Brothers & Sisters

And then, almost as soon as they returned, they were gone.

Tonight is the fourth episode of Brothers & Sisters since the post-writer’s-strike return, and the last one we’re going to get until fall — that is, if an actor’s strike doesn’t screw things up further.

What I’m feeling going into tonight’s episode is hope: Hope for the future of Kevin and Scotty, of course, as they tie whatever knot the state of California allows them to; but also hope that the Rebecca situation is settled amicably, hope that the Walkers find some way to foil Holly’s corporate takeover, hope that the threatened secret of William’s is interesting and worthwhile and not something we’re going to get a do-over on next season like Rebecca’s parentage, and hope that this season finale ends on as positive a note as last season’s.

Alright, that’s a lot of hope. But it’s Mother’s Day. Not a day I want to be seething about stupid plot turnarounds and unecessary evils. Hope! There’s always hope. It springs eternal, don’t you know.

To get you into whatever mood you find appropriate for tonight, a few offerings from ABC:

+ The official press release description: “Prior Commitments - Kevin and Scotty make a commitment to be life partners, Saul finally deals with his identity in a public way, and the family discovers that William (guest starring Tom Skerritt) kept yet another painful secret from his family, on the season finale of “Brothers & Sisters,” SUNDAY, MAY 11 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. Guest starring are Tom Skerritt as William Walker, Luke MacFarlane as Scotty Wandell, Michael Adler as Doug Manning, Michael O’Keefe as Wally Wandell, Jayne Brook as Bertha Wandell and Parvesh Cheena as Jordan. ‘Prior Commitments’ was written by Greg Berlanti, Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker and directed by Ken Olin.” In other press release news, it looks like no B&S next Sunday, then a rerun of “States of the Union” on May 25.

+ From the writers: A Writer’s Room video for last week, in which Supervising Producer Sheri Cooper and Story Editor Jason Wilborn describe “Moral Hazard” as the episode in which every storyline explodes, and express a hope that the fans’ feeling of Justin-Rebecca yuckiness will soon die down and we’ll all jump onboard; and a Bloggers & Sisters entry on “Prior Commitments” that promises “the episode does what any finale should do — wrap up one box and hint that there’s another waiting behind it.”

+ A promo on the B&S homepage in which the ABC Voice of Dramatic Inevitability intones, “Sunday: A season finale event with a cliffhanger ending to an incredible season” while we hear snippets of dialog like “Kevin’s getting married!” “She deceived us!” and “Mom, we have something to tell you!” To which I’ll just comment that this sounds less like a hint that there’s another box than it does bashing us over the head with it. But I’m hopeful! Hopeful, yes indeed!

+ A preview that includes a scene with Kevin and Scotty discussing the fact that Scotty’s parents will not be attending their whatever-they-decide-to-call-it ceremony; and a scene in which Sarah accuses Holly of lying about Rebecca’s paternity so that William would leave her money, with the proof being the presence of that extra “R” at the end of his password. Which gives me a bad feeling about the nature of William’s alleged new secret. Hope … fading … must … stay … hopeful.

Assuming you haven’t abandoned all hope for the series, share your thoughts here on tonight’s episode, and I’ll be back during the week with a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

Brothers & Sisters, ABC, Prior Commitments, commentary

My husband likes watching science fiction. And invariably, when I come in the room and find him in the middle of some episode of some space opera, I can tell which scene we’re in: The one in which the oxygen is running out, and the communication system is down, and the enemy is closing in, and the engine’s about to explode, and all hope is lost, and that bunch of regulars, by golly, this time, they’re all gonna die!

That’s sort of where we seem to be with the Walkers, now, isn’t it? The family business is going down! Rebecca has lost her family! Justin’s in love with his sister! All we need is a meteor hurtling toward Pasadena (or perhaps a massive fireball fueled by the heated wrath of fans) to complete the picture. The Walkers, woe is them!

We can only hope that, as with so many scenes of intergalactic doom, things get reconciled unexpectedly in a less than doomsday sort of way. I don’t suppose we can hope for a lab mix-up that wipes this whole de-Walkerizing subplot from the face of the planet, but some honesty from Rebecca and a resolution that relieves Dave Annable from doing the Puppy-Dog Eyes of Forbidden Love all the way into next season would be nice. Likewise, whatever is going to befall the family business, be it financial ruin or rescue by everybody’s worst enemy, let it happen in a fashion that does not necessitate a cliff-hanger.

