New Episode Sunday -- "Something Ida This Way Comes"

Hello hell0,

Don't miss Sunday's episode, when the kids throw Nora a surprise 60th birthday party at which the most surprising element is the presence of HER mom, Ida. And you thought Nora was a strong personality! Other things to look forward to: Justin's (temporary) return from Rehab By The Sea; Kitty and the Senator alone in the closet; and a very special Nora Walker tribute video goes horribly awry.

Monday morning, "Bloggers & Sisters" will feature a look behind "Something Ida..."  by none other than the writers of the episode:  Sherri Cooper and David Marshall Grant. I think you'll find it one of our most enlightening blogs thus far.

Have a great weekend.

Dan

Comments

[Michelle]

LOVED the show last night. The chemistry and interaction between all of these talented actors feels like a real family. Keep exploring and portraying Kevin's love life as you would any other character. LOVE THE SHOW!!!! :)

[E.D.]

I love this show, but the gay scenes are disgusting!!!.

[Luz Galante, PhD]

Up until last night I had been pleasantly surprised to finally see a mother treated with respect and affection on a TV show! It had been great to see a conflictive family where the mother is the center and the reconciliatory force. This is great and unusual.

However, I was SHOCKED AND OFFENDED at the treatment the grandmother gets in last night episode “Something Ida This Way Comes” (1/21/07). The title itself is offensive. Is Ida a “something”?
The saddest thing is that her daughter who acts in the most incredibly rude way is not a teenager or a young adult, but a SIXTY years old woman. The next morning this woman shows no sign of remorse about humiliating Ida who has been put on her way to airport the very next day. How disgraceful, writers! In most cultures mothers and grandmothers are sacred!
luz_galante@Ameritech.net

[JimH]

Wonderful episode. I loved it. Can't wait for the next new one, which I guess is not going to be this coming Sunday... sad.

[Brenda]

This is a great show with a great view of really interesting family dynamics, or at least I thought that is what this show is about. WHY every week is there more and more scenes of Kevin kissing his latest man? Unnecessary and not relevant to what this show is about. If this trend continues, we won't watch the show anymore.

[Scott]

Excellent episode. Loved the focus on the family dynamic. You have a brilliant cast and you are giving them material deserving of their talent. Bravo.

And I must extend my support for treating Kevin's personal life just like any of his (straight) siblings. Same-sex relationships are deserving of the same respect of opposite-sex relationships--no more, no less. I applaud your handling of this topic with such sensitivity and nuance.

You definitely have a devoted fan in me. Can't wait to see what the rest of the season has in store.

[Claudia]

I am not against a gay character but I do not like to see them in bed kissing. I don't think it is important to the plot and is just an attempt to create controversy. Please reconsider your thoughts regarding the broadcasting of such scenes.

[Fiona]

I, too, enjoyed the show from 1/21/07. I like the interactions of all the main characters. We see Kitty's lovelife, and Justin's so it's only right to see Kevin's. I appreciate the gentle nature of all the lovers on the show.

[will]

You anti-gay people need to move on. This is not your show, that's all. It requires an open mind (& leave your bigotry at the door). Check out the zillion "Law & Order" franchises. And let the rest of us enjoy a groundbreaking show.

[wish]

Will be sorry to miss this otherwise excellent show, because the PTB have decided to go too far with gay kissing, etc.

[MP]

This is the first time for me posting but I've been reading the blog for a while. Brothers & Sisters isn't the type of show I usually watch and I only started watching because a friend recommended it, but I really enjoy it. The characters interact like a real family and seem like they really could be brothers and sisters. The casting and acting are great.

Joy, since you're so concerned about "family viewing," has your family actually been watching the show? It didn't bother you to have your kids see Julia give Tommy oral sex in the shower or Joe and Sarah videotaping sex? Why aren't you protesting those scenes? How is two men kissing while fully dressed more explicit than Justin eating fruit off Taylor's body?

[Jim]

Bravo on another excellent episode. Thank you, thank you, thank you for exploring Kevin's relationships with the same detail and respect that you give to the other Walker siblings. This creative integrity is what keeps devoted fans. If some people truly believe one man's lips touching another man's lips for four seconds is that horrifying and offensive, then I feel sorry for them.

[Shira]

I have seen every episode of Brothers & Sisters. This show keeps me coming back for more. I love how I can watch it on ABC.com if I miss it on t.v. As of the most recent episode, I am most interested in the developing relationship between Kitty and the Senator! I can't wait to see what happens next. I do agree with the former comments on the gay kissing being over the top and unnecessary.

[Flip]

As a straight woman with many gay friends, I've often been in the middle of discussions about how when shows DO finally include a gay character s/he's either completely sexless or severely marginalized. I believed this to be true, but till I started watching this show and seeing how refreshingly EQUALLY Kevin's relationships are treated, I didn't understand just how deep the prejudices of past shows went.

Sp THANK YOU for an entertaining and realistic portrayal, not just of Kevin's but of all the other characters' relationships. (Although I will say that occasionally I think Kitty behaves like a child in hers, and having the senator bringing up the kids' game of 7 Minutes in Heaven only served to drive that point home further.)

[steven]

The extent to which Kevin's personal life is treated as equally valid, equally sexy, and equally screwed up--very much appreciated, and that goes for the cast and crew, ABC, Disney, and the program's sponsors.

Especially in light of some of the 1910-era comments above...hard to believe, in this day and age.

