Regrets To Our DC Area Fans...

Apparently, some pretty crazy stuff went down on the ABC affiliate in the Washington, DC area.  For those of you who may have missed the final minutes of the show, you can watch them here.

One thousand apologies,
Dan

Comments

[michelle]

none of the shows (online videos) are closed-captioned - could you please have that arranged so the rest of us hard of hearing or deaf viewers will be able to understand? thank you.

[will]

Dan,

Please make sure that Kevin & Scotty are not allowed to become too comfortable in their domestic arrangements. Domesticity seems to be a particular B&S curse, if each & every married couple, past & present, is of any indication.

In a way, it's ominous Kevin & Scotty "tied the knot". Historically, all of "Brothers and Sisters" married couples begin a slow slide of descent to predictability and storyline irrelevance (Kitty & Robert being the latest casualties. Baby stuff is desperately being used now to resuscitate this ailing story, just as baby stuff was used to try & resuscitate Tommy's & Julia's story).

And let's not talk about Sarah & Joe.

So there. I just wanted to go on record with my valid fears regarding the "Brothers and Sisters" scribes' subconscious sabotaging of domesticity & how exactly this might play out for Kevin & Scotty, if the past is prologue.

[Dave]

I think it was the gods telling you that Rebecca and Justin kissing was the WORST SCENE EVER!

[Jude]

Just want to say "Da iawn" to Matthew Rhys for the little interview in this week's People magazine. (The one with Mariah Carey's wedding blech on the cover.)

And VERY WELL DONE on the wedding. I'm looking forward to the new season.

[jane]

Love this show from day one!! please keep justin & rebecca as a "secret couple" then let them get caught together. The whole storyline this year was great. give Nora a real love interest, like Robert Foxworth. They would be great together. Also like Uncle Saul (glad he came out) All of these actors you have choosen, are so believable & work so well together. Don't "kill off" anyone. Can't wait to see who will be Ryan Walker. Thanks for such a great show!!! Jane

[will]

Please, please. Keep Kevin fresh & inspired. Let him have a totally irrational argument with Kitty. I don't even know Kitty anymore! She used to be a sarcastic {with Kevin}, strong-minded, willful, self-sufficient conservative talk-radio host who had no trouble injecting her sharp opinions into any conversation. Now she's basically docile & toothless. Her willfulness is all playacting now. She's morphed from stubborn wildcat to domesticated kitty (blargh).

I FEEL LIKE I'M RAPIDLY SINKING INTO THE QUICKSAND OF A "WOMEN'S PICTURE" AESTHETIC, circa 1940. And "Brothers and Sisters" does not have the directorial equivalent of a William Wyler to redeem this women's picture aesthetic, a director who knew how to minimize & scrape the muck of gooey sentimentality off the material to allow us freer (less manipulated), more honest responses.

Please give me some irreverent, glib conversations that FEEL like true sibling repartee! I'm drowning in the fake drama of Rebecca/Ryan, Ojai Foods crises, prolonged baby squabbles, and canned one-liners (I may be gay, but I'm still a guy; give me something tough & hard, astringent wit, less sentimentalised stories).

BTW: Saul & Kevin struck a perfect balance in their scene together in "Moral Hazard". Honest, non-unduly-manipulative responses could be had. This is drama, and humor can be done the same way (to not MILK laughs out of us).

Here's hoping for a more honest, LUNATIC, fruitful season three.

[Jude]

Hear hear Will!

More sibling interaction would be great--that scene where they were all flipping back and forth on their cell phones gossiping last season was absolutely great. Let's see more sibling sniping, and yes, Kitty's a total bore now.

but I did enjoy the part of the wedding where Kevin and Scotty forgot to get rings... that happened at mine. (26 years ago, in fact)

Keep up the good work but don't be afraid to shake up the complacency with some crazy stuff. Will, you say it so much better than I...

[sophie]

i absolutely disliked the justin and rebecca scene, it's not a cliffhanger at all but more of an annoying bug for me. I agree with how the whole baby thing is getting old, kitty has lost a lot of her personality. The roadtrip to scotty's parents was wonderful, loved that scene and the wedding. kevin is such a wonderful character!

[will]

VIEWER MAIL.

In a recent post, Tom points out that Justin was starting to fall for "sister" Rebecca back when he was injured, then adds, "What I'm fearing now is that Scotty is somehow the missing Walker...Why else would K go running out of the nest on his wedding night?...are they really going to throw a terrible spanner into this healthy, sane man-to-man relationship?"

