Site Meter Brothers & Sisters » Blog Archive » So the writers really did mean to yank our chains

So the writers really did mean to yank our chains

by
Funeral in An American Family

I was giving the Brothers & Sisters writers the benefit of the doubt on the fake-out funeral scene that opened “An American Family.” I thought maybe it only seemed like a tacky “Gotcha!” because of the previews imposed upon it by ABC. But no, indeed. According to the writers’ TV Guide blog, it was absolutely intended as misdirection and tomfoolery, and gleefully so. Writes Cliff Olin, “That ‘next week on Brothers & Sisters’ and the opening military funeral sequence were cheap and dirty tricks, but you fell for them, so ha!”

He goes on to write that he doesn’t mean us personally, but the “less TV-savvy person … the fan who loves the Walkers and feels like part of the family.” I hate to tell Olin — or rather, I hate that I have to tell him — that you can love the Walkers and feel like part of the family, and still read a magazine now and then. There have been plenty of interviews with B&S actors and other personnel over the summer about the Justin injury storyline. It’s not like you had to be lurking in dank spoiler dens to get an inkling that Dave Annable still has a job.

But even if we lived in a perfect world where nobody ever knew a thing about a show they couldn’t get from previews, it would still be wrong to use a military funeral as a fake-out. There are a million ways to handle that cliffhanger, a million ways to make us feel the pain of that family and families like them. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I think it really was a cheap and dirty trick, and beneath these writers. Shame!

Turns out that dishonest emotional manipulation wasn’t the only thing wrong with that funeral scene, either. Nitpickers, stand at attention: I have an e-mail from a Tom H. who reports: “I recently retired from the Air Force and spent several years with the Honor Guard on base. The opening scene was depicting a military funeral. I noticed two errors in the scene only a fraction of the viewers would probably catch. First, the flag was on the casket incorrectly. The blue field should have been over the left shoulder of the deceased. Most funeral directors should know that and all military performing honors definitely should know that. The second thing was when the soldier was presenting the flag to the widow, he had his right hand on top of the flag. The right hand should be on the bottom, holding the flag while the left hand is on the top. Again, who would notice that? Me and probably a lot of people who were or are on the Honor Guard. Other than us, probably no one.”

Tom also mentions that he is available to the writers to serve as a consultant on matters such as this, and considering they also made a mistake this week with the Gold Star Mother reference, I think they should take him up on it. Perhaps he could also smack them upside the head when they want to use military funerals as “Gotcha!” material.

, , ,


2 Responses to “So the writers really did mean to yank our chains”

  1. Eliza Says:

    First I’d like to thank Tom for his service in the military and I must add, I think anyone that has been to a military funeral would’ve noticed a lot of those scenes. I agree with you though Terri it was beneath the writers, hopefully they won’t be doing that again.

  2. ABC Soaps Watch » Blog Archive » All My Children Weekly Preview: October 15-19 Says:

    [...] any actor, deaf or not, to portray such a character on a long running soap opera. Ryan and lovable brother-in-law Richie will be co-workers, I wonder what the employee benefits will be. Ava reverts back to [...]

Leave a Reply


About Brothers & Sisters

ABC's Brothers & Sisters is all about the Walker family and their many, many secrets. Also, their complete inability to keep those secrets in any responsible fashion. Spilling secrets is what this site dedicated to the show is all about -- through episode recaps, character musings, spoilers, casting scoop, plot developments, news flashes, and all the good gossip about a beautiful bunch of actors. Don't keep it a secret -- stop by often, and spread the word!

Brothers & Sisters Author(s)

Blogging Flair

TV Channel Posts

  • A Couple of Suggestions for Your TV Viewing Tonight
    Monday night is such a great night to watch reality television and I just wanted to remind you all of what you could watch tonight. Last week MTV premiered the new season of Sex…with Mom and Dad. [...]
  • Double Duty
    Hello again! It’s Monday, new episode day! To tide you over until the show comes on, I’ve got a second promo for tonight to share. It was posted by Jonas Hodges. I actually really like this one [...]
  • ...But does the quilt travel in time?
    (It turns out that I've been collecting odds and ends of news and coolness in my Firefox tags since before I left for Gallifrey One. So, here they are all gathered together for you.) I've got [...]
  • Running Diary: 2009 Oscars
    ...And immediately we regret this decision. For a couple reasons, really. The aforementioned hangover and general fatigue is part of it, but we weren't all that enamored with most of the films with [...]
  • Watching the View Oscar Open Thread
    Feel free to comment about tonight's Academy Awards here! I look forward to seeing what role Whoopi Goldberg will be having in the ceremony and what her dress looks like. [...]
  • It’s an Amazing Race Reunion
    Ok so last week I told you about Reality Check Radio and that it basically rocked. In case you didn’t read my blog, although I am sure you all did, Reality Check Radio is an online BlogTalkRadio [...]
  • February 24, 2009 TV on DVD Releases: Animated
    Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the animated/kids category. Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder - This is a feature length film of the animated adult show, Futurama. It [...]
  • There's no place like Mode recap
    This week's episode of 'Ugly Betty' has the staff busy with Fashion Week and Betty with a new YETI assignment. Wilhemina works to get back on top in the fashion world as Daniel gives Molly as [...]
  • What's Coming Up On The CW?
    I've been wondering what's going on with the CW. It seems like there's been a lot of repeats lately, so I have nothing new to talk about. So I went through the next two weeks to see what's [...]
  • Sunday Posts
    Just a quick reminder that we're going to be live-blogging the Oscars tonight. We're tired, we're hungover and we have to sit in a high school audotorium for two hours here shortly, which will almost [...]

Hot Off The Press