| Brothers & Sisters | |
|---|---|
| Format | Family Drama - Dramedy |
| Created by | Jon Robin Baitz |
| Starring | Season 3 cast: Dave Annable Sally Field Calista Flockhart Balthazar Getty Rachel Griffiths Rob Lowe Luke MacFarlane Sarah Jane Morris Ron Rifkin Matthew Rhys Emily VanCamp Patricia Wettig Maxwell Perry Cotton Kerris Lilla Dorsey |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 47 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Jon Robin Baitz, Greg Berlanti, Ken Olin, Mark Perry (2007), Monica Owusu-Breen, Alison Schapker & Molly Newman (2008-) |
| Running time | 41 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV) |
| Original run | September 24, 2006 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Brothers & Sisters is an American dramatic television series which centers on the upper class Walker family and their lives in Los Angeles, California.
It premiered on ABC on September 24, 2006 after Desperate Housewives and airs Sundays. The acting ensemble includes Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Matthew Rhys, and Rachel Griffiths. Sally Field won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Nora Walker. Rachel Griffiths was also nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.
On February 11, 2008 ABC announced they had picked up Brothers & Sisters for the 2008-09 television season. [1]
Contents |
The show is centered on the Walker family, an American family of Irish and Jewish heritages. Some of the family members are involved in the family owned business running Ojai Food Co, a produce distributor. Most of the action is set in the Greater Los Angeles area. The family home is located in Pasadena, California. The main branches of the Walker family tree included father William (deceased) (Tom Skerritt), mother Nora (Sally Field), and their five children. Nora's brother, Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin) helps run the Walker family business and is involved in most of the family's affairs.
The show's narrative launched with the death of William Walker at Kitty's birthday party. His death causes a number of secrets from his life to be revealed - secrets that impact the remainder of his family.
On the business side, Sarah, Tommy, and Saul, who are the most involved people with the family business, learn that William embezzled the company funds. The business revelation pales, however, to two major revelations on the personal front: William had a mistress, Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig) that he kept for decades, and the couple had a child, Rebecca (Emily VanCamp). They later find out that Rebecca was not William's biological child but that he fathered another child Ryan by a second mistress (deceased). Ryan will be portrayed by Luke Grimes.[2] After Tommy finds out that his dad was going to open a winery for Tommy to run, he joins Holly in opening Walker Landing Winery, and later took over Ojai foods making Holly and Tommy Co-CEO's. War veteran Justin struggled with drug addiction but eventually recovered and was deployed to Iraq, was injured and relapsed and is now beginning a relationship with non-sister Rebecca. Sarah divorces, and Kitty marries and begins the adoption process with one time Presidential hopeful and republican senator Robert McAllister (Rob Lowe). Middle brother Kevin, a lawyer, marries on and off again partner Scotty and takes over for Kitty as his brother-in-law's Director of Communications while she publishes her book.
| Actor | Role | Information |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Annable | Justin Walker | Season 1 - |
| Sally Field | Nora Walker | Season 1 - |
| Calista Flockhart | Katherine "Kitty" Walker McCallister | Season 1 - |
| Balthazar Getty | Thomas "Tommy" Walker | Season 1 - |
| Rachel Griffiths | Sarah Walker | Season 1 - |
| Rob Lowe | Robert McCallister | Season 2 - (Season 1; recurring) |
| Luke Macfarlane | Scotty Wandell | Season 3 - (Season 1-2; recurring) |
| Sarah Jane Morris | Julia Walker | Season 1 - |
| Ron Rifkin | Saul Holden | Season 1 - |
| Matthew Rhys | Kevin Walker | Season 1 - |
| Emily VanCamp | Rebecca Harper | Season 1 - |
| Patricia Wettig | Holly Harper | Season 1 - |
| Maxwell Perry Cotton | Cooper Whedon | Season 2 - (Season 1; recurring) |
| Kerris Lilla Dorsey | Paige Whedon | Season 1 - |
| Actor | Role | Information |
|---|---|---|
| Luke Grimes | Ryan Lafferty[3] | Season 3 |
| John Glover | Andrew[4] | Season 3 |
| Will McCormack | Ethan Tavis | Season 3 |
| Eric Christian Olsen | Kyle DeWitt | Season 3 |
| John Pyper-Ferguson | Joseph "Joe" Whedon | Season 2 (Season 1; starring) |
| Tom Skerritt | William Walker | Season 1, 2 |
| Eric Winter | Jason McCallister | Season 1, 2 |
| Name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season One | September 4, 2007 | February 25, 2008 |
November 28, 2007 |
| Season Two | September 18, 2008 | TBA | October 29, 2008 |
The series is from producer Ken Olin (thirtysomething and Alias) and Jon Robin Baitz, one of Broadway's most prominent playwrights (The Substance of Fire). Noted producer Greg Berlanti was also an executive producer and "show-runner" during season one. Berlanti continues to serve on the series as executive producer. Mark B. Perry, (The Wonder Years and One Tree Hill) served as the showrunner for twelve episodes before departing the show in the aftermath of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The current showrunners are Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker.
After the series pilot was shot, and the show was picked up by ABC, the series underwent some moderate changes. Most notably, three of the roles were recast:
The more minor role of Cooper, Sarah and Joe's younger child, was also recast after the pilot episode.
Robert McCallister was the name of a character on a previous Greg Berlanti production, Jack & Bobby, about a boy who grew up to be the President of the United States. As with the Robert McAllister on Brothers & Sisters, the character on Jack & Bobby was a Republican who had a wife named Courtney and a son named Jack.
Brothers and Sisters is produced by Berlanti Television, After Portsmouth, and Touchstone Television (Fall 2006-Spring 2007), which is now ABC Studios (Fall 2007-present).
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Brothers & Sisters on ABC:
| Season | Timeslot (EDT) | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Rank | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sunday 10:00 p.m. | September 24, 2006 | May 20, 2007 | 2006-2007 | #37 | 12.2[6] |
| 2 | Sunday 10:00 p.m. | September 30, 2007 | May 11, 2008 | 2007-2008 | #38 | 11.5[7] |
In the UK, the show fared well at the start for Channel 4 and started on the same viewing figures that Desperate Housewives's third season was for the channel, with around 2.4 million[8]. The show aired in the timeslot previously occupied by Desperate Housewives and was promoted heavily on magazine covers. The series debuted on Channel 4 on June 20, 2007 at 20:30 with an audience of 2.221m, the second episode was screened the same evening at 22:00 with an audience of 1.443m[9] The series then settled down to a regular audience of around 600,000, quite low for a primetime show, and Channel 4 started airing the remainder of the series in double bills from September 2007.[10]
The second season was shown on E4 starting on March 30th at 11pm, after the first run episode of Desperate Housewives. Season 2 ended on E4 in July 2008. From October 11, 2008, Channel 4 looked set to air Season 2 in a varying afternoon slot on Saturdays around 4.30pm. However, the show was quickly relegated to a late-night slot on Sundays, making it look unlikely that Channel 4 will pick up the next season.
Emmy Awards
Golden Globe
SAG award
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