I would like to quell your fears regarding these out-of-control REVEALS, Tom, but simply cannot as of this posting. "Brothers and Sisters" has become so clautrophobically inbred, that the writers may now leap at the chance to reveal Scotty as a William Walker love child. The whole convoluted R/R storyline has been written, rewritten, nixed as too ridiculous, brought back from the dead, and is now so patently far from anything approaching reality that the writers have plainly thrown logic (and caution) to the wind. IT'S ALL UP FOR GRABS NOW! Anything goes. In fact, I should not raise an eyebrow were it revealed that young Paige was a Wiliiam Walker love child, also, from a fourth mistress. How she happened into Sarah's custody can be revealed during an
upcoming sweeps period.

Jude writes: "More sibling interaction would be great - the scene where they were all flipping back and forth on their cell phones gossiping last season was absolutely great."

Yes, it was quirky fun, wasn't it, Jude? But as Karl Marx noted, "Quantity changes quality." This is now the third incarnation of that Cliff-Pete joke, and the ditzy, throwaway gag has now become a franchise (I thought "Rambo III" in my head as Kitty, Tommy, Sarah, and Justin all talked rapidly & intently into their cells as they paced around Nora's kitchen in the opening scene of "Prior Commitments". It felt assaultive. Clearly the writers were not above cannibalizing their past.)

Hopefully, I'll find time to answer, explore, and extrapolate upon additional viewer posts in the near future.

[Patti (a PFLAG Mom)]

I have loved this show from the very first episode, I wonder if the writers are bugging my house!many episodes have felt like a slice of MY LIFE, MY FAMILY!! It feels good to have things that are so life altering apparently happen to the Walker's too!! I also have a married son that can't have children and a gay son for whom I'm fighting for equal rights and hopefully some day legalized marriage. I have joined groups like PFLAG, GLSEN, etc. and speak at every event that they invite us to speak about our experiences. I thank the writers (BIG THANKYOU!!)for putting all these heart wrenching themes into this show and hopefully into the hearts of uninformed and mis informed Americans and end hate crimes and bullying. We are all part of the human race! white, black, asian, hispanic,native american, male, female, transgender, bisexual, lesbian, gay, etc... just people!! And if you personally are not affected by this, someone in your circle is and may be hiding it out of fear, it could be your child, brother, uncle, grandparent, friend...anyone!
Thank you for a great show!!

[Jos]

I think adding another Walker sibling is a big mistake. B&S already has a large cast as it is, and struggles with providing storylines for them, so another Walker will just dilute the other characters' opportunities even further.

You folks should've left the R Walker storyline as William getting duped by Holly in thinking that Rebecca was his daughter and moved on from there. Making William a bigger adulterer than we thought doesn't add anything.

[cd - 5/14/08]

Even though you clik on the 5/11 episode, it doesn't load. I missed the last five minutes due to the black out.

[will]

This weekend, through Netflix, I rented Martin Scorsese's 1975 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". About midway through, Alice, a single mom, gets a job waitressing at Mel's Diner in Tuscon, Arizona, and suddenly, (even fiercely), this movie blooms & becomes shimmeringly alive. As funny as anything I've seen on film, and NOTHING, absolutely nada was milked for laughter. Diane Ladd plays a tough, crass, old waitress (a woman who looks likes she's lived a little), and it's one of the most beautiful, magnetic performances I've seen (I kept waiting for her to come onscreen; Alice's story was getting a bit predictable).

My point here is: Comedy is much funnier & truer & honest when the script isn't WINKING at us (having Tommy, Sarah, Justin and Kitty all simultaneously talking on cells in Nora's kitchen is a huge, slobbering, wet kiss WINK at its core audience). Maybe if only Justin & Sarah had been talking on cells (and simultaneously arguing & yelling at each other), it would have seemed less set-up, less staged, and FUNNIER.

Anyway, this diner section of "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" taught me that good comedy doesn't have to include self-conscious winks & nudges written into the fabric of the script.

SET MY CHARACTERS FREE!! Let them live & laugh without the benefit of a preprogrammed laughtrack built into their gags. Matthew, Dave & Rachel are really remarkable comedians when you write honest material (& I'm not saying slapstick can't be honest, either. Just not with all the self-referencing).

:-) There. That's a smiley face. I'm trying to criticise constructively!

[Taneka Coates]

Please advise when the season finale will be re-aired in the DC market. I am unable to watch the episode on-line as I only have access to a computer at work, and do NOT feel I should be penalized due to WJLA's error. I'm sure I am not the only fan who pays for cable so that I can watch your show and it is a disgrace to handle this by leaving us COMPLETELY in the dark!!!

[Lisa R]

Again, I love this show. I would really like to see more flashbacks with Tom Skerrit. He's great. Loved the flashbacks with Kevin in the finale. Since we really didn't get to know William in the first season, I like these little pieces of information about his relationships with his kids.

