Brothers & Sisters

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — we’ve made it now to the baby of the family (well, if you don’t count that half-sister).

Origins: In the beginning, Justin was an irresponsible vet with a drug problem, a ditzy girlfriend, and daddy issues.

Progress: Over the ensuing season-and-a-half, Justin kicked the drug problem, went back to war, came back from war, got another drug problem, and kicked it again. He also got a better girlfriend, lost the better girlfriend, won the better girlfriend back, gave the better girlfriend up, slept with his brother’s girlfriend, and had all sorts of inappropriate chemistry with his half-sister.

Current Status: Justin’s still an irresponsible war vet, but now with no drug problem and no girlfriend, and, if spoilers are to be listened to and worried over, maybe some “who’s my daddy?” issues.

Concerns: Surely, surely it’s time now for Justin to grow up. Not a lot, he can still be goofy and funny and a teaser of his elderly siblings. But honestly, man, get a job or go to college or find a cause or do something other than live off your widowed mother. It’s getting embarrassing, you know? I’ll admit that I enjoy Dave Annable more on the lighter storylines than the heavier ones, and would be very happy if we never have to go down the warfare and rehab roads again. Or blaze new paternity-doubt trails, either.

Prognosis: In addition to reuniting with paying work, I’d love for Justin to reunite with Tyler, the one respectable girlfriend he’s had. It would be good if he figured out what he wanted to do with his life first, though. Surfing and hanging out? Doesn’t count, dude.

Second Opinion: What should Justin be doing now? Share your thoughts in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Justin, Dave Annable

Including tonight, we have three more Walker-less Sundays before Brothers & Sisters comes back with its new exciting plotlines that promise to leave us dumbfounded. In the meantime, we’ll just have to settle for being dumbfounded by the very fact that a show like Here Comes the Newlyweds has taken over our 10 p.m. timeslot. Not for much longer, though, happily, as tonight represents the next-to-last outing. Just so you know what you’re missing (unless … no, no, surely you’re not watching it, are you?) here’s what an ABC press release has to say about tonight’s newlywed action:

“Here Come the In-Laws” - With just three couples left, the pressure is on to see who will win the jackpot — which is still climbing! The couples are surprised when their parents and in-laws come to visit them so they can spend quality time together, but some awkward moments occur. And the husbands get to know their fathers-in-law better while they build a soapbox racer together.

Hey, I don’t know about you, but I have enough awkward quality time with in-laws on my own without having to watch strangers go through it for money. And … soapbox racers? Really? Wouldn’t you really rather see the scene that would ensue if Tommy and Mr. Ridge had to do something that required the use of power tools? There go the in-laws!

For your Brothers & Sisters fix this week, you can now check out the extremely belated Writer’s Room videos for Episode 11, “The Missionary Imposition,” and Episode 12, “Compromises.” As with most of the “Writer’s Room” segments before them, they’re relatively free of interesting content, and the fact that these episodes were written pre-strike and filmed without the writers present does not help much at all. The writers do admit that it was difficult to scrunch the scripts in under tight deadlines and not be able to do anything during the actual shooting, but there’s not the kind of “Man, that scene between Robert and Jason was so lame, if we had seen how badly it played we would have tweaked it” scoop that we’d surely have wished.

Still, in the absence of actual new Walker mayhem to enjoy, it’ll have to do.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, spoilers

A month ago — a month! — when I started these character check-ups with a close-up on Nora, I failed to account for her many past love interests. Let’s correct that now with a look at the gentlemen and jerks with whom the widow Walker has been keeping company.

David
Nora’s contractor was sweet and on the spot to provide Nora’s first post-William romance. After a few dates, though, they ended things because Treat Williams went off to do another series Nora wasn’t ready to get involved. Prognosis: Seems like she might be ready now, and if she doesn’t move away with Isaac (as if), perhaps it’s time to bring David ’round again. I thought they were cute together, and unlike many of her other beaux, he’s not a complete jerk.

