Greg "The Hurricane" Berlanti Speaks...

Executive Producer Greg Berlanti recently talked to AfterElton.com. You can read the full text of his interview here.

Slow day around the writer's floor. There are a number of actors sitting around the lobby, reading over sides for an important upcoming role. Sometimes they pace. It's hard not to bump into them, actually.

Comments

[Rach in Toronto]

You make it sound like the actors should be on a leash.

That's a good intervew at afterelton.

[will]

It's worthwhile for Greg to spend the time he does discussing Kevin Walker's role (& the wondrous, sexy stufmuffin Matthew Rhys who brings him alive). Despite the homophobes who grace this site (& they'll be back Sunday night - & we'll be here for another session of fly swatting) I truly believe this show would be EMASCULATED without Kevin/Matthew's presence.

Imagine "Brothers & Sisters" for a moment without the Kevin Walker storyline. We might go from Norah in her kitchen, talking on the phone to her kids.... to Kitty doing her ditsy-quirky "conservative" lady-in-love thing.... to Holly in the sleek offices of Ojai Foods pounding her desk & offering Sarah yet another ultimatum ("You must think I fell off the turnip truck yesterday, sweetie. I want 51 PERCENT of Ojai Foods! Don't F--- WITH ME!" - ok, ok, I see Faye Dunaway doing Mommy Dearest here). I don't think I'm REACHING in the least to say that Kevin (channeled thru Matthew) is a major part of the glue that holds this conception together. Matthew's charming, he's affable, & he goes through the motions of showing us Kevin Walker's life with such fluent grace & ease (that smile!) that he takes over the small screen by sheer force of presence. (And, by the way, I really do feel this. I know it sounds gushy & swoony. Maybe it's because I'm gay & it's a gay thing? But I don't think so). I'm fully aware this show becomes more successful as the ENSEMBLE elements gel, but right now the interest level decimates without Kevin/Matthew.

Matthew was born in South Wales, & this accounts for the fact that he's so comfortable playing gay - in contrast with a straight american actor (we've learned from this blog, via the English posters, that the UK is probably 15 years ahead of american network TV regarding gay depiction, so a welsh actor might not bring with him all the cultural baggage that americans tote around).

Scotty lovers: Greg B. intimates in this afterelton interview that Scotty MAY be coming back once the dust settles ("the dust" being Kevin's sexual journey, keeping him single awhile, letting him do a little exploring). Greg Berlanti: "I like to think of Scotty as Kevin's Mr. Big" (oh jeez, double entendre? ok, I'm horny. Kevin's "main squeeze"). So in the meantime I'm loving the scenic route & local color B&S is showing us. Next show March 4.....then APRIL 1 after that?!.... A 4-week hiatus? Are you freaking kidding me? Such anticipation! Such sorrow! (Parting is such sweet sorrow). It's Chinese water torture! Here's looking forward to Sunday night.

[Chris]

"There are a number of actors sitting around the lobby, reading over sides for an important upcoming role."

Anyone we would know???

[Kong Chang]

Name the actors trying out for the role, that we know you're referring to. We also want to know ourselves! :)

We also can't wait and we are waiting with baited breath on who you guys will select.

Can you at least give us a hint?

KC
Maintainer of Luke MacFarlane Fansite

[will]

And can someone please explain to me why Kevin Walker can't be seen in his convertible BLASTING Mick Jagger singing "You Can't Always Get What You Want", with the top down? Every one of us does this in real life.

But on the show you smother & suffocate us with kd lang & Norah Jones & Sarah McLachlan. Woozy goo-ey chick music. B&S is indoctrinating fine young gay men into becoming chicks! And some muscle please!

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes,
Well you might find
You get what you need.

[ilovemylife]

Regarding:
"Slow day around the writer's floor. There are a number of actors sitting around the lobby, reading over sides for an important upcoming role. Sometimes they pace. It's hard not to bump into them, actually."

