Brothers & Sisters

The good news: Brothers & Sisters has a big cover story in the new TV Guide! Hooray! That’s a pretty nice sign that the show’s buzz is building, and dreams of a second season are likely to come true.

The bad news: The article itself is just kind of icky. Sure, I get that putting Rob Lowe on the cover both sells magazines and draws people to the show, and centering the article around the romance of Kitty and the Senator provides an accessible entrance point into a multi-plotted and somewhat complex show. But the journalistic tone here is somewhere along the lines of “Rob and Calista sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” Really. I mean it. It’s that bad. Here’s the opener: “Let’s start with the kissing. Oh, we know, Brothers & Sisters is the most sophisticated new show in prime time. The ABC drama tackles serious adult issues such as addiction, homophobia, aging, death, blah, blah, blah … ‘So you want to get right to the big question, do ya?’ Rob Lowe says with a laugh. ‘What’s it like kissing Calista?’”

Lowe comes off as pretty knowing and collaborative with this kind of nonsense, and you can’t blame him because he’s been answering smarmy questions like this for decades. Flockhart seems mortified by the demands to talk about how dreamy her co-star is, and you can’t blame her either, because she probably didn’t expect to be sitting down with Tiger Beat. By the way, the writer wants us to know that around the TV Guide office, Lowe’s character is referred to as Senator Dreamy McSquarejaw. Seriously?

Despite a cover line that promises “What’s next for the family,” there’s very little mention in the article of any other characters, and the spoilers are fairly stale. Still, publicity is a good thing, a cover photo is a very good thing, anything that gets anybody to turn on the TV on a Sunday night and watch the show is a very good thing indeed. So, thanks, TV Guide! Fact is, though, of all the message boards and reviews I’ve read about the show, the kissing discussions have specifically not been about the action between Lowe and Flockhart. When the show’s hot enough to get Matthew Rhys and one of his love interests on the cover, then we’ll know we’re getting somewhere.