To get you into the mood for tonight, a few offerings from ABC:

+ The official press release description: “In a surprising twist of fate for the Walkers, Holly becomes the only saving grace for Ojai Foods after a major international business deal goes bad. Meanwhile, Justin delivers some heartbreaking news about a family member, Saul makes a stunning confession and Kevin and Scotty share a life-changing moment, on “Brothers & Sisters,” SUNDAY, MAY 4 (10:02-11:00 p.m., ET). … Guest starring are Luke MacFarlane as Scotty Wandell, Justine Dorsey as Sophie McCallister, Max Burkholder as Jack McCallister, Matt Fletcher as the cashier, Tom Virtue as Dr. Bob Rosen and Paula Rhodes as the B-movie victim. “Moral Hazard” was written by Sherri Cooper-Landsman and Jason Wilborn and directed by Michael Morris.”

+ The preview on the B&S homepage, the same one, I think, that we saw at the end of last week’s episode. To recap: Kitty and Robert try making a baby the old-fashioned way; Sarah says they’re about to lose the family business; Nora says Sarah can’t make mistakes like this; Kevin says to Justin, “You have to stay away from her!”; Rebecca asks Justin if something’s wrong; Rebecca runs away from Justin looking upset; Rebecca tells Holly she’s incapable of loving anybody. And over all of this, the ABC Deep Voice of Dramatic Come-Ons intones, “When the passion is hot and the scandals are juicy, when the betrayal goes deep, and when the desires are forbidden, it’s just another night with the Walkers.” And a singer sings, “Here comes the rest of our lives.”

+ From the writers: A Writer’s Room video for last week, in which Supervising Producer Liz Tigelaar and Consulting Producer Josh Reims seem really pleased about this whole Rebecca paternity business; a Bloggers & Sisters entry that begins “Greetings lovers (and ex-lovers) of our show” and acknowledges that many fans are not so pleased about this whole Rebecca paternity business; and the return, against all that is good and decent, of the McCallister and Me blog, which by all rights should have died with the McCallister campaign. Instead, the blogger has switched from stalking the candidate to stalking Justin and Rebecca. Whatever.

Assuming you’re still watching the show, share your thoughts here on tonight’s episode, and I’ll be back during the week with a review, recap, memorable lines, and five questions.

Brothers & Sisters, ABC, Moral Hazard, commentary

There’s another new episode on tonight — hooray! — in which we, or at least Rebecca, will apparently discover the results of her paternity test — boo? hooray? hard to say. What does look like fun is the prospect of the Brothers Walker out surfing together. The sight of Kevin in a wetsuit on the beach seems as unlikely to me as the sight of Justin on a golf course, but this family’s full of surprises. Maybe too full.

At any rate, if you’re looking for some previews and promos to get you ready for tonight’s trip down Walker way, here’s what ABC has placed at your disposal:

+ A new Writer’s Room video, with David Marshall Grant and Molly Newman discussing “Separation Anxiety.” Sample revelation: Grant’s favorite quote from the episode was Isaac’s “Undecided voters tend to go with the incumbent”; Newman’s favorite was Justin’s “I live here, pant-load.”

+ The ABC B&S homepage also features two promos and a sneak peek. There’s also a silly little cross-promotional interview with Dave Annable and Chyler Leigh of Grey’s Anatomy, in which the two actors pretend to be interested in one another’s characters and experiences. Annable does come off as completely adorable, of course. As always.

+ The writer’s blog Bloggers and Sisters has a short preview of tonight’s episode, a long post about a set visit during the filming of the episode, and another long post about a table read for the first episode of next season.

+ The writers’ TV Guide blog and fake-paparazzi McCallister and Me blog … have not been updated since before the strike, actually. And I’m fine with that. Let the writers focus on writing episodes. (Would be nice if the music guide got an update, though. And the family tree, alas, may soon need one.)

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Hey, wait, looks like there’s a Greg Berlanti production on ABC tonight at 10 p.m.! But … not Brothers & Sisters. Nope, it’s Eli Stone getting the Walker spot this Sunday, and though we certainly wish it well, and welcome it more than the newlyweds that have been squatting here for lo these many weeks, it kind of stinks that all the Desperate Housewives return attention and PR doesn’t benefit our show. Ah, well. Been there before, we have.

