weren't explicit or violent in any normal way; I think it was a combination of how they were put together and the subject matter.

One thing I am baffled about: the lack of screen-time for Tommy and Sarah. Not that I don't find the Kevin/Scotty storyline to be engrossing, but both of those characters seem to get shortchanged an awful lot. Tommy especially...even after last week.

I am not looking forward to the inevitable month or two of repeats which should be coming soon...

 

[Marty M]

It was nice to see the flashbacks with Tom Skirrett. I hope they do more of this. B & S is becoming one of my guilty pleasures this season.

 

[Luis Esp]

When I first saw the commercials for this show, I said no way is it going to be good, much less stick around after 2 shows.

Now I'm hooked.

With the Scotty and Kevin storyline, I got the impression that Scotty's goodbye was a final goodbye...or maybe I'm just projecting that I'm going through the same thing, well something like it.

I think the writers need to scale back on the many subplots they touch upon each week. Maybe focus on one or two main story lines giving each character more air time.

 

[Jason_V]

I dunno, I actually like getting the story doled out piece by piece every week. Clearly the pension fund story was designed to be wrapped up by episode 13, but the surrounding stories are the ones that are going to carry the rest of the season. The pension fund is just the backdrop. The idea of seeing a little of everyone in every episode gives the show some lightheartedness in an otherwise very somber and depressing series.

 

[Kong Chang]

The final bye scene is actually an "open-ended" bye. This way this gives the writers/creators freedom depending on fanfare. If the fans love Scotty, they'll bring him back. If the fans don't like Scotty, then they will introduce a new love interest for Kevin. However, I think a lot of fans really do love Scotty (and the fans love the tabloid news surrounding Luke MacFarlane, but we won't go into details here), so hopefully we won't see the last of Scotty or the actor, Luke MacFarlane. Hopefully more fans are writing to the production offices saying they love Scotty. I'm gonna be sending mine this week.

Speaking of fanfare, Rob Lowe is signed on for 6 episodes for Brothers & Sisters, and depending on fanfare, if the fans love his character, they execs will try to extend his stay on the show, if the fans don't, then 6 eps is all he gets.

So yeah, fans do have a voice and say as to who stays and goes from a show.

As for Tommy and his wife, they are getting shortchanged a bit. It's sad since I do like their characters but they really need to do something more with them other than the baby and pregnancy part. I think Tommy will be more involved with the whole Justin going to war.

One good thing about this episode is that we **finally** get to see the order of the siblings, as written down by Sarah. And I made a mistake, and I thought Kevin was older than Tommy and it's vice versa. Tommy just doesn't come off like an older brother though.

Other good parts about this episode was all the scenes with Sally Fields. If this woman doesn't get some noms or wins for awards next year. I think I'm gonna castrate the academy.

I believe ABC plans to showcase Brothers & Sisters through half of December (since Nov. 26, there is no Brothers & Sisters because ABC has planned the 1st of Boston Legal's 2 parter episode in that time slot) before coming back strong in January in time for February sweeps.