Marc
Speaking of complete jerks, Nora’s writing professor was a book you could judge by its cover — a sleazy older guy with a taste for coeds. Why Nora bought his bull for as long as she did is beyond me. Prognosis: It’s hard to think of anything at all redeeming about this professor storyline, unless it’s the fact that it precipitated a fairly hilarious food fight between Nora and Holly. Hope he’s off for a permanent sabbatical in the Land of Lost Love Interests. Or maybe Malaysia.

Stan
Despite the fact that he was played by Chevy Chase, Stan started out as a surprisingly promising character — Nora’s old high school boyfriend and official First Time, with whom she reunited on a whim. Inviting him to Kitty’s wedding turned out to be a mistake, though; he had an allergic reaction to Republicans that turned him into the sort of inconsiderate airhead you’d expect from a Chevy Chase character. Prognosis: It might have been fun to see Ida put Stan back in his place, but not fun enough to ever, ever bring him back. Ever.

Isaac
Nora’s current main squeeze is another smooth sweet-talking Republican who may be insufficiently concerned with ethics, just like the man she married. We’ve not seen much of their romance, but from all reports, they’ve been getting serious over the strike break. Though some disillusionment on Nora’s part was originally scheduled for the last aired episode, it never showed up. Prognosis: I don’t mind Isaac, though the whispery thing Danny Glover’s got going is a little disconcerting. But unless he’s going to pull up stakes and move to Pasadena, I don’t see much future for the two of them. Like Kitty and Robert moving to the White House, we know that the prospect of any Walker moving far from the family is gonna be a tease.

Justin’s Father
Oh, of course, it’s William, it’s got to be William, right? For it to be anybody other than William would just be too too soapy. But … with all the speculation in the air, we at least have to consider the possibility that there might be a long-ago love interest in Nora’s life with whom we have not yet reckoned. Prognosis: If Justin really was conceived in the Ojai house as Nora said, here’s what I’m wondering: Exactly how old was Tucker Booth at that time, and what was he up to?

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Nora, Sally Field, Treat Williams, Chevy Chase, Peter Coyote, Danny Glove

No, this isn’t another post about the fall-out from the Kevin-Jason breakup, and whether Robert and Kevin will ever be able to put their differences aside and be friendly brothers-in-law. This is about the Sexiest Stars 2008 poll on the TV Guide site. And the fact that the “Sexiest Siblings” category offers a vote-splitting impediment to Brothers & Sisters victory.

First on the ballot in that category is The Walkers. Yay! And second on the ballot? Robert and Jason McCallister. Yay, too! Great to see the show get more than one nomination in any poll, much less in the same category. But it creates a problem, because if B&S fans don’t unite behind one of these choices, it’s going to open the door for some other sibling group to sneak on through.

The other familial contenders are Juliet and Jeremy Darling from Dirty Sexy Money, Nathan and Lucas Scott from One Tree Hill; Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows from Prison Break; and Sam and Dean Winchester from Supernatural.

All those shows can muster up is two sexy contenders each. Ha! We see their sibling pair, and raise them a whole sexy family! That should be good for something, shouldn’t it?

The only other category of sexy that B&S is named in is “Sexiest Pout,” for which Calista Flockhart competes against Evangeline Lilly of Lost, Blake Lively of Gossip Girl, Lindsay Price of Lipstick Jungle, and Vanessa Williams of Ugly Betty.

I’m not sure Calista would be my pick to carry the pouting banner for the show — I’m kind of partial to that wounded look Matthew Rhys gets when Kevin’s pouting — but I’ll vote for her anyway. And I think I gotta go with the whole Walker clan over the extremely fetching McCallister boys; after all, Robert’s a brother-in-law, so that means he should count for the Walker team, too.