Next Sunday, though, next Sunday promises to return us to the Walkers’ world, and in preparation, the ABC site is fairly blooming with goodies for B&S fans. Like that nifty widget above, for predicting next showings and viewing videos and seeing still photos and getting news stories and, somehow, planting trees. You can grab a copy for your own blog or social network page, and provide ABC with some free advertising! Yay!

Also on the ABC site for the show are five upcoming-episode videos, including three promos, a video diary in which Rebecca reminds us of everything that’s happened over the past season-plus, and two sneak previews. One of those previews visits Robert and Kitty in the fertility specialist’s office, and the other finds the sibs gathered in the kitchen while Isaac and Nora think they’re having a romantic private dinner. Hey, you silly Walkers! We’ve missed ya!

There’s also two new posts on Bloggers & Sisters, including one in which an intern shares his mother’s theories about Rebecca’s parentage, and another in which writer Dan Silk responds to all the crabby comments he got last time he posted on the blog. Here’s my crabby comment: When he says, in reference to the next-to-last episode of the season, that “You will gasp with joy at every commercial break” … wouldn’t that mean the show is so awful we’ll be happy to have a break from it? Let’s hope that’s not what he meant.

For the moment, though, I’m just gasping with joy at the thought of having a new episode next week. Since I’ve finally run out of character check-ups, for this remaining little span of days I’m going to speculate on some plots I’d like to see over the next season or so. Come by and add your own creative brainstorming.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC

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

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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Another Sunday night, another week of missing the Walkers. There is no new episode of Brothers & Sisters on tonight, and no old episode, either. Instead, ABC would like us to watch this cross-promotional reality fiesta on Here Come the Newlyweds, the current inhabitant of our 10 p.m. slot:

“Take My Wife Please” — To see how well they can work together as a team, the couples get a tango lesson from “Dancing with the Stars” alumni Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko. Dance expert and “DWTS” judge Carrie Ann Inaba gives the couples their final scores.

On the plus side, we only have five more of these dismal Sunday nights, and then the Walkers come back on April 20. In the meantime, let’s huddle before our cold, dark TVs and tell spoiler stories. Click on the link below to continue, if you dare.

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Hey, it’s Sunday! Is there a new episode of Brothers & Sisters on tonight?

Ha. You wish. No new episodes for us until April 20, courtesy of the writers strike.

Well, okay, then, how ’bout a re-run?

Nope, you’re forgetting: ABC hates us. That’s why they’ve programmed a reality show called Here Come the Newlyweds in the hallowed B&S slot for the next way-too-many weeks. Here’s the network’s description of this particular slice of reality:

“Hosted by comedian Pat Bullard, “Here Come the Newlyweds” is all about relationships, the differences between men and women, and the universal issues that every couple must face. The newlyweds are diverse, sexy and competitive, including such pairings as high school sweethearts, couples who fell in love at first sight, an arranged marriage, an interracial couple and two divorcees who are hoping the fourth time is the charm. In this six-episode show, each couple faces a variety of mental and physical challenges which will test the love and passion they have for one another as well as their competitive spirit. At the end of each episode, the field will be narrowed as the couples vote to send one couple home. The stakes get higher as the potential nest egg grows, until one couple ultimately wins the grand prize.”

Please join me in weeping.

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Tonight begins our long drought of non-Walker Sunday evenings, as Brothers & Sisters is all out of new episodes thanks to the recently resolved writers strike. We’ll get new stuff again on April 20, giving us eight sad show-free Sundays to survive.

Sadder still, our Sunday-at-10 time slot is being given over to a (shudder) reality show — “Here Come the Newlyweds.” It looks like I’m going to be going to bed early on Sundays for a while.

Still, tonight, we can’t be too upset about losing our spot, because what’s taking it up is The Oscars, which narrowly escaped being a hollow star-free shell had the writers not gone back to work. And along with that comes the inevitable Barbara Walters special, which this year has a B&S connection ’cause Barbara will be interviewing Calista Flockhart’s boyfriend. That would be Harrison Ford, of course, and the segment will probably be more focused on his return as Indiana Jones than on his personal life, but it seems likely that Flockhart will get some sort of mention, if not an appearance.

Hey, it’s going to be a long eight weeks, you know? I’ll cling to any connections I can find.

