Brothers & Sisters

Five questions about last Sunday’s episode, “36 Hours,” still rattling around in my brain — and in this blog’s comments:

1. Where are they going with Robert? On the one hand, our political Boy Scout made it clear that he considers shading or twisting of the truth to be outright lying, and declared himself supremely ambitious. On the other hand, he encouraged his fiancee to believe that he wants children when he is, at the very least, conflicted on that point, and told her that she is more important to him than any campaign. Do we have here Just Another Lying Man, or a guy who’s used to knowing what’s Right in any situation and can’t seem to find it here? Erin and Nathan, in the comments to my First Impressions post, think that Robert’s starting to have doubts about whether being “the most ambitious man you will ever meet” is a good thing, and realizing that he may have been giving up too much in putting politics before family. I do hope that’s where we’re heading, and I’m taking a little encouragement from the facial expression on Travis when Robert made his ambitious declaration. It seemed to not so much be one of respect or fear but of, “Boy, buddy, are you deluded” — almost of sympathy. For someone who’s identified himself by his ambition, having love turn all that upside down must be a fairly disorienting experience. I hope he gets his feet under him soon.

2. Speaking of facial expressions, what did that look on Kevin mean when he saw Scotty had left pastries for him? According to comments on the Recap post, Shane thought it was “A sorta ‘Gee I picked the wrong guy’ look,” while Nathan “took Kevin’s look to be reiterating his earlier conversation with Tommy about Scotty living with him being a bad idea. Pastries = Temptation.” Myself, I thought it was a “Dang, I was going to ask him to leave, but he’s done this nice thing and I can’t” look. Maybe Lena should have made her famous French toast.

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As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the “36 Hours” episode.

Robert: Who’s the King of Pork?
Melanie: He’s the president of the Domestic Pork Boosters of America.
Robert: He’s a king and a president. I like that.

Robert: I was hoping you’d let me carry you around in my pocket all day.
Kitty: You’ll be be fine, just be patient, and don’t fire anybody.

Kitty: We just want to have an honest conversation.
Justin: Honest? Then why the ambush?
Nora: Honey, that was the only way to get you here.
Justin: Mom, I live here! You didn’t need to turn this into a sting operation.

Justin: Okay, look, fine, maybe it got a little out of hand, but it’s nothing I can’t deal with.
Kevin: Deal with? Would you like to be a little more specific, like when and where?
Justin: I don’t know, Kevin, not today, I have plans.

Saul: Justin, we know you’re angry.
Justin: Oh, you do? Wow, that’s insightful. Maybe you guys should have brought in a professional, because that level of observation, me being “angry,” is a little lame.

Justin: Oh, wow, look, it’s almost lunchtime. Isn’t this like Walker happy hour for you guys? Maybe you should crack open a few bottles of wine so you can actually sit in a room without killing each other. You know what I think? I think it’s all of you guys that have the problem.

Kitty: What? What, Justin, go ahead. Go ahead, say it. Say it, what is it. What is it, because I’m here. I’m bleeding and I’m aching because I’ve just had a miscarraige, but I’m here, and I’m dealing with you, and I’m dealing with your addiction. So what is it, what is it, tell me? Tell me, come on. What is that I’m doing that isn’t all about how much I love you.

Robert: So when exactly did you become a vegetarian?
Sophia: Well, my boyfriend is, and so …
Robert: You have a boyfriend?
Sophia: I did, but I broke up with him. … I met an older boy I like way better.

Holly: (regarding Lena) Saul, I don’t think she stops working on Saturday.

Nora: He agreed to get better. He didn’t agree to enter a facility.

Justin: I’d like to detox without taking anyone else down with me. So, I can do it here, if you guys can help.
Kevin: You know what, as fun as that sounds, we’re not qualified.
Justin: Qualified to do what? Watch me throw up? Get the shakes?

Justin: You guys don’t have to sit here staring at me waiting for me to grow fangs and hair on my face.
Sarah: Well, then, who’d chain you to the radiator and poke you with a stick?

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Towards the start of this episode, when Rebecca tells her mom that Justin’s using again and Holly tells her she owes it to Nora to speak up, it looks like this episode is going to be all about wrangling Justin into treatment. The next scene shows him barging into the workplace of the grinning guy from the rehab place, the one whose advocacy of being “high as a kite” made the use-again lightbulb go on over Justin’s head, and getting all pushy and desperate about scoring more pills. Ooh, looks like the boy’s heading toward hitting bottom. And his family’s going to make sure he bounces off of it.

