Brothers & Sisters

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

First, he was all but excluded from the chirpy promo for Brothers & Sisters’ second season. Now, it looks like he’s going to be losing his place on the gossip pages, too.

The same rumor-mongers that have been trumpeting his romance with movie costar Sienna Miller lo these many weeks are now saying that’s done, and the actress has moved on to another Welsh actor, Rhys Ifans. Is this some sort of new starlet game? The next guy you date has to have the same first name as the last name of the last guy you dated?

I’m not sure if this actually is bad news for the actor; given the fact that Miller seems to change boyfriends every news cycle, it’s probably just as well to get out of tabloid hell. And back to the set, I hope, where the producers can remember that he exists.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Matthew Rhys, Sienna Miller

If you’ve been keeping a flame lit for the Kevin-Scotty relationship, good news: AfterElton.com reports that Luke MacFarlane will be returning to Brothers & Sisters for seven episodes next year. Whereas Eric Winters, playing Kevin’s current prospective flame and sister’s brother-in-law-to-be Jason McCallister, is only scheduled for one (pending the success or failure of his new series, Viva Laughlin, anyway).

There’d been talk of Scotty being Kevin’s “Mr. Big,” and of them eventually winding up together, but … already? Here’s what AfterElton got out of show creator Jon Robin Baitz about it:

“When asked if Kevin and Scotty would get back together, Baitz said: ‘We’re really interested in exploring what it could mean for these two characters to get to know each other even more than they have. Not just romantically, but truly as friends; as people who can talk to each other. So you’re going to see that storyline evolve surprisingly. I don’t want to tell too much. I think having him back is such a delight. Where we find him when we come back is a man trying to pull his life together and I take really special care with those characters — Kevin and Scotty.’

“When asked about whether Luke was back because of fan reaction and his chemistry with Matthew: ‘I always knew that it was extraordinary and they freedom they had is why it is working so well and they’re such great strong actors. Everyone agreed. The studio. The network. The people who loved the show — so it was a given.’”

Are you happy to see Scotty back? The first time watching this season’s shows, I liked Scotty and was sad about the breakup. Watching the re-runs now, he just seems insufferably smug and judgmental. It seems a little soon to bring this one back from the Land of Lost Love Interests, but if he could just smuggle Noah out somehow, all would be forgiven.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Scotty, Luke MacFarlane, Kevin

Here’s a little treat to tide you over until tomorrow night’s party-hearty new episode — a couple of scenes from Very Annie-Mary, a 2001 film in which Rachel Griffiths and Matthew Rhys played Welsh townsfolk instead of brother and sister. According to a BBC review, the film stars Griffiths in an “offbeat story of a shy baker’s daughter who finds the courage to break free from his overbearing influence. Jonathan Pryce plays the monstrous Jack Pugh, who delivers his loaves in a Luciano Pavarotti mask and uses Annie-Mary as a human sleeping bottle whenever his feet get cold. Then again, he’s par for the course in a village whose residents include a pair of gay shopkeepers called Hob and Nob (Ioan Gruffudd and Matthew Rhys) and a dying teen (Joanna Page) who will be off to Disneyland if the Mayor can raise enough cash.” The highlight of this clip is the end, when Rhys and Gruffudd perform “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun” to Griffiths’ accompaniment. Enjoy!

Brothers & Sisters, ABC, Rachel Griffiths, Matthew Rhys, Very Annie-Mary

For those just joining Brothers & Sisters because you’re Rob Lowe fans, or live in Australia, or are finally willing to believe the show’s not as bad as it was made out to be and may be sticking around for a while, here’s a brief guide to who all those brothers and sisters are. Use the episode suggestions to catch up on key episodes in ABC’s Full Episode Player.

Name: Nora Walker
Age: Turned 60 in episode 13, “Something Ida This Way Comes.”
Occupation: Meddlesome mother; worked briefly at family company after husband’s death, but quit after her son Tommy didn’t appreciate “Bring Your Pet to Work Day” or her rules about callers to the company needing to be polite.
Spouse: William, who died in the series’ first episode, leaving his family to painfully find out about his embezzlement from the family company and his longtime affair with Holly Harper, with whom he has a yet-unseen child, Rebecca.
Children: Sarah, Kitty, Tommy, Kevin, Justin
Siblings: Saul
Likes: Liberal causes, cooking, manipulating her offspring
Dislikes: Conservatives, Holly, Kitty’s boyfriends; had tense times with Kitty, who she blamed for pushing Justin to go to war after 9/11, but they’ve mostly made up. Also has mother issues of her own.
Key Episode: In episode 3, “Affairs of State,” she revealed that she wasn’t as in the dark about William’s indiscretions as everybody thought, “innocently” inviting the woman who was her husband’s mistress to a party and then coolly outing her at the dinner table.