"Slow day" - Yes, we FEEL the slowness - pick a GOOD ONE for us and the sooner we know WHO the quicker we can all calm down. NO one is "pacing" more than us - we are beside ourselves wanting to know WHO w i l l fill those Todd McCallister shoes. Please, spill the beans already. We are bursting.

"Rumpled?" - it's not Columbo's grandson is it?!

I so wish I could be there Monday night to see the wonderful cast all present and personal.

I stole a wonderful post CELEBRATING WALES and BEING WELSH from a new blogging "friend", Gareth, (with his blessing)who resides in Cardiff, Wales - where Matthew Rhys calls home.
March 1 was SAINT DAVID'S DAY - Dydd Dewi Sant, or Dydd Gwyl Dewi.
Prawn Cufflinks, aka Gareth, writes:

"Everyday When I Wake Up, I Thank The Lord I'm Welsh"

On Saint David's Day, as people all over Wales celebrated the country's patron saint, Gareth felt it fitting to enter into the spirit. He wrote "After all, we are both proud to be Welsh and will never turn down an opportunity to promote the land that we call home. Therefore, allow us to present some of the greatest things about Wales."

Want to check it out?
http://ilovemylifebrothersandsisters.blogspot.com/

[CeCe]

I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve today! The anticipation for tonight's show is killing me!!! I have checked my Tivo guide several times already to make sure it is not being pre-empted by anything. I am on my laptop in a very noisy place right now, so I can't hear the preview clip. I have no idea what they are all saying, but just watching it has made me giddy with excitement!

The interview on AfterElton with Mr. Berlanti has also made me swoony and happy and giddy today! I am such a romantic sap, and hearing that he is in such a wonderful place in his own relationship makes me all misty! I have to believe that writers' lives inform their writing, and that his peace and joy is filtering through to the flow and gel of B&S. *sigh* {{{Greg}}}

Is it 10:00 yet?

[ilovemylife]

I'm watching the first and second episodes online and I would like to just say how I adore the locks on Kevin/Matthew so much. Those curls are glorious. The longer sideburns are great, too. I know it's just personal preference . . . but I miss the gorgeous hair being Kevin's/Matthew's crowning glory.

I knew the minute I saw those shorter cuts on Kevin that I liked the longer and curly hair better, but watching these earliest episodes just makes it all the more evident to me.
Just saying . . .

And I loved that first episode's writing. And I see it is all credited to Jon Robin Baitz. And from that first episode Matthew/Kevin shined and just felt like family.

I missed the first episode because of New Zealand guests having their final night at my home that night. So I appreciate having it online. Thank you ever so much. Will those first episodes disappear from online viewing soon?

I hope out-takes and behind the scenes stuff, as well as the forum that is taking place Monday, March 5th, will be on the DVD when it comes out. Spoil us and we will love you, even more, for it.

I have a blogger "friend" that is such a huge fan of Scotty Wandell/Luke MacFarlane who is from Japan. I "met" him at KC's “Luke MacFarlane's Fan Site” and he visits me at my blog where a lot of posting is done about Matthew Rhys and Luke MacFarlane, as well as other things. My “friend” cannot get BROTHERS AND SISTERS in Japan, but views his Kevin and Scotty scenes on Youtube. This just goes to prove how affecting Kevin and Scotty are and how they touch people around the world. And …on…Youtube, in a LIMITED way. And sadly, those offerings are starting to disappear. I raise this because I have a lot of international viewers on my blog, such as the Phillipines, Poland, Wales, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, etc. and there is interest in Kevin and Scotty around the world. Even WHEN the ONLY access is on Youtube. I did one whole post about Kevin and Scotty recently just for people who can't get BROTHERS AND SISTERS on their TV.

And I know which posts are getting the most hits and what searches they come in from.

You have support around the world with these two. Just in case you didn't know.

In the spirit that there is a need being met around the world by what people, across cultures and borders, see in the connection that is undeniable with Kevin/Matthew and Luke/Scotty I would like to add this quote:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

"You are our "small group of thoughtful people". So keep on, keeping on.