And indeed, Rebecca calls him to set up a meeting that’s really a set-up, and the other Walkers get called in to confront, and when Justin arrives, he’s barely in the door before he gets caught digging through Nora’s purse for pills. The stage seems to be set for a real soul-baring struggle that should easily take up the episode. There’s only one thing wrong: Justin’s a lightweight. A marshmallow. A cream-puff. Was this maybe the shortest intervention in the history of telegenic substance abuse?

Okay, he was able to drive away Rebecca, the only family member who’s lighter-weight, at this point, than he. That got Holly out of the room, too, though surely she’s not much disturbed by Walkers calling her names anymore. The rest of the malice he spewed, though, was kind of old news. Sarah losing custody of her kids? Got it back already. Kevin can’t have a relationship? Having one. Everybody drinks too much? That’s a point of pride, buddy. So bad is Justin at being hateful that he can’t even think of anything mean to say to Kitty, or can’t bring himself to say it maybe. Regardless, he surrenders before he’s really even begun to fight.

That puts his family in a bit of a quandary, actually, because they didn’t seem to have much of a plan beyond luring him to come to his own house in such a way that he knew Rebecca had ratted him out. Maybe they were expecting a longer siege, too. At least until Tommy could come and have Justin tell him, what, Dad wanted Sarah to have the business instead of him? Just in case Justin gets a second wind, Saul’s still calling around looking for Tommy, and Holly clues him in that he might be at Lena’s, “working” on a Saturday, wink, wink. Lena doesn’t do a very good job of covering up when Saul phones in and says it’s an emergency — she hands the phone right over to Tommy, thereby ending their, ahem, weekend work.

Kitty, meanwhile, is calling doctors and setting up rehab, but Justin and Nora have another idea. Home rehab! You know, they’ve got all the rest of this episode to fill, they have to do something. Why not confine everybody to the Walker manse with a puking, detoxing brother to argue over? It’s not exactly a party, but it will have to do.

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Okay, so are we done with tormented junkie Justin now? Seven episodes from maybe dead to healed and detoxed? Fine. He’s more fun when he’s clean and sober. Although … will he now be going back to war? Even if the story he spun to Rebecca about wanting to go back to battle was just a drug-fueled rationalization, will the army expect his return? Are we in for another clean-up/called-up cycle? What would you like to see Justin do next? They’ve not been able to come up with much for this character beyond crisis.

This episode was quite the whirlwind of plot turns and twists and confessions and contradictions. The actors sold it, and the writing had some really nice flourishes. And yet, it seemed like an awful lot to be stirred up in one episode, like they were taking November sweeps literally and brushing all the dirt out from under the rug. Tommy’s caught in an affair! Saul tells Nora he was in love with a man! Kevin hasn’t heard from Jason at all! Robert’s lying to Kitty! With the addiction and custody plots dispatched, it’s like we’re getting set up now for Season 2.1.

Generally, I’m not nuts about the plotlines they’re setting up for that — Tommy feeling the repercussions of his affair, Saul taking out his life choices on everybody else, Kevin trying not to screw up a relationship in the face of real challenges, Robert lying to Kitty about his desire for more kids. This show is all about the secrets and lies, and sometimes I wish people could just be happy for, like, two minutes.

I have a little hope, though, for Nora’s future storyline. If she’s serious about moving on from being Justin’s smother-mother, that would be a very good thing. It would be interesting, and good for both of them, to develop an adult relationship. Nora was driving me crazy for most of this episode, being so incredibly and blindly enabling. The turning the lock on the door scene was a good one, as was the one by the pool. It looks from casting notices, anyway, that her story may be turning back to finding some romance for herself. Let’s hope they do better than last season, when one romance was cut short and the other wasn’t short enough. Can you imagine the Walker kids having to deal with a serious boyfriend for Mom, much less a stepdad?

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The last couple of Brothers & Sisters episodes haven’t exactly been walks in the park, but they’re looking like a day at the spa compared to “36 Hours,� tonight’s knock-down-drag-out intervention session for druggie Justin. Confrontations! Secrets! Yelling! Shameless plays for Emmy nominations! They’re all on display tonight, by all appearances, and I’m going to go with it. But they’re going to need a road trip or a party or a wedding pretty soon along here.

