Brothers & Sisters

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[edit] Brothers & Sisters Basic Info

Running time 41 minutes

Starring

Season 2 cast:
Dave Annable
Kerris Lilla Dorsey
Sally Field
Calista Flockhart
Balthazar Getty
Rachel Griffiths
Rob Lowe
Sarah Jane Morris
Matthew Rhys
Ron Rifkin
Emily VanCamp
Patricia Wettig

Country USA

Network ABC

Original run September 24, 2006 - present

No. of Seasons 2

No. of Episodes 34

[edit] Review

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[edit] Website Links

[edit] Brothers & Sisters More Info

Brothers & Sisters is an Emmy Award-winning American dramatic television series which centers around the upper class Walker family and their lives in Los Angeles, California.

It premiered on ABC on September 24, 2006 after Desperate Housewives and airs Sundays at 10 P.M. The acting ensemble includes two-time Oscar-winning actress Sally Field, Golden Globe-winning actress Calista Flockhart, and Emmy- and Oscar-nominated actress Rachel Griffiths. Sally Field won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in the series. Rachel Griffiths was also nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

On February 11, 2008, ABC picked up Brothers & Sisters for the 2008-09 television season. <ref>http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003709560</ref>

[edit] Overview

[edit] Premise

The show is centered around the Walker family, an American family of Irish and Jewish heritages. Some of the family members are involved in the family-owned business running Ojai Food Co., a produce distributor. Most of the action is set in the Greater Los Angeles area. The family home is located in Pasadena, California. The main branches of the Walker family tree included father William (who is deceased) (guest star Tom Skerritt), mother Nora (Sally Field), and their five children. Nora's brother, Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin) helps run the Walker family business and is involved in most of the family's affairs.

The Walker siblings are, in birth order:

Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), a working mom and President of the Ojai Food Co.
Kitty (Calista Flockhart), one of the only Republicans in the family (like her father), works as communications director for Senator Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe) of the same party, who is currently running for President of the United States.She is also married to the Senator.
Tommy (Balthazar Getty), also a Republican and CEO of Walker Landing Wine.
Kevin (Matthew Rhys), a gay lawyer
Justin (Dave Annable), a veteran of the Afghanistan war and recovering drug addict
Rebecca, (Emily VanCamp), the half-sister of the Walker siblings, who is William's child with his mistress Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig)

[edit] Plot points

The show's narrative launched with the death of William Walker at Kitty's birthday party. His death causes a number of secrets from his life to be revealed - secrets that impact the remainder of his family.

On the business side, Sarah, Tommy, and Saul, who are the most involved people with the family business, learn that William embezzled the company funds. The business revelation pales, however, to two major revelations on the personal front: William had a mistress, actress Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig) that he kept for decades, and the couple had a child, Rebecca (Emily VanCamp). After Tommy finds out that his dad was going to open a winery for Tommy to run, he joins Holly in opening Walker Landing Wine. After that, Tommy no longer works at Ojai Foods Co..

Aside from the siblings' spouses, several love interests for the characters have been featured, such as the addition of former West Wing actor Rob Lowe as Robert McCallister, a Senator from California who is running for President.

[edit] Production notes

The series is from producer Ken Olin (thirtysomething and Alias) and Jon Robin Baitz, one of Broadway's most prominent playwrights (The Substance of Fire). Noted producer Greg Berlanti was also an executive producer and "show-runner" during season one. Berlanti continues to serve on the series as consulting producer however Mark B. Perry, (The Wonder Years and One Tree Hill) is the current showrunner.

After the series pilot was shot, and the show was picked up by ABC, the series underwent some moderate changes. Most notably, three of the roles were recast:

The Walker family had originally been the March family, and the original matriarch of the show was Iva March, who'd been cast with veteran theater actress Betty Buckley. The role was ultimately renamed Nora and cast with Sally Field.
The character of Kevin had originally been named Bryan, and had been cast with actor Jonathan LaPaglia. Like the current Kevin character, the Bryan version of the character was also gay, but had been married, and was going through a divorce. The Bryan incarnation of the character also had a child, and he and his ex-wife were going through a custody battle.
The character of Jonathan, the man with whom Kitty was involved as the show began, had originally been cast with writer and actor Dan Futterman. They had previously acted along side each other as lovers in the film The Birdcage. The role was ultimately recast with actor Matthew Settle.

As a result of the changes, the show received some negative press, with some critics associating the retooling efforts with creative trouble. This press attention intensified when Marti Noxon, one of the producers working with Olin and Baitz, was let go. [1]

The show has subsequently received some positive press attention for the depiction of the character of Kevin Walker, and the realistic portrayal of a single gay man on television. The Kevin character has had several love interests, and has kissed his boyfriends on-screen.

