Brothers and Sisters: Bloggers and Sisters

Premiering Sunday: Episode 301 -- "Glass Houses"

 
Malibu is awesome.

Friends,

Wow, I really can't believe we're here already!  Though more accurately, I can't believe how far beyond here we are.  We've written 13 episodes, shot 11, and I've barely seen a cut yet.  Frankly, it's hard for me to remember how it feels to watch a finished episode on a Sunday night.

All the more reason I'll be straining my ears and shushing people at our premiere party on Sunday night.   Once again, it was organized by Todd Stolarski, a man about town on the fourth floor, a man who once had the honor of playing Leonard Koplitsky, of McCallister & Me fame. 

So -- onto Season Three.  This Sunday's episode, "Glass Houses," was written brilliantly by those failsafers, David Marshall Grant & Molly Newman.   David and Molly have been with us since week 1 of Season 1. Back then, David was still a playwright and an actor -- whose most recent credit included an unaired and soon-to-be-reshot TV pilot called "Brothers & Sisters" -- while Molly, also a playwright, was best known to me -- a fledgling, moronic assistant -- as the writer on our show who had written for Larry Sanders. 

But since then, they've written an awful lot of fine scripts for us, and most of them together: 107 - "Date Night"; 109 - "Northern Exposure"; 113 - "Family Day"; 202 - "An American Family"; 207 - "36 Hours"; and 213 - "Separation Anxiety."   If you could see them break story together, you'd be charmed by the way David pitches by imitating all the characters' voices, and the way Molly just flat-out gets story.

Anyway -- the episode.  Season Three will find the Walkers starting to break apart a little... and "Glass Houses" is the episode that kicks it all off.  There is, indeed, a glass house, and that house is in Malibu.  The decorative endowments of said house will make the Walkers, who we all thought were pretty well-off, look like the Bundys.  But money will only be one of the subjects of contention.  All I can say is, Maxwell Perry Cotton (Cooper Whedon) gets all the best scenes -- and watch for the Whale.

That's all for now.  But I look forward to a lively conversation here Monday morning!

Your pal
Dan

For You, Kickoff -- For Us, Halftime

This afternoon, rather unbelievably, we held the table read for episode 312.  Which means that we are in the midst of prepping the final episode of the first half of Season 3.  And all before you, our loyal viewers, have watched a single scene!

312 is entitled "Sibling Rivalry," which was not only on the not-so-short list of series titles alternative to Brothers & Sisters, but was the name of an ill-fated Kirstie Alley flick from like 1990.

The episode features a guest starring role from the fabulous English actor, Nigel Havers, whose sly accent alone sent titters through the second floor conference room. 

What else?  Ah -- our intrepid supervising producer, Liz Tigelaar, a co-writer on "Sibling Rivalry," had a pilot she wrote last year get picked up for production at the CW.  It's called Light Years, and we fourth-floor folk are proud as punch of dear Liz.  We all know how hard she worked. 

But frankly, when we're not talking about the Walkers, most of  the chatter revolves around Election 'o8.  That said, today at lunch, I sat in on a most enlightening discussion of the current economic calamity, held by Molly Newman, Alison Schapker, and Jason Wilborn, which left me frankly terrified.  I remember traveling to St Petersburg in 2002 to visit a Russian friend, my first exposure to a society where people literally kept cash in mattresses.  If we in American get there this year, it will be unfortunate for many reasons -- not least of them, that episodes 301-311 will feel astonishingly out of date!

(I hate myself.)

Anyway -- keep submitting those answers to Monday's trivia questions, you're getting closer all the time.

Talk soon --

Dan

5 Discs and 6 Days

Howdy --

First off -- look what's coming to stores this Tuesday!!

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Secondly, with the premiere of Season Three less than a week away... why don't we get back in the groove with a few Brothers & Sisters trivia questions?  For those of you with idle time.  Answers will appear in tomorrow's (yes, tomorrow's!) post.

1.  What Hal Ashby movie did Holly Harper have a bit part in?  What was the part?

2.  What is McCallister's personal chef's name?

3.  Who was Steve Cohen?

4.  Before NewsRadio, what mindbogglingly brilliant Canadian sketch-comedy troupe was David Foley a part of?   

What does Dave Foley have to do with Brothers & Sisters, you might ask?  Only that he's one of a couple of fantastic guest star roles you can look forward to seeing.   And look forward you will.

Where are we at?

Breaking: 314
Writing: 313-312
Shooting: 311.
Post-ing: 30everything.

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Please let the Mets make it into the postseason. 

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With love and mercy
Dan