Depending on your feelings about previews and spoilers, there’s enough material on the ABC site for the show now to a) whet your appetitle or b) ruin the suspense. Four, count ‘em, four previews are ready and waiting to tease you with dramatic moments, though I’ll warn you, one of them has Tommy giving Lena a foot massage or something, and I really didn’t need to see that. Of course, the same scene finds Tommy pretty much busted by Saul, and one of the other previews shows Kevin confronting him, so maybe the days of dallying with the help are done, please, please, please.

According to the press release for the episode, Justine Dorsey, sister of Kerris Dorsey, who plays Paige, is returning as McCallister’s daughter Sophia (it was Sophia, right, and not “Sophie� as listed in the press release?). I wonder whether her presence will bear in some way on the senator’s quandary over having kids with Kitty. One preview shows his fiancee asking him pretty directly to confirm that he does want kids, and he has a look on his face like, “Boy, I was hoping I could put off this conversation for at least a few more episodes.� Will he answer like a straight-shooting candidate or waffle like a sleazy politico? And more importantly, will hanging with his petulant daughter make him want to try again or cease all further procreation?

There’s a heavy implication in the previews that we finally get to some sort of Saul revelation this week, with Saul saying “We all have our secrets� and Nora looking shocked … but I’m thinking it’s a tease, and they’ll keep drawing out this storyline. There’s a pretty chilly scene between Saul and Kevin in the previews, with Kevin still trying to prod his uncle out of the closet and Saul beating him about the head with hangers. I guess, having complained last week about stories being rushed, I can’t gripe too much about stories going too slowly. But I can gripe a little.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, 36 Hours, preview

The Writer’s Guild strike is in its sixth day now, with no amenable end in sight. Brothers & Sisters creative types have been in the forefront of the strike news. Here’s a round-up of some of the action.

Jon Robin Baitz continues to talk about the strike on his Huffington Post blog, articulating the writer’s cause and providing a fairly adorable anecdote about Ron Rifkin explaining to a French reporter, “in perfect French, that he is here ‘because without the word, what is there?…There is nothing…’ It is capped by a perfect Gallic shrug, as good as any Parisian who knows the truth is the truth is the truth.”

Baitz also made news by writing a letter to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger imploring the former actor to intervene in a strike that stands to lose the state hundreds of millions of dollars. He even mentions the set visit the governor made to the Brothers & Sisters set a while ago.

Sally Field was among the actors expressing support for the writers. She told CBS News what might happen if the show had to go on without the scribes: “It’ll be all the actors just going — ‘That doesn’t work. You say that and then I’ll say this’ — and lord knows what’s going to turn out.”

Watching With Kristin on the E! site describes Field on the picket line “encouraging her Brothers & Sisters boys Matthew Rhys, Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty to join her in talking to the press about the issues at hand. (BTW, she couldn’t have been more Nora Walker to her onscreen sons in that moment, and it couldn’t have been more awesome for us die-hard B&S fans to see.)” There’s a cute photo of Field, Rhys, Annable, and former show-runner Greg Berlanti to go with it.

Also in the E! item is word that Rachel Griffiths brought coffee and sunscreen to the walking writers, and that the show will have 12 episodes done when production halts, assuming no agreement is reached by then. That means, with Episode 6 last week and Episode 7 coming on Sunday, we’re about halfway to doomsday.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, writer’s strike, Jon Robin Baitz, Ron Rifkin

Bad enough the writers’ blog Bloggers & Sisters is unlikely to have new posts for the duration of the Writer’s Guild strike. Now, three posts that were there have disappeared.

The fact that those posts specifically referenced the strike — one short one that tipped me off to the strike’s likelihood, another that thanked the fans and said so long, and a third from a couple of weeks ago that featured some strike-related worrying — is a little fishy, no? It’s not like those posts were shaking a fist at the mighty network or anything. What they mostly did was express worry and anxiety over all the repercussions of striking. That ABC would pull them, with direct links displaying only a cold “Not Found” page, is … sad. And annoying. And kinda maddening. (If your curious now about those posts, you can read them, for the moment anyway, thanks to Google’s cache; they’re here, here and here.)