It would be nice to see B&S win one of these popularity contests somewhere along the line, wouldn’t it? Honor just to be nominated, yeah, sure, but winning’s good, too.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, TV Guide

Was a time, not so long ago, when we’d be visiting Scotty in a round-up of Kevin’s failed relationships. He’s the only one who’s ever made it back from the Land of Lost Love Interests, and perhaps he’s left some breadcrumbs along the way so that, say, Noah and David can follow him out. Meanwhile, the series of check-ups on Kevin’s branch of the Walker family continues with the ones that got away (and in the case of one, should stay away):

Chad
Soap star Chad had an alleged girlfriend when he and Kevin met at the gym, but that didn’t stop him from taking Kevin to Makeout Point, or dating the guy on the sly. Kevin got to do some of the “more out than thou” routine he had previously gotten himself from Scotty, but when Chad did finally emerge from the closet, he left his relationship with Kevin behind, too. Prognosis: If Chad’s still friendly with the alleged girlfriend, who was a friend of Scotty’s, it’s not impossible that he could one day reappear in a social setting of some sort. But man, let’s hope not. I thought he was pretty insufferable, and certainly did not bring out the best in Kevin.

Jason
We already checked in with Jason as a part of Kitty and Robert’s family tree, but he’s been a big part of Kevin’s plotline, too. Not as big a part as some of us would have liked, of course. Prognosis: Jason’s role as Kevin’s brother-in-law’s brother gives him a ticket out of the Land of Lost Love Interests, so we should see him from time to time. If Scotty ever lifts the “never talk to him” edict, maybe Kevin can find out more about the Malaysian black-magic curse that left Jason unable to call his boyfriend, or to criticize his brother.

The Flying Monkey
Surely Kevin has been doing something all these years besides working and tending to family, but the only old boyfriends we’ve heard about have been the guy who played a flying monkey in Wicked, and the guy whose picture was in Kevin’s office. Maybe the same guy, come to think of it. Prognosis: The flying monkey is good for a running joke and not much else, but it might be fun to see him across the room at Karaoke Night, if only to see if he’s as pretty as the guys Kevin dates now.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Kevin, Chad, Jason Lewis

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — it’s time to consider Kevin’s current significant other.

Origins: Scotty was a whistleblower in a case lawyer Kevin was handling, and a flirtatious one at that. Just to tweak Kevin, Sarah invited Scotty to a typically disasterous Walker dinner party, where his request for the mango peach salsa led into a diatribe by Nora about how she knew all about Holly and William.

Progress: Amazingly, all that family wackiness didn’t deter Scotty from dating Kevin, but Kevin’s later offer to pay for him to go to a benefit dance did. They reconciled, but another family dinner, in which Kevin publicly rejected his advice about donating sperm to Tommy and Julia, proved the last straw … for a while. They reunited briefly on Valentine’s Day night, when Kevin was still dating Chad, then decided to be friends and housemates when Scotty was stuck sleeping in his car. But with Kevin’s then-boyfriend Jason incommunicado in Malaysia, Scotty and Kevin’s relationship heated up.

Current Status: Kevin chose Scotty over Jason, and their relationship looks stronger this time around, with Kevin more confident and Scotty less judgmental. There’s still a lot of insecurity to go around, though, and a little of that goes a long way.

Concerns: Right off the bat, for the B&S producers: Do you have Luke MacFarlane under contract? Because I don’t want Scotty to have to go off for an apprenticeship on the cuisine of Timbuktu so the actor can do a pilot, you know? If there really is a ceremony in this couple’s future, I’d like to see MacFarlane on the list of regulars next season, like all the other spouses. Just as Kevin needs to finally commit to someone, the PTB do too.

Prognosis: I’ve been wanting a higher profile for those spouses in family get-togethers, and Scotty should be a fun part of that. I’d particularly like to see him and Sarah become buddies. That girl could use a friend, and the knowledge that his beau and his big sis are gossiping about him would probably bug the heck out of Kevin.

Second Opinions: Colleen and Sylviane both hated the photo I had here of Scotty, so just to prove that I’m not a sore Team Jason loser, I changed it. Share your own thoughts about Scotty in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Scotty, Luke MacFarlane

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — it’s time to check up on Kevin.

Origins: As the series began, Kevin’s plots tended to revolve around providing legal counsel for Ojai Foods and taking care of Mom.

