"Brothers and Sisters": More Than a Family Affair
By Simisola Komolafe, 09.27.06

With an all-star cast including Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths, expectations were high for a quality show. But ABC’s premiere of the drama “Brothers and Sisters” fell slightly short of the hype on Sunday night.

It seems executive producer Ken Olin and scriptwriter Robin Baitz attempted to pack too much too soon into the first hour of this series. We are given a mini snapshot into each character and the issues they face, but the characterization happens so fast it becomes difficult to digest everything that is taking place.

The series follows the Kitty Walker (Calista Flockhart) return to California to celebrate her 38th birthday with her family. The family reunion is lighthearted and fun loving until we are introduced to Kitty’s mother Norah (Sally Field) and tensions between mother and daughter arise.
One of their first interactions plays out like this:
“You don’t want to talk? What kind of response is that?” Kitty says.
“It is the only kind of response we can have right now.” Norah replies.

Each member of the Walker family struggles to deal with unresolved issues from their past. What is disappointing is many of the characterizations are stereotypical. Of the three brothers, Tommy (Balthazar Getty) is the womanizer, Kevin (Matthew Rhys) the gay lawyer and Justin (Dave Annable) plays the recovering drug addict. The sisters also play their designated parts as the staunch conservative (Kitty) and Sarah as the powerhouse business woman.

Despite their typical portrayals, the characters make for good TV. “Brothers and Sisters” has plenty of promise for a drama filled with many twists and turns.

The theme that things are not always as they seem will appeal to families who understand that dysfunction goes on when nobody is looking. “Brothers and Sisters” is worth a tune in next week to watch how the family secrets unfold.

ABC Sunday nights @ 10:00pm