Brothers & Sisters

Yippee! It’s finally the start of Season 3! Whether we’ll still be feeling giddy after tonight’s premiere depends on how all the unsettling plotlines that were thrown our way at the end of Season 2 begin to weave their way into the serio-silly fabric of the series. Here’s the description tonight’s episode from an ABC press release:

“Glass Houses” - Secrets can’t be kept for long in the Walker family, as Rebecca and Justin try unsuccessfully to hide their feelings for each another and the Walker siblings hatch a plan to reach out to their long lost brother, Ryan, while keeping it from their mother, Nora. Meanwhile, Kitty calls upon her family to lend support, as she and Robert begin the process of adopting a child. And just as Kevin and Scotty begin their life partnership together, Kevin’s career is put in jeopardy by a member of his own family, on the third-season premiere of “Brothers & Sisters,” SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 (10:01-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Brothers & Sisters” stars Dave Annable as Justin Walker, Maxwell Perry Cotton as Cooper Whedon, Kerris Lilla Dorsey as Paige, Sally Field as Nora Holden, Calista Flockhart as Kitty Walker, Balthazar Getty as Thomas Walker, Rachel Griffiths as Sarah Whedon, Luke Macfarlane as Scotty Wandell, Rob Lowe as Senator Robert McCallister, Sarah Jane Morris as Julia Walker, Matthew Rhys as Kevin Walker, Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden, Emily VanCamp as Rebecca Harper and Patricia Wettig as Holly Harper.

Guest starring are Michael Adler as Doug Manning, Mitch Pileggi as Browne Carter and Kulap Vilaysack as Gail.

“Glass Houses” was written by Molly Newman and David Marshall Grant and directed by Tucker Gates.

In the week ahead, I’ll be returning to the usual First Impressions, Recap, Memorable Lines, and Five Questions format I used last season. Tune in throughout the week and share your own thoughts in the comments.

There was other big Walker news this past week, of course: The release of the Season 2 DVD. I’ll be doing a full photo feature on this as I did with the first season, and talking a little about the extras, but right now, as we await the return of our beloved show, I just want to talk with others who care about this DVD cover:

I don’t know if you can see from this smaller image just what a Photoshop hack-job this thing is. I can’t tell if it’s actually heads put on other bodies or images cut from other pictures and slapped together, or one of those “photo-real” paint jobs, or some of all three, but … geeze. This is the best ABC can do? It’s really rather horrifying.

Aside from the terrible technical mismash, there’s the grouping. If you’d never seen this show before, but knew it was about a character played by Sally Field and her five children, you’d have to assume that the three sons were played by Dave Annable, Matthew Rhys, and Rob Lowe. Now, it’s true that Robert is standing behind Kitty, and that makes sense, but Tommy’s position sort of floating in the background makes it a “Balthazar Getty, call your agent” arrangement.

Then there’s Holly and Rebecca: Mother and daughter, or two-headed monster? Could go either way.

Is it really not possible to get this whole cast together for a living, breathing box-dimensioned portrait? And if not, why not go for a mosaic like last season? This is just … profoundly unsettling. Or is it just me?

Brothers and Sisters, Glass Houses, Season 3, DVD