The other two B&S blogs are also presumably down for the count, although since they were nothing personal they haven’t been edited in absentia. The grating, faux reality McCallister and Me blog hasn’t been updated since October 22, and the writers’ TV Guide blog has been stuck in neutral since October 20. There is a Writer’s Room video on the ABC site for the most recent episode, but it’s kind of half-hearted: One of the writers wasn’t available because she had been up all night working on a script, probably rushing to finish before the strike, and the one who did stop by to speak looked pretty exhausted, too. It will be interesting to see if there’s a video for Sunday’s episode.

None of the B&S blogs and videos have been so very strong that I’ll miss them when they’re gone. But you know, those strike-related posts were some of the most heartfelt and genuine of any of the blog posts ABC’s served up. The fact that they’ve been chopped, as though nobody would notice, says something to me about the network. Not something good, I don’t think.

Brothers & Sisters, ABC, blogs

Five questions about last Sunday’s episode, “Two Places,” still rattling around in my brain today:

1. Can we move Scotty in with Nora? I’ve got the worst feeling about him bunking at Kevin’s. Nora’s got that big house, and with Rebecca moving out now, there’s extra room. He and Nora could bond over cooking, and he’d be saved from sleeping in his car. Without, you know, sleeping anywhere else inappropriate.

2. What would have made you buy Joe’s change of heart? Judging from the comments, some viewers had no problem with the guy who grabbed full custody giving it right back up. For me, it seemed unnaturally quick, like the writers suddenly realized Pyper-Ferguson had another job lined up and they needed to dispatch Joe quick. I’m willing to believe Joe would see that the custody was not working and make a change for his children’s sake, but this is how it would have worked for me: Either give a few episodes’ breathing room between the brutal goings-on of “Domestic Issues” and the change of plans; or show us, in “Two Places,” a scene between Joe and Paige that brings the damage right to his doorstep. Kerris Dorsey seems to be a pretty good little actress; I’d have liked to see if she could drive that one home. Guilting Sarah is too easy, it’s like preaching to the choir. A good daddy-daughter dialog could have given Paige a chance to show that she’s her grandma’s granddaughter.

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As a follow-up to yesterday’s recap, here are some memorable lines from the “Two Places” episode.

Lena: I’ll even make you my famous french toast in the morning, which in the spirit of full disclosure I get from the diner across the street.

Robert: How are you feeling?
Kitty: Great, really great. Except, you know, I’m exhausted and I’m constantly fighting the urge to vomit.
Robert: Aw, I wish I could be there. I would hold your hair back while you puke.
Kitty: You know what, you’re so romantic.

Kitty: Operation Puppy is proceeding as planned.
Robert: Must we call it Operation Puppy.
Kitty: Well, Operation Shotgun Wedding Because the Condom Broke just doesn’t have the same ring.

Scotty: I’d really rather not do this here.
Kevin: I’d rather not stalk my friend for him to talk to me, but I’m here.
Scotty: My tuition was due, so I fell behind on my rent … and my car insurance, and my phone bill.

Kevin: You’re homeless.
Scotty: Oh, I like to think of it as being between homes.
Kevin: Look, I have … I’ve got an inflatable mattress. You should come stay with me.
Scotty: Are you really sure there’s room for me with all our baggage?
Kevin: I have a boyfriend and I’m in love, so …
Scotty: And your missionary really won’t mind?
Kevin: If he’s going to be looking after poor schoolchildren, the least I can do is shelter a struggling … culinary artist.

Nora: Kitty’s much more of a traditionalist than that.
Justin: Except for the fact that she got knocked up before the “I Do’s”
Nora: Well, yes, except for that.

Isaac: People like celebrity weddings. Political weddings … the last one that meant anything was Charles and Diana, and look how well that turned out.

Nora: You should have seen this child, four years old, she put a dishcloth on her head pretending it was a veil, walked down the aisle, as if to Prince Charming.
Kitty: That was Kevin.
Nora: It was both of you.

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Still reeling from that emotionally powerful episode last week? Here’s a cold splash of water to the face: Tommy. In Lena’s apartment. Sneaking out without sleeping over. As he has before. Now, if after his leaving, Lena had choked to death on a piece of her famous french toast that she actually buys from the diner across the street, this scene might have been tolerable. No such luck, though, because she’s back later in the episode to flirt drunkenly with Justin.