Progress: Over the first season, Kevin did do some dating, though his relationships mostly played up his lack of relationship skills. His first time around with Scotty ended badly when he told him to shut up in front of the family. He dated closeted actor Chad, but let himself be spooked by the responsibility of being the one Chad came out for. It looked like he was taking a step forward in his relationship with Robert’s reverend brother Jason, declaring love for the first time in our hearing, anyway. Then Jason went to Malaysia and didn’t call, and Scotty came back into the picture, and Kevin broke up with Jason over the phone.

Current Status: Kevin seems ready to make a commitment to Scotty now, even after Jason’s return, even to the point of performing drunken karaoke.

Concerns: I won’t deny, I was on Team Jason, and still think those two make a better match. But if it’s going to be Scotty, then I hope this sticks for a while. That would require both of them to grow up quite a bit, and avoid falling into old defensive behaviors. The challenge will be to make a happy couple interesting without having to throw artificial obstacles in their way. As Tommy and Julia can testify, that’s a difficult thing to do.

Prognosis: Since it all comes back to the family, I look forward to seeing how being in a commited relationship changes Kevin’s interaction with his siblings, from the bachelor brother who’s unlucky in love to someone who functions as part of a couple. I really liked the rapport he and Tommy had in the Justin rehab episode. Maybe they can bond on those nights when their spouses are out with friends (does Julia have friends? does anybody, other than Scotty?)

Second Opinion: Are you looking forward to a future of Kevin + Scotty, or are you still mourning the Malaysian mangling of the Reverend Boyfriend plotline? Share your thoughts about Kevin in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Kevin, Matthew Rhys

Including tonight, we have four Walkerless Sundays, and then the family triumphantly (let’s hope) returns on April 20. ABC’s motto for its mid-season post-strike reboot is “Start Fresh,” and that’s something many folks are hoping the writers will do with this troublesome second season. “Fresh” would also distinguish the returning Brothers & Sisters from what’s in the 10 p.m. time slot now, Here Comes the Newlyweds; an ABC press release offers this description of tonight’s super-stale action:

“Do You Even Know Me?” — Host Pat Bullard asks the four remaining couples probing questions to see how well they know each other, and psychic Joan Marie provides insight into the couples’ future. One of the wives is confronted about her plans to win the jackpot and the husbands are made to go clothes shopping for their wives — without knowing their sizes.

Men not knowing their womenfolk’s sizes! The height of comedy! I don’t need a psychic to know this is going to be a painful hour of television.

As a teeny tiny consolation prize, ABC has put up a preview of Brothers & Sisters on the show’s homepage. It’s super-short, full of old clips, and emphasizing family to the exclusion of some beloved side characters. But there’s probably more to enjoy in those 30 second or so than in an hour of newlywed gamesmanship.

And so we’re left again to amuse ourselves with spoilers, which are coming hot and heavy these days. Click below to have a look at the latest and discuss what it means.

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Surely we don’t want to revisit the mucked-up mutual-infidelity storyline these two got caught in this season. But these former partners are out there, poised to make trouble if our prayers to the writing gods go unheard. The series of check-ups of Tommy and family continues with a look at these misbegotten love interests:

Lena
Tommy’s new office manager was in the right place at the right time when Julia abandoned Tommy and stayed out of touch. When Tommy finally broke it off, just in time for Julia’s return, Lena took Justin as her consolation prize. But she still held a torch for Tommy until he snuffed it out, and she left town. Hooray! Prognosis: I hope I speak for everybody when I say good riddance, Lena, and get lost. I’m not looking for any stories from this Friend of Rebecca in the future, and I will imagine her residing happily in the Land of Lost Love Interests, maybe flirting with Nora’s sleazy old college professor Mark. But if Emily Rose has some sort of blackmail info on a B&S PTB that makes her return inevitable, there could be some small, sad amusement in having her come back pregnant and fixing to make trouble for Tommy, when everybody else will know the baby has to be Justin’s. Being a dad might not be a bad grow-up move for that slacker boy, but I’d much prefer she just leave the infant in a basket on the doorstep and get the heck back out of town.