Are you doing anything special for Oscar-viewing tonight? I have a couple of friends coming over for our traditional Oscar watch; in my younger, pre-children days, I used to have parties, but now I’m lucky if I can just stay awake ’til the end. You know who would have really great Oscar get-togethers, though? The Walkers. I’m going to think about them, tonight, gathered at Nora’s with their significant others and a couple of crates of wine, snarking about movies and hooting at acceptance speeches and critiquing the actresses’ dresses and hairstyles and facelifts. Good times! Wish we could be there.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Calista Flockhart, Harrison Ford

There’s a message we’ve been anticipating for quite a while, isn’t it: “All new Brothers and Sisters.” Hooray!

Tonight, at last, we have a new episode to celebrate, “The Missionary Imposition” We have the return of our wayward Malaysian missionary, Jason McCallister. We have the much hoped-for departure of the dippy blonde homewrecker — no, not Holly, is anyone still wishing for that? — Lena! Lena, Lena, Lena. She Who Must Not Be On This Show One More Second.

Interestingly, though, the ad I’ve seen and the one on the ABC site for the episode seem only to be interested in the prospective couplings of Nora and Isaac, and Sarah and Graham, with nary a glimpse of Kevin, Jason, Scotty, Tommy, Julia, or Lela. The “sneak peeks” on the ABC site do get into some Tommy-Julia quarrelsomeness — hey, apparently you can’t sweep mutual infidelity under the rug that easily after all! — but similarly show not a glimpse of Kevin drama.

I’m hoping that storyline is just so super-good that they don’t dare let a drop of it spill in teasers and promos lest its wonderfulness be lessened. Yeah, that’s it. I mean, we’ve been waiting since the implosion of Viva Laughlin for Jason to come back, right? And the press release for this episode leads with, “A surprise visit from Jason forces Kevin to rethink his future and his romantic life.” Not to mention the fact that, as Scott reminds me in the comments, the title of the episode is about Kevin’s storyline. That doesn’t merit him a little insert in the promo? Surely it’s not just the D plot in an overstuffed episode.

This show has shown a good ability to weave several plot threads together so that each gets strong play. They better be planning that tonight. But they could sell it a little, too, couldn’t they?

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Missionary Imposition

After two weekends of re-runs, tonight we eager Brothers & Sisters fans get … nothing. Absolutely nothing. The Super Bowl on Fox is the TV Ruler of the Night, and ABC is devoting its 9-11 p.m. slot to a showing of the movie Meet the Fokkers. Not the family we want to be meeting on a Sunday night, you know?

So it’s another Sunday down, but the dawn is coming, with two, count ‘em, two brand-spanking new B&S episodes scheduled for the next two Sunday nights. Of course, if the writer’s strike doesn’t wrap up pretty darn quick, these will be the last two brand-spanking new B&S episodes for a very long time, but I don’t care. Enough with the spacing them out. I’m ready to burn through these remaining Walker adventures and face the consequences.

What awaits us, then, on February 10 and 17? Let’s look at ABC’s press releases on those upcoming episodes, and see what we can figure out in light of the spoilers we speculated on last week.

I’ll put the summaries after the jump for those trying to remain innocent of all impending plot complications.

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Well, it’s infuriating, but it’s true: After teasing us with a new episode of Walker wonderfulness last week, ABC is throwing re-runs at us tonight and next week. And okay, I get that it’s a vote of confidence to save the remaining episodes until February sweeps. But it’s starting to feel like a monthly series instead of a weekly series, you know?

Tonight, we’re back in the car with Nora, Kitty, and Kevin, motoring down to San Diego to pick up an injured Justin, and getting attacked by a conservative radio host along the way, in “An American Family.” As you may remember, this is the episode that started with the funeral fake-out and also had Kitty incorrectly call Nora a Gold Star Mother. Rebecca told Sarah she kinda sorta led Joe on, Joe told Sarah that he’s back with his ex-wife, and worst of all, some blonde chick applied for a job at the winery. Oh, to go back in time and lose her resume.

By the way, and completely coincidentally, I see that there’s a new feature on the ABC pages for Brothers & Sisters with which you can nominate a fan site for recognition. Ahem. You have to sign up as an ABC forum member to do so, and give ABC perhaps more information about yourself than you might prefer, but I don’t know, if you have some idle time here on a Sunday, or find yourself not entirely engaged with the repeat tonight, you might, you know, want to nominate me! Please, nominate me! stop by and mention any B&S blogs you’ve found useful or amusing, or anything. I’m just saying.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, An American Family, scheduling

Can’t get enough Rachel Griffiths? Then fire up the DVR, because tonight, there’s a double dose of the Aussie actress.

