Stale programming, and spoiled plotlines
Including tonight, we have four Walkerless Sundays, and then the family triumphantly (let’s hope) returns on April 20. ABC’s motto for its mid-season post-strike reboot is “Start Fresh,” and that’s something many folks are hoping the writers will do with this troublesome second season. “Fresh” would also distinguish the returning Brothers & Sisters from what’s in the 10 p.m. time slot now, Here Comes the Newlyweds; an ABC press release offers this description of tonight’s super-stale action:
“Do You Even Know Me?” — Host Pat Bullard asks the four remaining couples probing questions to see how well they know each other, and psychic Joan Marie provides insight into the couples’ future. One of the wives is confronted about her plans to win the jackpot and the husbands are made to go clothes shopping for their wives — without knowing their sizes.
Men not knowing their womenfolk’s sizes! The height of comedy! I don’t need a psychic to know this is going to be a painful hour of television.
As a teeny tiny consolation prize, ABC has put up a preview of Brothers & Sisters on the show’s homepage. It’s super-short, full of old clips, and emphasizing family to the exclusion of some beloved side characters. But there’s probably more to enjoy in those 30 second or so than in an hour of newlywed gamesmanship.
And so we’re left again to amuse ourselves with spoilers, which are coming hot and heavy these days. Click below to have a look at the latest and discuss what it means.
TV Guide’s “Ask Ausiello” reveals that “Two significant, albeit recurring, characters will not be returning in the fall,” and Ken Howard has “just been cast as McCallister’s chief rival for the Republican nomination, and let’s just say he makes Robert an offer he might not be able to refuse.”
And of course, because I’m still obsessed with The West Wing after all these years, the first thought that pops in my head is, “Is Peyton Cabot Harrison III finally going to get back at that kid Sam Seaborn for derailing his Supreme Court bid?”
It seems likely that the offer will be vice presidential, but I can’t quite imagine why Robert would be unable to refuse it. As to the two departing characters … Isaac and Graham?
E!’s Watch With Kristin offers this tidbit: “I’m hearing there will be a wedding at the end of this season! But not necessarily the most traditional kind as opposed to the commitment-ceremony-ish kind. Gee, did I give away which Walker it might be? Yee!”
This has got to be Kevin and Scotty, unless Saul’s making up pretty quickly for lost time. Seems like a lot of wedding-ish action for one season, but if it involves a lot of Walkers and a lot of alcohol, I’m not gonna complain.
And finally, an item by Tim Stack from Entertainment Weekly’s recent round-up of returning shows:
”Nora and Isaac have been getting serious,” says exec producer Monica Owusu-Breen. ”Isaac is going to offer a big change to Nora. [Her decision] will ricochet through the entire Walker clan.” As for Kevin and Scotty, ”We’ve to’d and fro’d for so long now,” says Rhys. ”I think we’re ready to become a little more domesticated and settled in our relationship, which is about time.” In other couples news, Kitty (Calista Flockhart) and Robert will try to conceive, and embark upon IVF treatments. Also, look for Robert’s presidential race to be resolved. But the biggest twist involves Rebecca and whether she is actually William Walker’s biological daughter. ”It gets resolved, but then it brings up something that no one will see coming,” teases Owusu-Breen. ”So there’s a surprise in store for the Walkers. When Greg [Berlanti, one of Brothers' executive producers] pitched it, we were dumbfounded for 10 minutes. It’s just amazing.”
Oh, dear.
Can I just say to the show creators, if it’s not too late: If a storyline leaves people dumbfounded for 10 minutes, that is an indication that it might not be such a good idea. “Dumbfounded” is not something I’m looking for on this show, you know? Desperate Housewives can go for “dumbfounded.” From Brothers & Sisters, I’ll take a surprise, but it should be more of an “Oh, of course!” than a “WTF!”
What on earth could this revelation be, do you think? Rebecca not being a Walker is a possibility that’s been seen and discussed, and so has Justin not being a Walker. One kind of hopes Berlanti and Co. would know at this point that those things would not be dumbfounding surprises, though dumb certainly comes to mind. So what? I’ll throw out a few ideas, and you contribute yours in the comments. Remember: It left them dumbfounded for 10 minutes!
1. Holly is not Rebecca’s mother! William had an affair with someone else, and Holly kidnaped their child and raised it as her own.
2. Rebecca’s father is a space alien! Holly was abducted and impregnated, and the girl will now be coming into her eerie powers.
