Brothers & Sisters

Another set diary has made its appearance on the writers’ blog Bloggers & Sisters, this one featuring photos of Nora’s yard, kitchen and office, plus the interior of Tommy’s house with no furniture, so either the set wasn’t set yet or business at the winery is not going so well.

The blog entry also invites fans to vote in the Tater Tops Awards by Kristen at E! I’ve been ignoring those awards because they just sound silly, but indeed, Brothers & Sisters is up for bushel of ‘em: Breakaway Star (Dave Annable), Best Tearjerker (Justin goes to Iraq), Best New Show, Drama Mama (Sally Field), and Best Drama Ensemble. It’s nice to see so much recognition for the show, but really? Patricia Wettig and Holly were totally stiffed in the “Best Bitch” category. What’s up with that?

Brothers & Sisters, ABC, Bloggers & Sisters, E!, Tater Tops Awards

Sally Field! Yes! Nominated for Best Actress in a Drama. And Rachel Griffiths! Hooray! Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama! And … well, and that’s it. Nothing for the guys. Nothing for the writers. Nothing for the directors.

But, hey, wait — casting directors Jeanie Bacharach and Gillian O’Neill did get a nod for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Woo-hoo!

Emmy Awards, Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths

According to an article on the The Envelope, the L.A. Times’ award-obsession site, Brothers & Sisters did not make the cut of ten finalists for the Best Drama Series Emmy nominations. Not a huge surprise, I guess, since the show’s been roundly dissed by just about every major award-giver, but I was hoping it might have enough momentum here at the end of the season to squeak through.

An earlier entry in The Envelope’s forums indicates that the episode submitted by the B&S producers was “Bad News.” And that was certainly a strong dramatic outing, but kind of a downer, too, without the playful bits that make the show such fun. I don’t know what would have showed the show off best to Emmy voters — I guess, ideally, you want something that plays dynamically even out of context — but some of my personal favorites have been “Mistakes Were Made Part 2,” with its first Walker Road Trip; “Something Ida This Way Comes” with all the closet wine-drinking; and “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” with that great cell-phone round at the beginning. What episodes would you pick to put this show’s best foot forward?

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Brothers & Sisters was shut-out of awards season earlier this year, as new favorites like Ugly Betty and Heroes were feted by the Globes and the guilds. Buzz has built, though, and most early haters have come around. So as Emmy speculation season swings into gear, it’s nice to see a little appreciation being thrown in the direction of the amazingly talented ensemble portraying the Walkers.

Accent on a little. On TV Guide’s Dream Emmy Ballot, Michael Ausiello makes room for just two B&S noms: Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, both for Lead Drama Actress, writing, “Field and Griffiths brought so much warmth and depth to their relationship that we began considering nicknaming Brothers & Sisters Mothers & Daughters.” It’s hard to argue with that, but no Best Drama nomination? Nothing at all for the boys? That’s easy to argue with.

Best Actress seems to be a good slot for the show, but who now? The warm and deep mother and daughter relationship that Variety’s on about is the one between Field and Calista Flockhart, with the two actresses featured in an article on “Emmy Contenders.” Says Field of the characters’ relationship, “Nora needs Kitty as much as Kitty needs Nora. They’re the most similar to each other in the family, so they know how to push each other’s buttons.”

Meanwhile, Brothers & Sisters is still getting award disrespect, this time from the Television Critics Association, which has announced its 2007 nominees and included exactly no one and nothing from the Walker saga. Maybe next year, there’ll be enough love to go around.

Brothers & Sisters, Emmys, Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Calista Flockhart

After being sadly neglected by the Golden Globes and guild-awards givers earlier this year, Brothers & Sisters finally brought home a trophy at the GLAAD Media Awards, handed out Sunday, April 15 in Los Angeles.

The awards are given to “recognize and honor mainstream media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives,�? and Brothers & Sisters bested The L Word, Hex, The Sopranos, and South of Nowhere for the title of Outstanding Drama Series. Jon Robin Baitz (show creator) and Matthew Rhys (who plays gay brother Kevin) accepted the award, with Dave Annable, Balthazar Getty, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin and Patricia Wettig also onstage.

It was a good night for ABC: The other television winners were Ugly Betty for Outstanding Comedy Series and the Grey’s Anatomy episode “Where the Boys Are” for Outstanding Individual Episode.

