Brothers & Sisters: Season Four

For a long time a prime time soap opera had a well established, highly successful theme to serve as an underlying basis for the driving situations and characters. Just show the lives of the rich and powerful. If you have them succeed then the audience will dream about have such a wonderful life. If they face ruin and disaster the same audience is likely to still tune in just to watch those snobby wealthy folk get pulled down a peg or two. Wealthy families, or at least ones sufficiently above the primary audience’s fiscal status, hold a certain fascination for us regular folks. This venerable format created the audiences’ fascination with people such as Carringtons as the engaged in swimming pool cat fights while wearing evening gowns more costly than the average viewer’s semiannual take home pay. In the current socioeconomic environment the rich are frequently vilified as gaining their wealth by rushing the working class. With government bailouts closing in on the trillions with nearly daily reports of abuses of those funds for the personal aggrandizement of a few, few people want to sit down after a difficult day at work to watch those of privilege complaining about life’s trials and tribulations. ABC once again pulled out a novel bit of programming about four years ago with the series ‘Brothers Sisters’. Like a number of series that one almost went undetected by me until I received the first season’s DVD box set to review. I found myself almost instantly infatuated with the show. After the review was finished I was compelled to go back and watch the entire season again just to savor its formidable enjoyment factor. I was hooked and it has held a place on my DVR season pass list ever since. This is the kind of show that quietly cozies up to you. You might first tune in as a fan of one of the many talented actors or because you are in the mood for solid prime time soap but no matter how you get here the commitment to providing a quality show will keep you coming back.

The series revolves around the Walker family. They ostensible run a produce and wine business, Ojai food. In a very relatable turn the family is fair solvent financially but the downturn in the economy combined with some ill considered financial decisions and a few marital indiscretions has place the company in the position of struggling to survive. In recent years much of the company has been dismantled and is now run by Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig), former ‘B’ actress and long time lover of the late William walker. Initially she was the bitter rival of the surviving Mrs., Walker, Nora (Sally Field) but circumstances and events have helped them to form an uneasy but usually sedate relationship. Part of this is no matter what you say about Holly she has proven to be a savvy business woman. It also doesn’t hinder matters that Holly’s Daughter, Rebecca (Emily VanCamp) is engaged to marry the youngest of the Walker clan Kevin (Dave Annable).is a display of strong soap opera roots Kevin and Rebecca while he was kicking a drug habit during a period of time when they thought that she was the illegitimate daughter of Holly and William. As soon as they realized they were not half-siblings they began to date. As this season opens Kevin is struggling with medical school. He had hoped that the timer he spent as a medic in the army but it is far more difficult to accomplish. Rebecca is busy planning for their wedding so their romantic life is pretty much nonexistent the Walkers do the one thing they are truly good at, circling the family wagons when Kitty (Calista Flockhart) is diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. This bombshell hits right at the same time political rivals attack her husband Robert McCallister ‘s (Rob Lowe) gubernatorial bid by stating he lied about a recent heart attack. Due to his falling grades and concern over Kitty’s health the big wedding is put on hold.

This is an extremely liberal, socially progressive series. There threads that run through the series literally ripped from the headlines such as the same sex marriage of Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane). Much of the time devoted to them is about having s baby with the help of a surrogate. This is not the only gay theme here since Nora’s older brother Saul (Ron Rifkin) belatedly came out of the closet. He is the first to recognize an old enemy of William who is out of jail and looking to have his revenge by destroying the Walkers. One thing that has to be noted about this series is how it is completely honest about its soap opera foundation. There is no embarrassment as they pull out all soap favorites. There are miscarriages, convert business deals and some political intrigue Lowe must have smuggled off the set of The West Wing’. For all these familiar elements what sets this series apart and indeed above the pack is the consistent quality. Throughout the four seasons so far this show has been a platform for some on the best acting on television. First of all having Ms Fields back on TV is a coupe for the producers and a true treat for us. She has such an incredible command of her talent and ability to become her character that it is a joy to watch her. Even in the silly gag that has become a series running joke Fields owns the screen. That gag is the fact that just about every dinner party thrown by the Walkers ends in a disaster; typically rapidly degrading into an all out food fight. This is a blend of comedy and drama that is mesmerizing to watch. It is also satisfying on some emotional level to see an upscale television family worry about the economy. It does help to foster character identification with the audience. The Walkers become a strange family you could hang out with never getting bored.