It wasn’t Rebecca’s idea to get them together, exactly; Nora had suggested finding a nice single friend for her half-brother, but it appeared she was planning to go out with her old friend alone before Justin invited himself along. And golly, if he and Lena didn’t hit it off. Justin wasn’t drinking, but he was pretty free with the pills when Rebecca walked away from the table, and Lena was pretty happy to get him to share them with her. Later, when Justin went so far as to kiss her, Lena asked him to back off — I mean, she’ll sleep with a married man, and she’ll flirt with his brother, and she’ll take prescription medications not meant for her or the person dispensing them, but the girl’s got some scruples, you know?

What the Justin-Lena action is good for is kicking Rebecca in the rear and getting her moving out of the Walker house. When it was Holly telling her she should stop playing nursemaid and do something for herself, Rebecca was having none of it. But seeing Justin, obviously high despite his giving her grief for suspecting it, and flirting with another pretty girl besides, is enough to make her realize that watching The Hills all day is not, in fact, a life. Despite Justin’s incredibly lame excuses and self-justifications, she packs her things and moves home with mother. (Hope Kitty’s going to count those shoes and make sure none walked away.)

Also in for a change of lodging is Scotty, who paid his cooking school tuition instead of paying his rent, and is now essentially homeless. Kevin comes to the rescue with the offer of an air mattress on his floor, and although I’m sure we all fervently hope in our hearts that he immediately called Jason and explained the situation and got the Reverend Boyfriend’s blessing, there’s plenty here to make us worry that the big flashing Plot Device sign that Lena shared with the Ridges is now being FedEx’d to Scotty.

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There’s a cute little item in the Los Angeles Times blog about the writer’s strike regarding two Brothers & Sisters stalwarts. According to the post, titled “He’s a Writer First” and filed at 9:53 a.m., Jon Robin Baitz was among those hitting the New York picket lines this morning, marching in front of Rockefeller Center. Although he’s a producer as well as a writer, he is, as the title suggests, “a writer first.”

Joining him on the picket line was Uncle Saul himself, Ron Rifkin, demonstrating solidarity between actors and writers. “There’s nothing for actors to do if we don’t have writers,” Rifkin is quoted as saying, and if he didn’t know that before, he sure must have learned it last season when the writers couldn’t seem to figure out how to write for his character.

My favorite quote from the post, though, is this one from Baitz about the inevitability of compromise: “I think we will face some very bad days and pernicious scheming, but at the end of the day, there’s no getting around it.” Very bad days and pernicious scheming? Sounds like a good Brothers & Sisters plot. I’m thinking Holly must be involved somewhere.

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OK, let me get this straight. Joe planned for at least a month to wrest custody from Sarah. He sneakily got referrals from everyone who works with the kids. He got a barracuda lawyer, ambushed his estranged wife with a demand for full custody, remained impassive as the lawyer discredited Sarah, as Sarah pleaded with him to change his mind, and as he removed the kids from her home.

And now, after Paige runs away — while in Sarah’s care — he’s suddenly all “never mind”?

Is it just me, or does this sort of make last week’s episode a complete waste of time?

That’s not even the only “never mind” this week. Kitty’s pregnancy, so poignantly introduced last week, was a plot-cut-short too. It may have political reverberations, if Isaac’s right about an opponent spinning it as an abortion; and it may have personal reverberations, with Robert’s admission that he didn’t really want a kid. But the way this season is going, those will probably be wrapped up in a single episode, too.

I’m beginning to think this show has a serious case of ADD, because it can’t seem to focus on any one story for long. That’s good sometimes, because I wouldn’t have wanted, say, the William embezzlement plot to drag on any longer than it did. But it tends to burn through a lot of good promising material awfully fast.

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Your presidential campaign is picking up steam, but about to get derailed by an unplanned pregnancy. Who’re you gonna call? A character played by Danny Glover, apparently. The actor makes his debut in tonight’s episode, “Two Places,” as political consultant Isaac Marshall, whose first order of business is to get the candidate married off to his expectant fiancee on the double.