Julia’s Old Boyfriend
While she was working off her depression with her parents in Arizona, Julia hooked up with an old high school boyfriend. And that’s a little confusing, because on the ABC.com B&S site, Julia’s bio says she dated Tommy in high school, and Tommy’s bio says this about the time after he dropped out of school to work in the family business: “By this time, he had gotten back together with Julia Ridge, his high school sweetheart.” So, was it the Ridges’ move to Arizona during high school that broke Tommy and Julia up, and introduce her to a new HS boyfriend? He’s got to be from AZ, because otherwise Tommy would have known him, and he wouldn’t have had a reason to be around to distract Julia from her grieving. Unless her dad had him flown in to woo her away from Tommy … nah, it’s probably just that the writing hand doesn’t know what the PR hand is doing. Prognosis: And that’s more than I hope we ever have to think about that fellow again. Though I’ll bet that, even as we speak, Mr. Ridge is trying to persuade the guy to pay Julia a visit. As befits the Father-in-Law From Hell.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Tommy, Julia, Lena

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — let’s continue with Tommy’s family and the little boy lost.

Origins: Baby William died shortly after his birth, going to keep company with his grandfather William in … well, Tommy made like both Williams would be going to the same place, but he’s an optimist.

Progress: Though Lizzie’s brother never came home from the hospital, he sure managed to cause some trouble on the home front, with his mother’s mourning causing a rift between his parents. Julia felt that the death of a baby trumped Nora’s worries over Justin, and stayed away from the Walkers because seeing all those brothers and sisters made her think of Lizzie’s missing brother. Finally, she outright blamed Tommy for William’s death and left him.

Current Status: Tommy and Julia and Lizzie are back together now, but there’s not been much mention of the missing little family member.

Concerns: I wish they’d never gone the twin route if they were just going to kill one of them off — it just seems like a cheap way to make a birth dramatic but still have a healthy baby at the end of it. Since they did go there, I have mixed emotions. It would be disrespectful of families who’ve gone through a similar tragedy to just forget Baby William ever existed. But they can’t let him hijack the plot again. Not that mourning was inappropriate in this situation, but Julia’s accusation that Tommy was responsible for William’s death came out of nowhere, and seems to have gone back there. This is something that needs to be talked out, in counseling most likely, and made peace with, in a way that William can be remembered in the future without being a constant marital sore spot.

Prognosis: As Colleen mentioned in the comments on Lizzie’s check-up, there’s a scene ahead marking the youngest Walker’s birthday, and most likely a remembrance of her brother’s death. Perhaps some tradition can be established as a way to commemorate William’s life each year, even if he’s not mentioned much in between. Let’s hope it doesn’t include Kitty naming a boy child after both Williams, though; that name’s jinxed.

Second Opinion: Sylviane thought Julia’s anger at Tommy about William’s death didn’t come so out-of-nowhere after all. What are your thoughts about William? Share them in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, William

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — let’s continue with Tommy’s family and Daddy’s little girl.

Origins: Of the twins born to Tommy and Julia at the end of Season 1, Elizabeth’s the one who survived. Though Tommy’s her dad, her sperm donor was either Uncle Kevin or Uncle Justin.

Progress: We haven’t seen much of little Lizzie, what with her being in the hospital for quite some time, then in Arizona with her depressed mom and maternal grandparents. Grandma Ridge must have been a good babysitter, because Mommy, who was run ragged dealing with Lizzie’s fussing at home, had time to go out and have an affair with some old boyfriend.

Current Status: Elizabeth’s back home with both parents now, and they’ve decided to stay together for her sake. Apparently whatever baby sedatives she was given in AZ are still working, because Mommy was able to go out and have lunch with Daddy and glare at his mistress.

Concerns: It’s been suggested in the comments on Tommy and Julia’s check-ups that we ought to find out who Elizabeth’s biological father is, and more specifically, that it should be Kevin. And the very idea of that plotline makes me want to cry like a, well, baby. I found the whole sperm donor thing to be fraught with soap suds at the time; let’s please don’t bring it up again now. Season 15 or 16, when Lizzie’s an obnoxious teenager with daddy issues, then the writers can have Aunt Rebecca take her for some secret DNA tests. For now? No, no, please no.