Fondly,

ilovemylife

:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>
http://ilovemylifebrothersandsisters.blogspot.com/

[Pooky]

How can Sarah be such a bit--and Justin be so precious?

[Joe]

Tonight's episode was great -but Nora should not blame Sarah for he secret. I rEALLY like Sarah-what a load she has to carry-AND
I hate Holly-what makes her think she can waltz in, hurt EVERYONE, and choose how it affects her life?

I hope Sarah beats her at her own game. I hope Kevin stays with his stud muffin-who cares.

[Amber]

I like the show brothers and sisters. I also, am a fan of the show everwood that greg Berlanti crateded
and if he reads this I just wanted to say that I don't think he is done with everwood because he left it open ended. And it wood be nice if he would consider doing a tv movie some day so the fans of the show can fine out what is going on with the people that live in sleepy town of everwood. everywood is your baby.

I also, love the epsiode the all nighter which is from dawson's creek. great epsiode. keep up the good writing Mr. Berlanti

[Cathy]

Few things:

1) Last night's episode was too serious! Not that i didn't like it, but i love the banter between the sibblings!!

2) Now that Kitty is getting serious... it would be a good time to bring Matthew Settle back. I watched him in Band of Brothers over the weekend.... he's smokin' HOT!!!!

: )

[Sam]

Great interview with Berlanti. I've been a fan of his work for years and I'm so glad he is part of this show. I really hope he stays with B&S for season two. He has such a unique way of storytelling and really gets family drama.

I love the addition of Emily Van Camp as Rebecca. I think she's going to be a fantastic addition to the cast.

Kevin is my favorite character and I'm glad the writers and the network do not listen to the homophobes who have nothing better to do than bash this great character. I'm a long time fan of Matthew Rhys' and it's about time he's getting the exposure he deserves. Kevin is one of the most realistic, well-written characters on television -- gay OR straight. I honestly can't imagine B&S without him. He deserves the exact same treatment as any other character on the show and that includes relationship drama. So thank you for that.

[Monique]

Love....Love....Love....Rob Lowe on the show! Keep him forever!!

[will]

Pathology of the "Afterschool Special" or
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers Meets Brothers and Sisters"

Was that "Brothers & Sisters" I watched last night? Obviously my beloved show was taken over by sinister look-alike aliens.
I mean, it APPEARED to be Sarah & Justin & Kevin & Norah walking around.....

POD PEOPLE took over the action last night.
"Afterschool Specials" owned a particular franchise for presenting large, central problems right at the beginning. (The 15-year-old son, say, fears he is gay; or the 16-year-old daughter finds herself pregnant; or Mom prepares to deal with a mastectomy). "Afterschaool Specials" generally took a simple, simplistic dramatic idea (a family learns of a "bastard" sisters from their father's affair) & exploited it for the next couple of hours. Complexity, subtlety, subtext were not hallmarks of the genre.

Revelations. Tears. Anguish. Angst. More tears. "Brothers & Sisters" got stuck in a moment last night (& could not get out of it). The screenplay kept striking the same note over & over. Sarah's way of dealing with the "crisis" was virtually the same as Kitty's, which was virtually the same as Norah's, which was.....

"Brothers & Sisters" revealed a very selfish Walker family last night. It was literally 50 minutes in before somebody got out of their own angst (Justin) & thought about Rebecca. Everyone was wallowing in a dramatists idea of noble suffering. I loathed last night's episode. And I was so primed too because the "Desperate Housewives" episode had been intimate & slightly elegiac & beautifully done.

[Scott]

What a rich, powerful episode last night. The build-up to this episode has been pretty long indeed, but I was very satisfied by the result.

Everyone was on top of their game, but Rachel and Sally really stood out. The wordless look they shared--with Nora communicating she knew, and Sarah feeling instantly shamed--was wonderful. And the scene toward the end where Nora admitted she held Sarah to a higher standard was beautifully, quietly done.