[Scott]

Looks like Kevin/Scotty jumped the gun by a few days. The California Supreme Court just handed down a decision overturning the state's gay marriage ban and asserting that same-sex couples must be allowed access to the institution of marriage.

Any chance we might see this addressed next season?

[Lee]

Now that the California State Supreme Court has ruled Proposition 22 unconstitutional, can we have a real, all out formal marriage ceremony for Kevin & Scotty?

A judge officiating, some beautiful vows, formal dress, dancing, and a lot of celebrating? Not a commmitment ceremony, but a real legal wedding/marriage ceremony with all the trimmings? Even the cynical part of Kevin would want to celebrate this in a big way.

Surely this can be worked out to air before November. Put something else on the back burner. This is big. It is an oppotunity that should not be missed!

[winston smith]

I demand a redo of your pathetic trivialization of the Scotty/Kevin wedding. You have no excuses now. They deserve equal weight as the Kitty extravaganza. Your continued marginalization of gay americans as less than equal will drive my viewership $$ elsewhere.

[will]

Oh, Dan, come, come, come now. Where the hell is everybody? This thread hasn't been updated in days! HISTORY is being made!

This morning (less than a few hours ago) the California Supreme Court has overturned a state ban on gay marriage; in effect, legalizing same-sex marriage in our humble land of fruits & nuts.

SOOO... where exactly does this leave Kev & Scotty, who are currently in an unseemly second-class status domestic partnership limbo? Plainly, they have to get hitched again. They only had one of those quaint, make-believe "gay weddings", now a symbol of gay oppression, and a relic of California's discriminatory olden days.

[cda]

you got a 'jeers' from tv guide

[20fifteens]

I don't think the Rebecca/Justin storyline i so bad. It will make for an interesting storyline. Hopefully we'll get to see it develop over next season. What will Nora think? Kitty? will they be supportive?

You guys did a good job of making us not like Holly.

[Mike]

We need a do-over on the Walker/Wandell wedding now that gay marriage is going to be legal.

That last one was a farce and slap in the face to what you tout as equal treatment for the gay characters. Were you trying to offend gay people everywhere?

First you give us their relationship with an eyedropper, then you short them on the ceremony, honeymoon and all the extras.

Seriously, you can make this right. You should make it right.

[Lisa]

Why did the writers decide that Kevin & Scotty's "ceremony" should be shorter than the average commercial break? Pretty pathetic if you ask me.

[will]

REGARDING THE SEASON TWO BOX SET of "Brothers and Sisters"

Notice the artwork. There's the cast, sitting & standing, addressing the camera. Near the bottom of the box cover is a caption: "Their differences make them human. Their bond makes them family."

Oh, blargh, as Dan would say (apparently this didn't apply to Joe, these differences & bonds, but does, somehow, apply to Holly).

Now, the pecking order. The arrangement of actors on the box cover is a sort of who's who, a caste system, writ in body placement. Front and center are Nora (Sally), Kitty (Calista), and Sarah (Rachel), with Nora, of course, edging out Sarah & Kitty slightly in placement importance (she IS the matriarch, after all, the incandescent sun around which all other family clanmembers theoretically orbit). Directly behind Nora, Sarah & Kitty, standing strong & tall are Justin (Dave), Kevin (Matthew) & Robert McCallister (Rob). They are the next wave in placement politics, at least according to "Brothers and Sisters" box-placement hieroglyphics. Those six are the foreground. Now, the recession....

Tommy (Balthizar) & Saul (Ron) are next, but according to this picture, they are clearly less equal in the ensemble (seperate but equal). I have major differences of opinion in this pecking order, naturally, but am not interjecting personal opinions, merely trying to be a good steward, or observer, or witness to this proceeding.

I will be your witness.

Posing in the backwoods, the furthest layer of this structure of divisions & distictions, is Julia, Rebecca & Holly. Only their heads peep through the menagerie of other actors. Scotty is not pictured at all.

[Scott]

I definitely think the writers need to address the breakthrough CA decision, but I personally thought the commitment ceremony in the finale was beautiful. Very moving and real.

And whatever disappointments some people may have had, rest assured that most gay people would not lose so much perspective as t be "offended." B&S is a network show that went out of its way to depict two men who are in love and committing their lives to each other in front of their family and friends who love and support them unconditionally.

That's not happening anywhere else on TV, not even close, and that's one of the reasons why you have such a strong gay following. In short - it's important you keep equal treatment (though I understand Sarah, Nora, and Kitty are the lead characters), but you are doing far more right than you are wrong. Looking forward to Kevin and Scotty's married life in Season 3.