Prognosis: I’ve wished ill on this poor defenseless babe by suggesting a special-needs storyline. Sorry, Lizzie. It’s the only way you’re going to get any significant screen time, babe. Short of that, maybe Mom and Dad can take a second honeymoon to Hawaii, and leave you with Aunt Kitty for a while. Do your best to make her rethink this baby thing, ’cause if she goes ahead and has an infant of her own? You’re getting upstaged but good.

Second Opinion: Colleen suggests that Elizabeth and Julia should hang out at the park with Sarah and her kids, and I’d sure love to see these sisters-in-law face down those obnoxious moms. What are your thoughts about Elizabeth? Share them in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Elizabeth

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — let’s continue with Tommy’s family and consider spouse Julia.

Origins: Early on, Julia didn’t have much to do but be supportive, and offer the occasional bit of outsider perspective during sibling confabs.

Progress: Trying to get pregnant, dealing with Tommy’s infertility, and getting shot up with her brothers-in-law’s sperm put Julia in the spotlight a time or two, and dealing with the twins’ perilous birth, baby William’s death, baby Elizabeth’s fussing, and post-partum depression gave her some drama. Yet she’s still seemed like an afterthought. Tommy at least got some screen time from his affair storyline; Julia just disapperaed.

Current Status: Forgiving and forgetting will be easier now that Tommy’s paramour Lena has split town. Marriage counseling, further reconciliation, and parenting challenges apparently lie ahead, possibly offstage.

Concerns: We really don’t know much more about Julia now than we did when the show started, except that her father is an SOB. In this crowded cast, it’s hard to get a foothold, and although Sarah Jane Morris has been an agreeable background presence, she’s not had much of an opportunity to interact with the ensemble. (It would have been nice, for example, for Julia’s return to have been timed so that she could have gone on that bridal shopping expedition with Kitty, Sarah, and Rebecca.) As long as Julia exists only in scenes with Tommy or whole-family scenes, she’s going to suffer in screen time.

Prognosis: I’ve already mentioned, in the Tommy profile, the special-needs storyline I’d like to see for these new parents — being a battling autism mom, say, could give Julia some pretty fierce scenes. But on a smaller scale, I’d like to advocate for the increased inclusion of in-laws in the family circle. Joe and Julia both had trouble breaking out of their spouse’s orbits, but maybe Robert’s presence now will change that. If he needs someone to snark about Walkers with, Julia should step right up.

Second Opinion: Sarah Jane Morris’s mom has a different special-needs storyline in mind, giving Julia a brother with Down syndrome, and a part to the actress’s own brother. Read her posts in the comments, and share your own thoughts there, too.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Julia, Sarah Jane Morris

Continuing on in a series of posts on the characters of Brothers & Sisters — where they’ve been, where they’re at, and where we’d like them to go — we turn today to eldest brother Tommy.

Origins: In the show’s early days, Tommy was the island of respectability and responsibility amidst his siblings’ turmoil. He’d followed his father’s footsteps into the business, and was not happy when William clearly valued Sarah’s business degree over his Ojai experience when putting her in charge.

Progress: Things just got more disappointing for Tommy from there. His infertility forced him to ask his brothers for sperm to impregnate wife Julia. His efforts to get through to wayward brother Justin met with resentment. His efforts to get Ojai into the wine business failed, so he left the company to start his own winery with Holly, his father’s mistress. The winery’s opening ended tragically when Julia gave birth prematurely, and one twin died. In a fit of post-partum depression and mourning, Julia took the other twin and left Tommy, leaving him to find comfort in an affair with his office manager, Lena.

Current Status: The affair’s over now, Julia and baby Elizabeth are back, and both spouses have confessed to infidelity. Tommy and Julia have decided to stay together and get some marriage counseling. And, perhaps, drift back into plot obscurity.