You have to plan a wedding in two days. Who’re you gonna call? Nora Walker, obviously, though it appears from the previews on the ABC site that the mother of the bride calls her own self in to argue against a businesslike union under fluorescent lights and for a romantic ceremony in her overworked backyard. Sparks fly between her and Marshall, and we shouldn’t be surprised if a romance develops — any man who puts an event like this in Nora’s hands, especially over the protest of one of her children, is going to have a place in that woman’s heart for sure.

What else can we expect from tonight? The press release promises (threatens?) that “the Walkers suffer a very tragic, private loss,” and “Sarah is forced to reevaluate her custody arrangement.” I suppose it’s unrealistic to hope that these two are linked, and that the tragic loss is Joe getting hit by a bus. More likely, I suspect, it involves the reason for that quickie wedding becoming less urgent. There’s a doctor and a nurse on the release’s guest-cast list, so something medical seems likely.

There are three previews in all on the ABC site, two focusing on Glover’s arrival and wedding planning, the third showing some scenes of Justin, Lena, and Rebecca out on the town, with Lena talking obliquely about her “boyfriend” and how all they do is … well, let’s just say that the yuckiness factor of this storyline is through the roof. Maybe the tragic loss could be Lena getting hit by a bus? ‘Cause I feel like we’re getting hit by a bus every time she’s involved in the plot.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Two Places, preview

Some Brothers & Sisters news to occupy us while we cross our fingers that a last-minute bargaining session might avert the writer’s strike now scheduled to begin a minute after midnight on Monday morning.

On a cheery note, AfterElton is reporting that Eric Winter is indeed skedaddling right back to B&S after the wreck of Viva Laughlin, and will be appearing as soon as Episode 11 (for reference, tomorrow night is Episode 6). There’s kind of a melancholy interview with Winter on Hollywood Joe in which he shares how much he loved Laughlin and how, while he understands B&S fans wishing it poorly, he would have liked it to last. It makes me feel a little guilty … but not that much, ’cause I’m busy doing a little yes! dance that Jason is coming back. (Thanks to Scott for e-mailing me about the AfterElton item, and assuring me that the strike will probably not derail his comeback episode.)

Greg Berlanti, who left as B&S show-runner to start Dirty Sexy Money, will be splitting his creative self up some more by taking on directing duties for a Green Lantern movie (one of his co-writers will be Marc Guggenheim, who according to IMDb co-wrote the “Three Parties” and “Mistakes Were Made Part 2″ episodes of B&S.) Sure hope this doesn’t mean Berlanti will be even less involved in B&S’s creative direction. Of course, if the “S” word happens, nobody may be doing much of anything. Berlanti is quoted in an L.A. Times blog item as expressing concern for his many employees during the potential walk-out. “I want to keep our crew and our actors and everybody working as long as possible to make these shows great. If a strike happens, no one ever wants it to happen, I want the people that work for me to survive it.” I’m not that familiar with the Green Lantern, but doesn’t he have some powers that could be used to, like, overpower evil producers and networks and make them cough up some dough?

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I was working late here on the East Coast when a new blog entry from Bloggers & Sisters popped up in my RSS reader. It’s a short entry, but not exactly sweet: “Happy belated Halloween, people. Things are about to get real weird.” Clicked over to the LA Times site, and sure enough, it looks like it means what I think it means.

The writers are going on strike.

According to the Times, the Writers Guild of America called for the strike at a meeting Thursday night. Formal plans will be announced Friday morning, with the walkout likely to start Monday.

There was some worried blogging about the prospect of a strike on Bloggers & Sisters a few days ago, and Jon Robin Baitz wrote a long, conflicted post about it in his Huffington Post column. It seems to have everyone a little rattled.

Viewers, too. Does this mean we’re going to tune in on Sunday night and find somebody eating bugs or guessing song lyrics? Not right away, anyway. News reports are indicating that most prime time programs have scripts written or produced through the beginning of the year. Late-night shows and daytime soaps will be the most immediate victims. But if the two sides don’t come together soon — issues at stake include increasing writers’ profits on DVD sales and giving them some on online programming — the Walkers may wind up going back to that spa in Ojai for a very long stay in the Quiet Room.

Time to dig out the old “I Survived the Writer’s Strike — Let’s Do Lunch Again” T-shirt I bought the last time this happened. And hope I’ll be able to wear it again real soon.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, writer’s strike