The alternate-universe Walkers on YouTube
With the cell-phone roundelay that opened Sunday’s Valentine’s Day episode still ringing in our ears, offering an irresistible portrait of snippy overinvolved siblings gossiping breathlessly with one another about how they’ve messed up — and avoiding Mom’s calls until it turns out that even she has managed to mess up — it’s hard to imagine Brothers & Sisters with anything but this cast and these intertwined characters and this tart yet endearing tone. So here’s a little time-warp for you: The YouTube clip below will introduce you to the other Walkers, the ones we never got to officially meet because their pilot was scrapped and recast and restructured. Mom is Iva, not Nora, and is played by Betty Buckley, not Sally Field; it’s still the same Sarah, Kitty, Tommy and Justin, but Sarah’s kids are older and Kitty’s boyfriend and co-worker are played by Dan Futterman and Peter Horton, respectively. There’s still a gay brother, but his name is Bryan and he’s played by Jonathan LaPaglia, and has an ex-wife and child to complicate things (if that child looks familiar, it’s because he became Sarah’s stepson in the current incarnation). The blog Televisionista has a good run-down on the ditched storylines, and this preview gives a glimpse of what might of been. Personally, for my taste? Not enough people talking on cell phones in their underwear.
February 16th, 2007 at 6:30 am
That pilot was quite fascinating, and odd. I notice they had more of Kitty’s political babble than the real pilot did. Seeing different actors as Nora and Kevin was especially jarring. And seeing Tommy sans shirt so many times (twice) - was he supposed to be the beefcake for the show? He fits the part, but that’s not what the retooled version saw him as, apparently.
I can’t imagine the show without Sally or Matthew.