Is Brothers & Sisters jumping the shark already?
That’s what TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello is suggesting in today’s Ask Ausiello column. And it’s not eeeeevil Rebecca, or the crashing helicopter, or the upcoming Nora-Holly food fight that’s got him suggesting it, either — it’s this revelation about dear old Uncle Saul. Here’s the mildly spoiler-y item:
“Question: Ugh! Rebecca is such a bitch on Brothers & Sisters! Please tell me that karma is going to bushwhack her ass sometime soon.— Katherine
“Ausiello: EVC as a bad girl? Love. It. And to answer your question (spoiler alert), no, I hear Rebecca’s indecent overture to Joe (and subsequent cover-up) goes virtually unpunished, which I find baffling. Equally as confounding: the shark-jumpy skeleton in Saul’s closet that’s about to, um, come out. I’ll withhold final judgment until I see how the twist plays out on screen, but let me go on the record as saying I’ve got a bad feeling about it.”
Personally, I really don’t find the Uncle Saul news to be so out-of-left-field as to be shark-jumpy; the suspicion’s been tickling the back of my mind since early in the season. Rebecca’s evil-ness is more bothersome to me, in a “how soapy will they go” kind of way, but Emily VanCamp’s acting is making it sort of awesome anyway.
At any rate, although it’s certainly fun to play the “jump the shark” game, it’s also easy to get carried away with it. A show can’t really have that sort of credibility-breaking moment until it decides what kind of show it is, and Brothers & Sisters has been taking its time with that after a bumpy start. Short of Justin jumping an actual shark on his surfboard, I’m willing to give Baitz and Co. a lot of leeway.
Photo: ABC.com
Brothers and Sisters, ABC, TV Guide, jumping the shark, spoilers
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:45 pm
I agree, Terri. I’m not sure it’s even possible for a show to jump the shark in its first season, let alone over something that actually makes sense in terms of character background (Saul’s aloofness).
I look forward to seeing the writres handle the issue with the same amount of naunce and sensitivity that we’ve become accustomed to by this show.