Cooper's role was recast after the pilot episode.
Robert McCallister was the name of a character on a previous Greg Berlanti production, Jack & Bobby, about a boy who grew up to be the President of the United States. As with Brothers & Sisters, he had a wife named Courtney and a son named Jack.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Current main cast members

Actor	Role
Sally Field	Nora Walker
Calista Flockhart	Katherine "Kitty" Walker McCallister
Rachel Griffiths	Sarah Walker
Dave Annable	Justin Walker
Balthazar Getty	Thomas "Tommy" Walker
Matthew Rhys	Kevin Walker
Emily VanCamp	Rebecca Harper (Joined the cast in season one)
Sarah Jane Morris	Julia Walker
Rob Lowe	Robert McCallister (Season Two, recurring previously)
Ron Rifkin	Saul Holden
Patricia Wettig	Holly Harper
Kerris Lilla Dorsey	Paige Whedon (Season Two, recurring previously)
Maxwell Perry Cotton	Cooper Whedon (Season Two, recurring previously)

[edit] Former main cast members

Actor	Role
John Pyper-Ferguson	Joseph "Joe" Whedon (Season One, recurring afterward)

[edit] Recurring cast members

Actor	Role
Josh Hopkins	Warren Salter (Season 1)
Tyler Posey	Gabriel Whedon (Season 1)
Keri Lynn Pratt	Amber Trachtenberg (Season 1)
Eric Winter	Jason McCallister (Season 1, 2)
Peter Coyote	Mark August (Season 1)
Marika Dominczyk	Tyler Altamirano (Season 1, ?)
Jason Lewis	Chad Barry (Season 1)
Luke MacFarlane	Scotty Wandell (Season 1, 2)
Tom Skerritt	William Walker (Season 1, ?)
Margot Kidder	Emily Craft (Season 1)
Emily Rose	Lena Branigan (Season 2)
Denis O'Hare	Travis March (Season 2)
Danny Glover	Isaac Marshall (Season 2)
Steven Weber	Graham Finch (Season 2)

[edit] DVD releases

Brothers & Sisters - The Complete First Season was released in the United States on September 18, 2007. Special features include an unaired episode, three behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentaries, outtakes and deleted scenes. The DVD was released in Spain on November 20, 2007 (under the name it received on the Spanish Fox channel: Cinco Hermanos - "Five siblings") and in Norway on December 5, 2007. It's scheduled for release in Germany on March 6, 2008 and in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2008.

[edit] Ratings

[edit] USA TV Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Brothers & Sisters on ABC:

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Sunday 10:00 p.m.	September 24, 2006	May 20, 2007	2006-2007	#37	11.0<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

[edit] UK TV Ratings

In the UK, the show fared well at the start for Channel 4 and started on the same viewing figures that Desperate Housewives's third season was for the channel, with around 2.4 million<ref>BARB</ref>. The show aired in the timeslot previously occupied by Desperate Housewives and was promoted heavily on magazine covers. The series debuted on Channel 4 on June 20 2007 at 20:30 with an audience of 2.221m, the second episode was screened the same evening at 22:00 with an audience of 1.443m<ref>CHANNEL4SALES : AUDIENCE DATA : OVERNIGHTS</ref> The series then settled down to a regular audience of around 600,000, quite low for a primetime show, and Channel4 started airing the remainder of the series in double bills from September 2007.<ref>CHANNEL4SALES : AUDIENCE DATA : OVERNIGHTS</ref>

[edit] NZ TV Ratings

The first series debuted in New Zealand on TVNZ's TV2 and received particularly low viewers. This led to TVNZ advertising and promoting the show rather extensively. After the fourth episode, the show gained an average of around 490,000 viewers. The increase in popularity was shown with Brothers and Sisters being TVNZ's first international show to be broadcast free from the tvnz.co.nz/ondemand website, where viewers can stream or download past episodes at any time for free.

[edit] Awards

Australian Film Institute

2007
1. Nominated - Best international Actress (Rachel Griffiths)

Casting Society of America

2007
1. Nominated - Best Dramatic Episodic Casting (Gillian O'Neill & Jeanie Bacharach)

BANFF World Television Award

2007
1. Nominated - Continuing Series (Mistakes Were Made Part 2)

Emmy Awards

2007
1. Won - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Sally Field)
2. Nominated - Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series (Jeanie Bacharach & Gillian O'Neill (casting directors))
3. Nominated - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Rachel Griffiths)

GLAAD Media Awards

2007
1. Won - Outstanding Drama Series

Golden Globe

2008
1. Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Drama (Sally Field)
2. Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Rachel Griffiths)

People's Choice Awards

2007
1. Nominated - Favorite New TV Drama

SAG award

2008
1. Nominated - Best Actress in a Drama Series (Sally Field)

Satellite Awards

2007
1. Nominated - Best Actress in a Series, Drama (Sally Field)
2. Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Rachel Griffiths)
3. Nominated - Best Television Series, Drama

Young Artist Awards