3. There’s no twist at all! Ha! Fakeout! This whole storyline has absolutely no significance at all to anything! Dumbfounding, isn’t it?
Brothers and Sisters, ABC, spoilers
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Alright, on top of the 3 already posted (NO3 sounds VERY familiar to me ;-D), I came up with:
1. The test is inconclusive. David is related to William. Rebecca is however William’s and so is Justin. I can imagine a story along the lines of David introducing Holly to his brother William and William stealing her away from David, which makes that the brothers, who already had a strained relationship, never talk to eachother again. Maybe Holly doesn’t even know they are related. So far, David has stayed away from the Walkers and has only been with Holly and Rebecca, maybe the reason is that he knows the Walkers.
2. Rebecca IS a Walker. But seeing it black on white, makes her red with anger. She finally realises what she’s been deprived off all these years thinking she was the result of a stupid one night affair her mother had. She is so infuriated that she does something. At first I thought maybe demand her fair part of what William left everyone. Maybe she will make it public that William was a cheater and a fraud. Remember that William is highly regarded in the community.
Coming out as his illigit daughter and maybe telling about the corrected embezzlement would certainly tarnish his memory and shock the Walkers, who still love William and wouldn’t like to see their name in the press in this fashion.
3. Something goes wrong with the DNA test, a mistake is made. At first it reveals that she is not William’s daughter. Garantueed catfights between mother/daughter, Nora/Holly, (Sarah/Holly?) and a horrified Kitty, Tommy and Kevin (although the last smugly reminds them that they SHOULD have listened to him.)
The only one CONVINCED that Rebecca IS a Walker is Justin. Who will eventually talk her into a second attempt, where they find out that Rebecca IS a Walker. (And Kevin can sue the #@$() for having made a mistake)
****
“Seems like a lot of wedding-ish action for one season, but if it involves a lot of Walkers and a lot of alcohol, I’m not gonna complain.”
****
As for Kevin/Scotty getting ‘married’. YEAHHHH!!!!! I’ve been waiting for this since 1.05, and suffered my way though Chad and Jason, so I hope it will be done well and that they take the commitment ceremony for the right reason, namely because they love eachother and want to be with eachother.
Although they will probably not show up. 
I would have loved to hear their comments on everything. 
I however still think it is possible to have a nice fun sophisticated wedding day, without everybody necessarily ending up dead drunk under the table. So I hope they tone down the ‘comedic’ parts. So, please no karaoke, no tents collapsing due to drunken antics, no one passing out on painkillers, no foodfights.
I hope that IF the Wandells show up, they will be a pleasant surprise, not like the McCrazies last year at the engagement party. I found them to be very loud and basically NOT funny, but rather gross.
It doesn’t mean they can’t have fun, it will be a very mixed crowd. Can you imagine Scotty’s karaoke friends at the same table with Robert McCallister.
I can’t say I’m sorry to see Graham go, but I will be sad for Isaac.
Bringing in Ken Howard is a good idea, he is a good actor and I look forward to his scenes with Robert.
March 23rd, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Oh, no need to talk about the mistakes and plotholes in my ideas, they were already decapitated/trashed by others. But I still like them.
(and prefer them to the Nora cheated on william story or the Rebecca/Justin will hook up story )
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I like them too, Sylviane. And we’re all just blue-skying here, so no worries about mistakes and plotholes. I think your idea of William having an unknown brother is fun! Better than some of the other possibilities I’ve seen raised.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
As a preface, I think most of the spoilers we have for these final 4 eps look promising, particularly in how they seem to bring the focus back on the family interaction.
The one exception is the Justin/Rebecca “twist” we keep hearing about, which I’m hopeful is shocking and still consistent with the characters we know, but which I’m also quite weary of. On the one hand, it is reassuring that the idea came directly from Berlanti (who I trust). On the other hand, shocks that “no one will see coming” have a risk of being unpredictable precisely because they are out of character or rewrite the show’s history. In other words - shocking for all the wrong reasons.
Specifically, I don’t think I’m overstating things when I say that a deWalkering of either Rebecca or Justin would be ridiculously contrived and almost undoubtedly a retcon of some sort. Of the two possibilities, I dread the latter even more because of the possible damage to Nora (whom I adore). It would be wholly inconsistent with everything we know about the character. And considering her arc in Season 1 was fueled by her grief and moral outrage over her husband’s infidelity, I would hate for the writers to blatantly rewrite history and as a result make her vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy. The Nora of Season 1 had been faithful to her husband, which made his betrayal all the more devastating.