As much as I've enjoyed the lighthearted tone of recent episodes, I've welcomed these last two dramatic episodes. The Walkers needed a bit of a shake-up, and they most certainly got it. Can't wait to see where they go from here.

[jen]

Finally last night's episode began to show Holly is a bit of an jerk. It's absolutely unimaginable that she could be some innocent person who just "happened" to fall in love with a married man. I loved the daughter's comment that she was willing to play "slippery" second to a rich man and his family. I like also that there is some compassion for the daughter, but to imagine that any of them would ever embrace Holly is just unthinkable...it's an insult to Norah's character to play that out. I keep waiting for everyone to realize that the biggest jerk of all was the selfish head of the family "dad." To live his life as he did, he HAS to be unbelievably self-centered and egocentric...what a deplorable man to leave the whole family to deal with his selfish behaviors. GREAT SHOW, but please don't pretend like Holly is some innocent in all of this--any decent person would at some point in their life think of how their behavior affects other. She had "all" the information and could make a decent decision, poor Norah did not. LOVE THE SHOW, but keep it realistic...continue to allow Norah to maintain her respect...don't play her out to be totally stupic!

[will]

This is freaky. Usually the blog's swarming with comments the morning following a NEW show!
Listen to the crickets....! A virtual ghost town has metastasized (as of 12:00 noon PST).
I noticed even the Kevin-Chad scenes were lackluster. I wouldn't have thought this was possible. There is ALWAYS some spark or sneaky subversive smile that makes its way into these scenes & adds some tension. I would never have guessed these guys were even lovers.
Damn it! I wanted magic! I wanted "Brothers & Sisters" to astonish me! Even Rob & Calista lacked any sizzle. And, by the way, you know I'm not against any forays into actual serious drama: Robbie did it 2 weeks ago with Sarah & Joe in therapy & it played out beautifully. It was authentic drama; not the melodrama & overly-dramatic dialogue that takes a talented larger-than-life actress like Sally or Rachel & reduces her to an ordinary cliche.

Sorry if I sound mean. I wanted (& WANT!) so much more. NEW RULE: Robbie re-writes every finished script.

[Janet]

Yeah, I was disappointed in last night's show. The wallowing in self-pity over the "bastard sister" just sunk to new lows of navel gazing. Good grief, is there a family anyway that does not have dirty little secret? I thought it was way over played. It's just not that big a deal. And is it really a stretch to think that a 20 year love affair resulted in a child? These rich, intelligent people were acting like idiots. I did love the fact that Justin was the one to step out of the pity zone and go meet his new sister and try to get to know her.
And did Kevin just completely insult every lawyer in the land? "I'm a lawyer, the truth is irrelevant". Huh. Another cliche. Just as I feared, the whole relationship with him and Chad is instantly de-sizzled by the whole "oh god, I just got outed" story. Can't you have given them a bit more to work with? (Why oh why can't Jason be more like his "Sex in the City character-but gay?)I sure hope the writers aren't going to try to make Kevin into the annoying bad lawyer brother. He started out being the glue that was holding the family together with the voice of reason. And Matthew is just an outstanding actor, please don't sell him short. Let him have some juicy storylines with his boyfriends. He is by far the most interesting one on the show.

[Stevenscollege]