The awards will be broadcast on the Logo Network on Saturday, April 21. Meanwhile, enjoy the brief and slightly silly red-carpet interview with Patricia Wettig and Ron Rifkin at the end of this YouTube clip.

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, GLAAD, Jon Robin Baitz, Matthew Rhys

Finally, a little awards love for Brothers & Sisters. After being stiffed by the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, the Writer’s Guild, and seemingly everyone else handing out trophies this trophy-filled season, the show has a nomination of Outstanding Drama Series from the GLAAD Media Awards. The awards are given to “recognize and honor mainstream media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives.” Shows competing against Brothers & Sisters in the drama category are The L Word (Showtime), Hex (BBC America), The Sopranos (HBO), and South of Nowhere (The N).

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Two more awards snubs for Brothers & Sisters: Neither the Producers Guild nor the Screen Actors Guild saw fit to nominate anyone from the ensemble cast, or the show itself, for any awards at all. On the upside, B&S is well represented in the ABC promo for upcoming show returns below. There’s still the People’s Choice Awards, which is to some degree in our hands. And if Hilary Duff does join the cast, the show’s, like, totally going to have a chance at the MTV and Nickelodeon awards.

‘Tis the season for bloggers and newspaper columnists to write round-ups of their favorite TV moments, and Brothers & Sisters is getting some mentions — if not for being one of the top 10 shows, at least for having elements that make it noteworthy. The blog Cinerant, in its TV Report Card, calls Justin one of the year’s “Best New Characters”; lauds B&S as “Most Improved New Series”; mentions “Mistakes Were Made Pt. 1 & 2″ among the year’s best episodes of any series; and awards “Best Breakdown” to Rachel Griffiths, asking “Who know buying a lei could be so difficult?”

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, meanwhile, is all about Sally Field, giving one of her “Watchie Awards for 2006’s wackiest and winningest TV” to the actress for “The most welcome return to television: If ‘Brothers and Sisters’ was purely a vehicle for the sensational Sally Field, that would be enough reason to tune in. But the nicely ripening show is much more than that, and has grown into an engrossing family drama. Still, a big reason to tune in is because Field is turning in great work as widowed matriarch Nora Walker.” Not the only reason, though: A commenter on Ryan’s column suggested giving B&S “The NO BIG DEAL AWARD” for “having a realistic gay relationship (short as it was) between Scotty and Kevin, and for not making a big fuss about their kiss.”

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So maybe there are no Golden Globes or Writer’s Guild awards in store for Brothers & Sisters this year. Here’s one award the show did get: A 2006 AfterElton.com Visibility Award, designed to “recognize the people, projects and trends that have most positively (or negatively) impacted gay visibility in American popular culture.” B&S was honored as Best Scripted Network Series Featuring a Regular Gay Character, with the following explanation: “With acting heavyweights Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths in the large ensemble cast, we were initially concerned that openly gay character Kevin Walker, played by a little-known Welsh actor named Matthew Rhys, would be given short shrift in terms of screen time. It turns out that Kevin is front and center on Brothers & Sisters. After 10 episodes, he has emerged as a complicated, three-dimensional character. Kevin has his problems, just like everyone else on this angst-ridden drama, but they go well beyond the stock coming-out conflicts that so many gay television characters are limited to.”

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Two slates of awards nominations were announced this week, and Brothers & Sisters garnered … well, exactly none. No best show, or best actor or actress, or best supporting actor or actress appreciation from the Golden Globes. No writing nods from the Writer’s Guild. Hey, they’re putting a show on over here! Hello! Hello! Anybody? A little recognition, please? It’s all up to us and those People’s Choice Awards, people.

Maybe you’re going into withdrawal after a week without the Walker clan — and to add insult to injury, this week’s show’s a re-run. I’ll try to fill your craving for Brothers & Sisters info in the meantime, as we anticipate that December 3 return. One thing you can do to help the show right now is to vote for it in the People’s Choice Awards. The show’s up for Favorite New TV Drama, and although I personally think it should have filled up the categories for Male TV Star and Female TV Star too, let’s at least make sure it kicks the tail of Heroes and Ugly Betty. You can vote once a day, right through the first hour of the awards broadcast on January 9. So get to it!

Another good reason to vote: Dave the PA would like to keep his job.