Brothers & Sisters

There’s lots of drama promised for next Sunday’s new episode, most of it surrounding Sarah and Joe’s marriage and Rebecca and Joe’s alleged kiss and the likelihood of Justin not being able to keep a secret for even so much as one episode. And so here’s a promo that has … well, absolutely nothing to do with any of that. It’s a little YouTube item about Kitty and Robert and a fireside massage. It advances no plot, but I guess it does rope in the viewers who just want to see Rob Lowe on the floor in front of a fire and let their imaginations run. For those folks: Enjoy.

He was a little too perfect, wasn’t he? Handsome senator, good with a quip, sensitive when called for, reassuring in a confident and amusing way. Yeah, maybe he moved kinda fast, and didn’t pay much attention to any reluctance to proceed, but when a love roller coaster sweeps you up like that, who’s gonna jump out of the car?

We sure saw a dark side of the guy this week, though. Turns out it’s not possible to wipe away everybody’s doubts with a well thought-out campaign strategy, not the doubts of 10-year-old daughters, nor the doubts of 30something girlfriends. Blondes are trouble, buddy.

What are we to make of the swiftness and, really, ruthlessness with which Robert turned on these two important females in his life when they shared their true fearful feelings? He’s been such a glib and charming fellow; where did the silver tongue go? That sort of unforgiving firmness of purpose might make for a successful career in politics, but it also might explain the failed marriage.

It’s kind of nice to see that Mr. Perfect has some flaws, and a temper. It humanizes him, and gives some room for Rob Lowe’s character to grow over a second season. But I hope we get back to the sweet-talking good boyfriend pretty soon, and not because Kitty caves and apologizes all over herself. I’ve been in one of those relationships, and there’s no future in it. And I’d like to see this romance last a good long while.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Senator McCallister, Rob Lowe

All this romance between Kitty and the senator has been all well and good (okay, except for that sleeping with your boss thing), but the fact that Rob Lowe was only signed for one season left a little nagging worry. Were we going to get all invested in these two only to see them broken up by the actor’s unavailability?

Well, rest easy now, and invest heavily: Rob Lowe is officially on board for the second season, and as a full-fledged regular instead of a Very Special Continuing and Highly Paid Guest Star. Says show creator Jon Robin Baitz in a Variety report on the deal: “He brings a unique romantic addition to the show by his combination of wit and charm and his elegance. The great discovery of it is there’s such an intrinsic chemistry between him and Calista, which is so rare to find in two actors together. He’s been a tremendous boon to the show in terms of storylines and even the ratings.”

Plus, you know, the guy’s not bad to look at.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Rob Lowe, Calista Flockhart

Happy 43rd birthday to Brothers & Sisters’ special guest star and presidential candidate, Rob Lowe, born in Charlottesville, Virginia on this day in 1964. In honor of Lowe’s special day, and in an act of penance for posting the video of his unfortunate Snow White duet a few weeks back, I’ll share this laudatory video from YouTube, filled with some really nice photos and a bit of a scene from his performance in the play “A Few Good Men.” Video creator HicksChick4Life describes it as “A Tribute to the attractive 42 year old actor/ devoted father and Husband, Political Activist, Humanitarian!! Who is a truly an overcomer to deal with all the crap he’s been dealt through the years!!” Let’s hope this year marks an end to the crap and the start of many beautiful seasons on B&S.

Brothers & Sisters, ABC, Rob Lowe, Senator McCallister, celebrity birthdays

As we mourn the missing of a Brothers & Sisters episode tonight due to the Oscars, let us reflect on the Oscar night humiliation of one of our beloved cast members. No, it’s not Sally Field’s “You like me, you really like me” speech; although that has certainly lived in infamy, it can’t even come close to the utter craptacularness of the opening number of the 1989 Oscars, featuring Snow White and our own Senator Robert McCallister — Rob Lowe. You might have thought that Lowe would have hunted down and burned all evidence of that misbegotten mess by now, but nope, it’s popped up on YouTube, and is here now for your wincing pleasure. The thing’s quite memorably ghastly from beginning to end, but if you want to fast-forward to Lowe’s nightmare, it starts about five minutes in. If nothing else, it will make whatever appalling nonsense they put on the stage tonight look entertaining by comparison.

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.

Rob Lowe: show hijacker. That’s the conclusion lots of commenters are coming to from a blind item in TV Guide’s “Ask Ausiello” column that begins, “Guess which recurring guest star has, in essence, taken over the prime-time hit he’s visiting. This recent hire, apparently believing himself to be God’s gift to television, has thrown the writing process into complete turmoil, tossing out story lines and even entire scripts.” Over 40 commenters have taken up the invitation to make a guess, and Lowe’s the overwhelming favorite. But would we call our show a “hit”? Would we say that Lowe, who’s just been added as a regular although he’s still designated a guest star, is “visiting”? And could a character who thus far has interacted with only one Walker be involved in enough storylines to throw out entire scripts? Maybe. But I’m with those who suppose it’s Liev Schreiber on CSI.

An article in the Hollister Free Lance looks at familiar faces in new roles and mentions two Brothers & Sisters favorites:

The Actress: Sally Field How We Remember Her: It’s hard to forget a two-time Oscar winner, or the myriad of roles she’s played on the big screen. But who can forget her heart-wrenching portrayal of mentally unstable mom Maggie Wyczenski in a recurring role on NBC’s “ER?” Dejà vu’d: “Brothers and Sisters” (ABC). Field’s portrayal of Nora Holden Walker will certainly be remembered around Emmy time. And for good reason. She steals almost every scene she occupies - and in the best way.The Actor: Rob Lowe How We Remember Him: Take your pick. There’s “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “About Last Night” and some other ’80s hits that made him the teen dream of cinema. A notorious sex-tape scandal in the late-’80s didn’t hurt his celebrity, but he’s now revered for helping make “West Wing” one of NBC’s stalwart dramas. Dejà vu’d: “Brothers and Sisters” (ABC). As Sen. Robert McCallister, he’s young, he’s republican and he’s chasing Calista Flockhart’s conservative Kitty Walker. Thus far, the chemistry between Flockhart and Lowe sizzles and Lowe’s presence adds more opportunities for this new series to explore outside the emotionally reactive core of its central family.

Other familar faces mentioned in the article are Alec Baldwin, Jacqueline Bisset, Larry Hagman, Brooke Shields, Candace Bergen, Shirley Jones, Cheryl Ladd, Ron Livingston, Edward James Olmos and Scott Wolf.

Rob Lowe’s next episode of Brothers & Sisters is a few weeks away, but he’s on the tube tonight in a Christmas made-for-TV movie called “A Perfect Day,” in which he plays an author who lets success goes to his head until a mysterious figure played by Christopher Lloyd straightens him out. Lowe’s also online today with an interview on TVGuide.com in which he talks about the movie, The West Wing, the ill-considered decision to choose Dr. Vegas over Grey’s Anatomy, and the “great, great time” he’s having on B&S. Of Jon Robin Baitz and the rest of the cast and crew, he says: “He’s such an extraordinary writer. To be on a show that has two extraordinary writers, including Greg Berlanti? You look at the writing staff, and you look at the actors — Sally [Field] and Calista and Rachel [Griffiths] and Balthazar [Getty] … I feel like I’ve joined the Yankees in August, as we’re making our pennant run.” Beyond that, he’s coy about the prospect of staying longer than six episodes or the romantic future of his character and Kitty. But I don’t know, Rob, if the decision’s between a show like B&S and TNT movies, you might want to think about making sure that senator gets elected to a regular spot.