Brothers & Sisters

So after all that whining I did last night about the von Trapps pre-empting the Walkers, I did actually sit down to watch a little of The Sound of Music, and wound up being sucked into watching it all evening long.

One of the benefits of that was that I finally saw the promo for Eli Stone, the midseason show executive produced by two of Brothers & Sisters’ finest, Greg Berlanti and Ken Olin. I’ve been mildly aware that it was coming for a long time, but I guess I didn’t pay much attention to early write-ups of it, because I just thought it was a regular old lawyer show, and not something about a guy imagining George Michael is singing in his living room. Not sure what being a figment in a TV drama says about where Michael’s career is right now, but I don’t think it’s good.

The show’s ABC site gives this plot summary:

“Today, the worst thing happened to mercenary attorney Eli Stone. A case made him care. As if that’s not hard enough for a soulless shark, Eli’s also hallucinating — larger-than-life visions of pop stars and his dead relatives. Could it be that Eli’s not cut out to be a cutthroat lawyer but actually has a higher calling? Well, if the universe can bring his college girlfriend back to him, then maybe he needs to risk everything he’s worked for, including gunning for partner and his relationship with the boss’ daughter, to take on his own law firm. Eli’s as surprised as anyone that it works and that it feels so good.

Now, instead of defending evil mega-corporations, he’s fighting for the little guy in his law firm’s new pro-bono department. As for those visions, his doctor thinks it might be an aneurysm, just like the one that tortured his father. But Eli sees a greater possibility, a destiny to become a spiritual prophet. He might not have been anyone’s first choice but, given his looks, charm and intelligence, it’s an excellent one.

The whole thing sounds way more fanciful than I expected, and as much as I dislike regular old lawyer shows, I think my entire season’s quotient of fanciful has been neatly taken care of by Pushing Daisies, thank you very much. The preview, which played frequently during the four-hour Austrian songfest, didn’t make me particularly eager to watch the thing. I’ll try it out, for the sake of its producers, and because by the time it comes on there’s not going to be much else scripted around to watch.

If you’ve seen the promos for Eli Stone … what do you think? And do you find ABC’s description of the show as “combining the fantasy and spirituality from The Ghost Whisperer, sincerity and passion from The Practice and quirky humor from Monk,” intriguing or horrifying? I’m tending toward the latter.

If you haven’t seen the promos, they’re on that ABC site, too. Go, return, discuss.