Brothers & Sisters

Well, if nothing else, new viewers who watch “Family Album” hoping to learn enough to start watching Brothers & Sisters in Season 2 will know one thing for sure: It’s about family. Family! This family, your family, American families, all families, family, family, family! They used that word about, what, 1,325 times? Just in case the title didn’t tip you off.

Putting aside the enjoyability of the special for a moment, let me just ask: Do you buy the apparent premise that the Walkers represent an ideal of family that we all wish we were a part of? Because me? I just don’t know. The Walkers absolutely represent an ideal of family that I want to watch on television every week, because they’re funny and they’re well-spoken and I can enjoy their mess-ups and traumas without having to clean up after them myself. But would I want to have a family that was as up in each other’s business as that? I think it’s possible to have too much there for you.

For those who missed the special (and if you did, get your eyeballs over to the ABC Full Episode Player and watch it RIGHT NOW!), it was essentially made up of clips from the past season interspersed with cast members — plus Ken Olin and new show-runner Mark Perry — talking about the storylines, the characters, and their own behind-the-scenes experiences. At the end, there was one segment of scenes from the new season, with a little description from the principals as to what to expect. And finally, the music video to wrap it all up.

I loved watching the clips again; the selection was excellent. The actors came off very charmingly, enthusiastic about the show and their characters without seeming like they were shilling. What an attractive and likeable group they are (and what a treat to hear Matthew Rhys and Rachel Griffiths speaking with their actual accents, although Griffiths seemed to be holding it in sometimes).

I do wonder about their comments, though. Some of them seemed like they had to have been scripted, in the way they led into and out of the clips so gracefully and held together with a common theme. Could it really have been genuine interviews edited together so perfectly? There were some more spontaneous moments — a few of Dave Annable’s anecdotes, particularly about Rob Lowe being a handsome dude, sounded like someone just said, “Hey, Dave, tell that story” — and a great line from Rachel Griffiths that should be the Walker family motto — “At least we don’t smoke.” But a lot of it felt like actors playing themselves saying lines, and that’s kinda unsettling. Anyone else have a problem with that?

Otherwise, I think it was an entertaining, informative, respectful show. I’ll try to put together a summary of the title cards and accompanying storylines, and some memorable quotes, but for now — what did you think? (And as Emma asked in the comments on an earlier post, did anybody see any of those “hilarious outtakes” ABC promised? I didn’t either, and I sure would have liked seeing some of that dinner-table cutting-up the actors described.)

Brothers and Sisters, ABC, Family Album, preview

_{Photo: ABC.com}