It was almost a triple dose, if the Golden Globes had gone off as planned. Instead, the glittering ceremony has been reduced to an hour-long press conference, with NBC filling its slot at 10 p.m. with American Gladiators. I would like to hope that the Walkers will pin the gladiators to the mat, because to be topped in the ratings by that pathetic bit of reality programming would be just too depressing for words.

So with Rachel as awards nominee cut from our viewing options, there are only two Rachels to program into your evening viewing: Rachel as Sarah on Brothers & Sisters, in a brand-new episode that promises a raucous family dinner, brotherly fisticuffs, and multiple revelations of spousal misbehavior. And Rachel as Old West woman, in the CBS miniseries Commanche Moon.

A prequel to Larry McMurtry’s classic Lonesome Dove, the three-part series runs tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 p.m. According to the CBS site, Rachel “plays Inez Scull, the Captain’s sexy wife who doesn’t hesitate to fill her time with other men when he’s away from home.” That captain would be “Captain Inish Scull, a Yankee aristocrat and hero of the recently concluded Mexican War,” played by Val Kilmer.

Personally, I’m more interested in Walker warfare around that dining room table than historical warfare in a lengthy TV treatment. I wish the miniseries well for Griffiths’ sake, but honestly? I hope Brothers & Sisters fires an arrow through it, ratings-wise. Let everybody catch up on Tuesday, you know?

_{Photo: CBS.com}

In case you were worrying about what to watch next Sunday night, with a new episode of Brothers & Sisters scheduled to go up against the last hour of the Golden Globes awards ceremony, your DVR just got a break — according to Deadline Hollywood, NBC has officially cancelled the Globes telecast due to the fact that with the writers picketing it, no stars will show up.

Instead of a three-hour drunken party that you watch in the hopes of seeing someone giving a really funny speech, or a really tipsy one, or being caught in the restroom and missing their speech altogether, the Globes will now be nothin’ but a press event — but presumably one SAG members can show up at, since it won’t be on TV. Stars will still be able to doll up and show off their dresses and tuxes for photographers on the red carpet, and go to parties for their respective shows and films. The awards, though, will be announced in a room without the nominees present, with winners allowed to swing by a table later, snag their trophies, and be mobbed by press.

And I guess it’s sad and all, the ruining of tradition, the robbing of a night of glory for hard-working actors and actresses. I’m looking on the bright side, though, and considering it to be revenge for the failure of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to nominate Brothers & Sisters for best show, and most of its cast for best anything. Ha! Leave the Walkers out of a party with lots of liquor, and we will shut your party down!

Sure, Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths won’t get their night to shine, but they’ll have other chances. Sally has the SAG Awards up ahead, and they have a WGA waiver allowing them to be televised picket-free. As for Rachel … well, if this cancellation saves her from an unfortunate hair moment like the one pictured above, from her 2002 Golden Globe win as supporting actress for Six Feet Under, it will be a blessing right there.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Golden Globes, NBC, writer’s strike

Tonight, once again, is a Sunday night without Our Show. Brothers & Sisters was originally supposed to have returned on this night, January 6, but ABC decided to replace it — not with a holiday special this time, or a beloved movie classic, but with a trashy-sounding new soap opera, Cashmere Mafia, which has been deemed deserving of the ratings heat that comes with following the last pre-strike Desperate Housewives.

I can’t decide if this is good news — that the network thinks B&S is strong enough to do well without the DH push in its remaining three weeks of new shows — or bad news — that the network couldn’t care less how B&S does, and plans to burn the last three when nobody’s watching. I’ll try to imagine it’s the former, and remember that, a few weeks down the road, we’ll just be glad that we have one more episode to watch.

If you’re missing the Walkers, here are a few YouTube videos that might help a little. The first is an interview with Sarah Jane Morris, from November, in which she mentions that as far as she knows, Julia and Tommy will stay together. The segment is longer than all of Julia’s Brothers & Sisters scenes put together, and you may want to knock the heads of the hosts together for asking such dumb questions, but it’s a little Walker fix, nonetheless.

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