Brothers & Sisters TV Show

With a new year come new insights, new horizons and new adventures. And in that light I decided to watch 2009’s first episode of Brothers & Sisters, a show that I actually chewed my own foot off to escape covering last year, because the prospect of bleeding to death or choking on my own hot blood was far preferable to suffering week after week of the self-obsessed Walker militia.

Find out why I’m giving last night’s episode an up-arrow, after the jump…

We catch up with the Walkers following Kevin’s liver donation … which is in itself rather hilarious - how on earth is Lizzie going to live past twelve if she’s handicapped with the boozefilter of a 40-year-old? She won’t make it through a single Walker Sunday dinner!

Anyway, new husband Scotty and mama Nora are vying for the Florence Nightingale award and totally getting in each other’s way, and even the painkillers aren’t enough to get Kevin through it so he escapes the mothership with the help of Justin. Plus, he’s having these weirdo fever dreams about fatherhood, mostly because of the fact that he now knows that he’s Lizzie’s biodad and all that. 

The dreams range from the surreal (Kevin with a pregnant belly) to the hilarious (Scotty dressed as a French soldier trying to force-feed him red wine) to the yawn (Kevin offering to buy a teary grown-up Lizzie ice cream) to the downright horrifying (Kevin getting hot and heavy with Julia, which leads to a rather awkward bedside chat when he awakens to find her watching him sleep), but for the most part they provide the episode exactly what the show has always lacked for me: humor that isn’t rooted in how awful these people are to one another. 

Of course, the episode had plenty of that as well, with Nora treating Saul’s old friend Roger like a tool even though she was the one who came on to him at a luau 30 years ago (a fact that she only admits while hiding in the pantry drinking wine, natch) and Justin being called a loser by Sarah’s first-grader and the entire family using it as an excuse to stage an “intervention” with the poor guy. 

But more than anything I’m really impressed with how far the show has evolved in terms of its gay characters and relationships. Honestly when I last actually watched the show, Kevin was a fairly irredeemable asshole of a character who was dating a closeted actor and Scotty was a needy, pathetic mess. Not exactly must-see TV, in my book.

Now Kevin is a slightly more redeemable asshole, Scotty has his stuff together and isn’t afraid to stand up to his mother-in-law or confront his husband about his lousy behavior (I loved the “what part of ‘in sickness and in health’?” line) and we’ve also got Saul, who seems to be handling his coming out quite well and is a ray of sunshine into the life of his sister. The integration of the gay characters into the various storylines is infinitely more relaxed and satisfying. Even Kevin’s signoff gag about Lizzie possibly growing up to like girls didn’t feel out-of-place.

In all, I didn’t hate the episode and I didn’t hate myself for watching it, which is a big leap in terms of quality of experience from the last time I tuned in.

Of course, our resident recapper Steven Frank will have the full monty for you tomorrow in his mainpage recap. And I gather that die-hard fans of the show might have different feelings about this particular episode.

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He was all of 14 years old when he made his mark in the movie industry as the lead character in Lord of the Flies, but even before that, his was a name that drew “oohs” and “aahs” from those who travel in upper-crust circles.

However, of late, Balthazar Getty is more likely to illicit tut-tuts of disapproval, following his highly-publicised affair with notorious husband-pilferer, Sienna Miller.

While between interviews at this year’s Rome Fiction Festival, the heir to the Getty oil fortune was often seen sneaking off to a secluded corner, where he’d engage in furtive cellphone conversation.

True to our fairer-sex sentiments, the female journalists assumed the actor was sharing sweet nothings with his wife of eight years, Rosetta Millington.

But shortly after the festival closed, those shocking snaps of Getty and his new lover canoodling along Italy’s Amalfi coast were released, so we now know it’s probably Miller he was chatting to at the time.

Not that we blame her for wanting to hook her claws into the millionaire father-of-four. The screen simply does not do the man justice: When first introduced to Getty, I am pleasantly surprised to see that he sports a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, complete with that confident, nonchalant attitude of those born into a life of wealth and privilege.

Even more astonishing is how completely unaffected he remains by his social standing in life. As he puts it: “It’s always been a part of my life, so for me, it’s probably as normal as it is for you to be a part of your family.”

It’s ironic that Getty has chosen to turn his back on his wife (despite describing his home life as “close”), when one considers that his Brothers & Sisters character is exceedingly family orientated. So much so, Tommy Walker even breaks off his affair with Lena when his wife, Elizabeth walks out, because he can’t bear the thought of following in his cheating father’s footsteps!

What was it, then, that drew Getty to Tommy?

“I was looking for something character-driven after Alias, where I wasn’t pushing the story,” he said.

“Obviously, any actor would be lying if they said working on a TV show didn’t get tedious at times, but it’s a belief in the material that keeps you inspired and keeps you going.”

That said, when he first read the script Getty believed the producers would want him to play the part of Justin, given that his personal battle with booze and drugs would certainly afford him a clear insight into that character (Getty was an alcoholic at 14 and a fully-fledged heroin junkie by 17 - an addiction he battled for six years).

Regarding that dark period in his life, the actor explained: “I don’t have any regrets … That’s the thing with addiction: you either feel as though you’re done, or you don’t and I just felt done.”

Although there are some persistent rumours doing the rounds that his decision to hook-up with Miller is linked to a binge-boozing relapse …

As it turns out, the television network executives were set on a younger-looking actor to take on Justin, so the role went to Getty’s (now) good pal, Dave Annable instead.

Still, that shouldn’t stop him from offering Annable a pointer or two on how to affect the “druggie” attitude.

“Nooooo,” roared the laughing Getty at such a suggestion . “I’ve never given Dave any advice on how to look f*&#ed-up. He does that all by himself.”

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