Why was there no post telling us a new ep. was on? tsk tsk, I havnt seen this new ep. yet but I have to say its not getting the love that virtually every other B&S ep. has got up until now on various message boards and such but I havnt seen it. But I just wanted to give my .02 on this Scotty/Kevin situation since Scotty is being mentioned in a lot of comments, he is apperantly coming back at some point and there is a VERY committed group of people online who want him back (you know who you are), I think of him still being in the programme but anyway I wanted to say if you were a friend of Scotty and he told you about Kevin, in particular how he offered to pay Scotty to go out with him, humiliated him infront of Kevin`s family, had the effrontery (is that even a word) to say he and Scotty were equals thanks to money then later had so little regard for Scotty that he was happy to use him as a plaything in his insipid games with Chit, THEN basically Kevin took a few moments to crap all over Scotty by making sure he heard the phone call the next morning AND lets not forget Scotty did say Kevin make him feel "worthless" (I think it was worthless), why would Scotty even acknowledge Kevin on the street, if Scotty comes back he HAS to get on up on Kevin at some point, he`s not a door mat and some how I dont think Scotty is going to be lacking in admirers, lets face it he`s probably banging someone right now, what can Kevin offer him? Kevin is changing out of all recognition dont do the same to Scotty. In fact (yep theres more) when I think about Kevin/Scotty I think about that great film "The Heiress" Scotty is Olivia and Kevin is Monte, at some point I hope Scotty is going to say "He came to the wrong house and he came twice, I`ll see he doesnt come a third time" (I dont remember the exact quote) then Kevin can be left to bang on the door, (if youve seen the film you know what I mean)just dont turn Scotty into some needy pathetic thing desperate for Kevins love, Kevin needs to work for it. Also id like to say about Kevin`s hair, which Ilovemylife mentioned above, I love it short (seriously Kevin and I have the same haircut), in fact it needs to be shorter, in what we here in Scotland laughingly call "summer" I get a crew cut you should do the same with Kevin.

[Scott]

Will,

I don't know why there aren't that many blog entries here yet, but I can tell you this episode has provoked far more discussion than usual on other B&S boards. And for what it's worth, the consensus is pretty positive.

[FanGirlHater]

Great interview! Love Kevin, better keep him front and center!!

[TimWarp]

I didn't quite understand where all the high drama was coming from. I get everyone being upset with everyone else about "you told/you didn't tell" but don't understand why Rebecca's presence is suddenly "tearing the family apart." And I *really* don't see how Sarah felt justified in telling Rebecca about her dad. Whatever Sarah's problems with Holly, that does not justify her vindictive and spiteful interference. Snaps to Justin!

[will]

Stevenscollege: You obviously are looking to date a marine (maybe B&S should give a crew-cut to ALL the series' men: Justin, Kevin, Tommy.... & then the episodes can simply double as porn.)

I have to admit, reading your run-down of Kevin's atrosities toward Scotty: Scotty would be viewed as a sucker (& doormat) if he came back, after all the slights & neglects.

Kevin talked on his cell to Chad within FULL LISTENING distance the morning after, & he never for a split second acknowledged, or seemed aware of, Scotty's presence. Some things are not forgivable. (He one-nighted with Scotty, they shared their bodies...&, next morning, Kevin's more interested in saving his relationship with Chad, 25 feet away!) When this happens in real life, BELLS GO OFF. When it happens on television, people like Kong Chang & ilovemylife want a reconciliation.
Scotty becomes the battered wife, returning yet again (for possibly further abuse).

I KNOW there's an "economic"/social gap between the 2 men. But, did anyone see James Wilby & Rupert Graves in "Maurice"? HUGE class divide. And they didn't have half the troubles of Kev & Scotty.

One other thing, Stevenscollege. Comparing Scotty to Olivia de Haviland is SO gay! There is no doubt you are 100% unadulerated homosexual.
And we all love you.

[brendat]

Sorry to disagree with those posters who are much more erudite and gifted with the written word than I, but I loved last night's ep. I believe that it showed Walkers to be human - Kitty's meltdown - to me - was an honest reaction to a father's betrayal - all of it. Sarah's reaction was so in keeping with her character - she wants to protect Norah and the business. Did wonder at her conversation with Rebecca - who is a terrific addition. And being the shallow and superficial Southerner that I am, I enjoyed Holly's come-uppance - 'bout dang time - I really haven't warmed to her. I still believe that William is not the saint that Kitty believed him to be, nor the horrible wretch that his posthumous reputation implies. Wish we could have seen more from him, and maybe we will. Laughed at loud at "Dan Silk" - got some face time, did we? Still the best thing on TV, and can't wait to see developments.