Your show has quickly become a favorite, amazing that it's gelled so fast. Give Tommy more to do!!

[will]

Luz ("shocked & offended" over Ida treatment)
The whole story made it clear that Ida is the one that "alienated" or "estranged" herself from the family. Look at the Sally-Marion Ross scene again near the end. And didn't she make some flip comment that "Justin is an addict, Kevin is gay, and THIS ONE is shooting pornographic movies..."? She HAD NO IDEA until now? Seems to me she made no effort to "keep in touch" & simply inquire about the lives of her own grandchildren. (wouldn't you KNOW your own grandkids are addicts or gay just by having some kind of weekly telephone contact?) Don't feel "shocked & offended" at how they treated HER, but how little she regarded THEM. The show's about family - and she seemed to remove herself (by her own volition) out of the family loop.

[Jane]

I can't believe no one else has commented on the glaring error in last night's episode. After having agonized with Tommy and his wife over their inability to conceive, Nora now tells Tommy that he should stay at her house while he has the flu so he doesn't give it to "the fetus"? The statement jumped right off the screen--it was the main topic of conversation at lunch. Please! No loving grandmother--which Nora has proved herself to be--ever thinks of her grandchild-in-utero as a fetus. We know Nora is supposed to be rabidly pro-choice, but this is one instance where grandparenthood trumps politics. I can't imagine that even Nancy Pelosi referred to her unborn grandchildren as fetuses. But I could be wrong.

[will]

Suggestion.
Maybe the anti-gay crowd can TiVo & fast-forward past the offensive homosexual scenes. Just like you probably do when shows present black characters or muslims.

[FanGirlHater]

Hey if u have a problem with two guys...please stop watching. It's only gonna get "worse" from here. No need to pollute the blogs with your bigotry. Stick to PAX.

[Candi]

Janice Arnold, are you a stand up comedienne? because i laughed my ass off when i read yor comment. Why are gay characters, on the show? Why does this have to be part of the show? Is that the kind of show you want? If you left the gay part off, you could have all types people as your audience, and the part that really tickled me...i'm not anti gay, but...

oh man, you're good.

[Luz Galante]

Thank you, writers for responding to my comment.
Regarding the treatment grandma Ida gets, I still feel it was totally unacceptable. Why invite to a family reunion someone who is totally unwanted? We don't invite people just for the purpose of humiliating them in front of everyone. Yes, I see Ida has not been a caring mother or grandmother. However, treating a guest, especially if the guest is your mother, in this is way is not right. Hopefully Ida’s ordeal was not found to be something funny by the viewers.

[wish]

Those of us who don't care to see gay love-making are bigots? I don't think so. I don't care to see the heavy heterosexual love-making either. Yes, both are getting more explicit on television, in general. That doesn't mean I have to like it, or think it's okay. Sex should be more private, IMO. And, children are exposed to too much of it. They are deprived of the innocence of childhood.

As I said earlier, it's a shame, because otherwise this is an excellent show. Why must it have an agenda?

If I turn it off without expressing my opinions, I'm left with the rest of the (mostly) trash on TV, having said nothing.

[will]

Luz, I never once found Ida's situation funny. Sally (Norah) could've taken a higher road I suppose & let her know she was unconditionally welcomed in the future. That would be in character & would've sent a better message... But I get the idea grandma Ida was not willing to meet her daughter half-way. Don't believe for a split second those great grandkids (Tommy, Sarah, Kevin, Justin, Kitty) would have TURNED grandma away if she were kinder or took the slightest interest in their lives. The ball was in her court.... She's responsible for her karma.

[From Ann]

I am so glad to see there is finally another show on TV that is a show about relationships. I love it. But I really wish ABC didn't think they have to be on the "cutting edge" with the whole Kevin plotline. I am not homophobic. What people do in their sexual relationships is there business. But why does it have to be in our face on TV? Sure I can shut it off and not watch the kissing, but I would miss the rest of the great show. I hope you writers reconsider what you are doing before the show is cancelled. Middle America ( somewhere between LA and NY) really doesn't want to watch men kiss. It's still uncomfortable for most people in spite of what the loud gay activist group may say. So please don't distroy this show just as it's getting off to a great start. I'd love to see it around for years, but those kissing scenes are not necessary - a lot can be done with inuendos, like what they've done for years in many great movies.

[ilovemylife]

When I was a kid in the late 50’s and 60’s, my mother had a long list of television shows that we, the children, weren’t allowed to watch. And many of you know those shows were quite spotlessly clean, so you maybe can imagine we were kept from nothing immoral. Although, I believed they must have been bad enough for mother to restrict us from their sullied views and dirty impressions. TV morals didn’t change when BROTHERS AND SISTERS began showing a grown man kiss another grown man. To be offended by two men kissing for two seconds on a home TV screen, where total control is in the remote control master’s hands, has an untold meaning behind the confessed reasons.

The lastest episode, “Something Ida This Way Comes”, was clearly rated on the TV screen throughout the airing of the show as TV14 S. The S stands for sexual content. 14 means the show is suggested for no one younger than 14 years old. After that – it’s the viewers' call.

About this phrase “jam down our throats”: It’s quite a phrase. Is it the two-second kiss that comes off as “jamming down throats”? The word “gay”? Or the difference of opinion as to what is acceptable? Sometimes, I look for reasons when maybe I personally will never find any. Then I remember, people don't have to agree. We just need to treat each other with respect. Mutual respect - no matter what.