(more…)

AfterElton has a nice long interview with Matthew Rhys, who plays Kevin on Brothers & Sisters. Although it has the all-too-common flaw in online interviews of having questions that go on way longer than the answers, it still has some nice quotes from Rhys on playing, as interviewer Dennis Ayers puts it, “what may be the most substantial recurring gay character ever on network television.” Here’s a little of what the actor had to say. (And if you want to see what Matthew Rhys obsession looks like in Rhys’s native Welsh, check this blog.)

On Kevin’s commitment-phobia: “With regards to the commitment issues, I think they were careful with that because they didn’t want to give him specifically gay problems. And commitment-phobia, you know is a human and universal flaw. So I was happy about that character trait. There are elements of that aspect of Kevin that I can relate to [laughs]. Especially in your 20s. In your 30s, things do change.”

On Chad and Scotty: “I like the fact that they’ve gone for another universal theme in that you don’t necessarily fall for those people who are right for you, or you don’t choose the people you fall for. And with that comes conflict, obviously, then drama, which makes it all the more entertaining to see. … It’s like with Scotty. For Kevin, Scotty wasn’t what he’d have picked ordinarily, and the same has happened with Chad, and I think that’s a part of his makeup. He goes for people who are unavailable or not necessarily the right people for him.”

On kissing another man on-screen: “I don’t think it’s ever really problematic. I just think if you’re fortunate enough to be confident and secure in yourself, and you know it’s a role you play, I don’t see where the problem lies, really. Actually, my first theater job was a gay part with a lot of kissing it in it. So, I wouldn’t say it was a hurdle really, but I got over that really early on. You realize there’s nothing to it.”

On ad-libbing: “What tends to happen is that at the end of a scene, if they’re still rolling, then it does tend to kick off. And in scenes … where the end is slightly witty, then there’s a lot of ad-libbing. Also there was the one scene where we went into the desert and stayed at the army base with all the soldiers in the bar, and the soldier comes up to me in the bar. That was one where we shot it four or five different ways.”

On being a Welsh actor in an American show: “What has happened over many years is there’s quite a large group of British actors, and we all come out for pilot season in January, February and March because it’s the sort of quiet time at home. So we all trek out to L.A. and then start looking for work, and if we don’t get something, then we go home again. I’ve been doing that for eight years now, on and off, in sort of various degrees of success, but this is the first series that was picked up.”

“The idea of doing it scares me.” That’s what Jason Lewis said in an Extra interview about kissing a man — specifically Matthew Rhys (right), whose Kevin smooches with Lewis’ closeted soap star Chad in a just-started seven-episode arc on Brothers & Sisters. Commenters on the Extra site and on blogs like Best. Gay. Day. Ever. have been accusing Lewis of homophobia for expressing his fear, but I don’t know; Chad’s a pretty big jerk, so maybe the guy’s just Method.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Can’t wait for January 7 and the first new Brothers & Sisters episode of the New Year? ABC.com has a video preview up now featuring Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe that proves that, what do you know, for Kitty and the senator, guns really are foreplay. If you’re more interested in the romance ahead for Matthew Rhys’ Kevin and the soap-opera hunk played by guest-start Jason Lewis, there are photos of the January 14 episode, “Sexual Politics,” on both Brothers & Sisters - TV and Best. Gay. Day. Ever., though only the latter comes with funny captions.

Yahoo! News has an ABC News video interview online with Matthew Rhys, Kevin on Brothers & Sisters, in which he exhibits a pretty adorable Welsh accent and a haircut that, for my money , makes him look like Josh Charles. There’s a little bit of chit-chat about the show and his character and his character’s rocky love life, and then this frightening revelation: If the Welsh rugby team came calling, he’d chuck this whole acting thing in a heartbeat.

_{Photo: ABC.com}

Have you voted for Brothers & Sisters in the People’s Choice Awards? Today? The latest entry on the B&S writer’s blog shills for more votes on behalf of Dave the PA, but an interesting discussion has developed in the comments, started by a commenter who refuses to vote for a show that “actively seeks straight actors to play gay roles.” The comments that follow debate the question of whether the sexuality of an actor is what makes him or her convincing in a romantic role, or whether it’s the degree of commitment brought to the acting. Personally, I’d say that if an actor can’t convince me that he or she is really in love or in lust, that’s just bad acting, and his or her personal gender preference shouldn’t play into it. What do you think? Do you think the romances on B&S have been convincing, or have some lacked commitment? Which ones have worked for you? I don’t actually know or care about the sex lives of all the actors involved, but I found Kevin and Scotty more convincing as a couple than, say, Jonathan and Kitty (although I just thought that was because Jonathan was supposed to be a manipulative jerk.)

First Rob Lowe came aboard as a new romantic possibility for Kitty (who in nine episodes has already gone through two boyfriends, but who’s counting). Now Kevin’s getting a potential love interest played by Jason Lewis of Sex in the City. According to TV Guide, he’ll appear in at least four episodes as a closeted soap opera actor who meets Kevin at an exercise boot camp. If you’re trying to remember who Lewis is, or are wondering about the degree of hotness he’ll bring to an already pretty darn good-looking cast, check out this YouTube slideshow which modestly calls him “The Sexiest Man Alive.”