I hope Berlanti lives up to his proven record as a good storyteller and delivers something great. But if they go down the route of retroactively changing a character’s paternity, it will be completely beneath the show’s caliber IMO. This is an intelligent adult drama starring the likes of Sally Field, not a Lifetime Original Movie.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I vote, early and often, for Option 3:”The big surprise is no surprise,” simply because I can’t handle anything else. The spoilers are having their desired effect: we are all atizz waiting impatiently for April 20. But Retconpalooza is giving me the bends. “Dumbfounded for 10 minutes” and “affecting character-driven drama” seem mutually exclusive, but I wait in hope while thinking pure thoughts.
And weddings are always lovely to think about. Sylviane, IA the white-trash McCrazies were way beyond too much. Well, for this bash we know the food will be good. And how many references to “Wicked” will they work in?
In my fantasy, Season 3 will end with Sarah marrying Noah, with Jason conducting the ceremony.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
“3. There’s no twist at all! Ha! Fakeout! This whole storyline has absolutely no significance at all to anything! Dumbfounding, isn’t it?”
***
Laugh about it all you want, but can you imagine the writers sitting there and wondering what they will do to with R/J, what spin can give the story? And Berlanti says simply: ”
“We do nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing? We wait with the results?”
“No… nothing. Rebecca is a Walker. Period. End of story.”
“But everybody is expecting…”
“Yes, yes, I know what everybody is expecting, exactly why we won’t give in… We are not going to screw around with them or Holly or Nora.”
“So… nothing?”
“Nothing.”
Silence as it sinks in.
I guess we have to wait. I’ve mostly given up on Rebecca/Justin, because I agree with Scott. I’m worried of what they will do to Nora, who is for me the second most important character after Kevin (and Scotty). I absolutely love her.
I don’t really care if Holly turned out to be a liar, but I would find it inconsistent with the story.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Alas, given their comments in EW and TV Guide, we know they’re going to do *something*. What that is remains to be seen, of course.
I’m with Sylviane. In both cases I’d find it extremely consistent, but I don’t care about Holly. Nora is also my #2 favorite character (also behind Kevin, lol), and the last thing I want is for her character to suffer because of some stupid plot twist. She’s a wonderful character and deserves storylines respectful of her character’s history.
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:08 pm
That should read *extremely INconsistent
March 24th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Where could the storyline with J/R go? Either they’re related or they’re not. This “dumbfounded” spoiler just doesn’t make sense.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Karaoke would be fun at Kevin’s bachelor party, which I hope they show us, especially if Kevin sings “Annie Get Your Gun” (and Ioan is a Very Special Guest).
March 24th, 2008 at 5:47 am
Yes, Colleen, it would be, except that in VAM Matthew actually sang quiet good, but not in B&S. Off course, they could always chuck that on Kevin being drunk and that W.Nelson’s version of ‘Always on my mind’ in combination for big amounts of alcohol was not a good idea
… and that he sings better sober. A special guest star role for Ioan on the weddingday would be nice
But in general, I agree with Kevin on the topic of karaoke.
What I am more concerned about is that in an attempt to make it a nice and fun final episode, of this season, the aspect of Kevin and Scotty making a SERIOUS commitment to eachother will get ’snowed under’.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:21 am
I doubt it. If the spoiler is true, Berlanti knows this will be the first same-sex wedding on a network hour-long. IMO they will be careful about how they tell this story. There might be fun moments for Kevin/Scotty, but I am quite confident there would be romantic ones too. (Much like the Robert/Kitty wedding.)
March 24th, 2008 at 10:20 am
(Much like the Robert/Kitty wedding.)
If that is supposed to make me feel more comfortable it is not going to work.
I found the wedding R/K a bit oneven and chaotic. I felt tired after watching the show.
But with all the positive things everybody has to say about Berlanti, I will give him the benefit of the doubt and complain afterwards…
March 24th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I agree the episode itelf was uneven, but I meant that nonetheless Robert/Kitty did some have romantic moments/scenes, and I would expect the same for Kevin/Scotty.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Monica and Alison wrote “Holy Matrimony.” As they just took over as showrunners, and 3 new writers were hired, I doubt they’d write the finale.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I didn’t say they would. I’m speaking more broadly about the treatment of the story.
March 24th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I know, I’m agreeing with you. I think the story is in good hands because they know it’s a first and they want it to be memorable in all the right ways.