Concerns: Poor Tommy, overlooked middle child. The writers just do not know what to do with him. He was underused in Season 1, and used very badly so far in Season 2. Perhaps his role of upright observer of sibling silliness was usurped by Robert, but the answer to that was not, I think, making him a callous horndog. I don’t know if the problem is that each of the other siblings has a more interesting “hook” for storylines, or that Balthazar Getty’s the least charismatic actor of the bunch … but honestly, if the writers can’t think of something to do with Tommy and Julia, ship them off to run a winery in France and have them call at Christmas.

Prognosis: Before the season started, I had hoped that there might be a special-needs parenting storyline for Tommy and Julia. I still think there’s a lot of dramatic potential there, and it would give them a hook. Could be some juicy Grandma stories in it for Nora, too.

Second Opinion: Scott thinks the writers should keep pairing Tommy with Kevin and Sarah. What are your thoughts on Tommy? Share them in the comments.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Tommy, Balthazar Getty

The series of character check-ups that have taken over this blog will continue tomorrow with a look at Tommy — but as sometimes seems to happen on the show, today Balthazar Getty’s getting bumped in favor of Rob Lowe. This time, it’s just to wish a happy 44th birthday to the actor, who was born on this day in 1964 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In honor of the occasion, I’ve gone back through the memorable lines round-ups for this past season-and-a-dozen, and picked out some choice bits of senatorial dialog. Did I miss one of your favorites? Add it in the comments. (And if you still want to engage in some checking-up today, go back to the post before this one and respond to Colleen’s comment about the show’s middling use of music. I’ll get to it eventually, too.)

From “Mistakes Were Made Part 2″

I have an idea. How about instead of grilling me on my private and intensely painful public divorce on national television, I take you out for an espresso.

From “Family Day”

I’m beginning to think you have either low self esteem or you’re relentlessly fishing for compliments.

See these shoes? I bought them on the Internet. Sight unseen, never had a problem with them. I’m a very good judge of quality, Miss Walker. I know things are going to fit.

What disqualifies you apart from your lack of experience?

From “Sexual Politics”

Taking care of people is not feminine, it’s a privilege and an honor.

My intentions were noble, albeit my execution was lame, ill-conceived and thoughtless.

From “Valentine’s Day Massacre”

There’s still a few hours left in Valentine’s Day. I think we should go find all the happy couples and, you know, throw things at them.

If we both feel the same way about each other, why should I go? And if you say it’s because you work for me, or you’re on a man cleanse, or because I’m recently divorced, or whatever other excuse you’re going to come up with, then I’m here to tell you, you’re about to be out-argued. Because while you were down there dining, I was coming up with a list of counterpoints.

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In case you haven’t been in on the mourning of the past few weeks, no, there is not a new episode of Brothers and Sisters on tonight, and no, nobody’s happy about it. But the strike time must be made up, and we must be made to wait, and April 20 is our target date to get back to the Walkers and away, far away, from programming like this, airing tonight in our 10 p.m. timeslot:

“No Honey, You’re Perfect” — As the competition heats up, the five remaining couples continue to compete for the life-changing jackpot. There is a relationship test to see how well the husbands know their wives’ physical flaws, and an experiment to show off the couples’ parenting skills by spending time with several playful, energetic children. Then the men go grocery shopping, with the women only allowed to describe in broad terms items on the list via cell phone, on Here Come the Newlyweds.

At times like this, I am reminded of the immortal words of Saul Holden, who said:

“I don’t hate golf. I loathe it, I despise it. I would rather spend all eternity at a dinner party seated next to Britney Spears than waste an afternoon lugging clubs around with a bunch of overfed, overprivileged Arnold Palmer wannabes.”

Substitute “reality TV” for “golf” and “Here Come the Newlyweds” for the wannabes, and that pretty much sums up my thoughts on ABC’s B&S replacement fare. Walkers, Walkers, hurry back!

The writers are back on PR duty, anyway. A new post is up at Bloggers and Sisters, but it raises as many questions as it answers, such as:

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