Brothers & Sisters (2006 TV series)

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Brothers & Sisters
Format	Family Drama - Soap Opera
Created by	Jon Robin Baitz
Starring	Season 3 cast: Dave Annable Sally Field Calista Flockhart Balthazar Getty Rachel Griffiths Rob Lowe Luke MacFarlane Sarah Jane Morris Ron Rifkin Matthew Rhys Emily VanCamp Patricia Wettig Maxwell Perry Cotton Kerris Lilla Dorsey
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	59 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jon Robin Baitz, Greg Berlanti, Ken Olin, Mark Perry (2007), Monica Owusu-Breen, Alison Schapker & Molly Newman (2008-)
Running time	43 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 720p (HDTV), 1080i (HDTV) (7HD)
Original run	September 24, 2006 – present
External links
Official website

Brothers & Sisters is an American dramatic television series which centers on the upper class Walker family and their lives in Los Angeles, California.

It premiered on ABC on September 24, 2006 after Desperate Housewives and airs Sundays. The acting ensemble includes Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Rob Lowe, Matthew Rhys, and Rachel Griffiths. Sally Field won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Nora Walker. Rachel Griffiths was also nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Premise 1.2 Plot points 2 Characters 2.1 The Walker family 2.2 Other family and friends 2.3 Recurring and former characters 3 Cast Members 3.1 Cast 3.2 Recurring/Former 3.3 Notable guest stars 4 Episodes 5 DVD releases 6 Production notes 7 Ratings 7.1 USA TV Ratings 7.2 UK TV Ratings 8 Awards 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Overview

[edit] Premise

The show is centered on the Walker family, an American family of Irish and Jewish heritages. Some of the family members are involved in the family owned business running Ojai Food Co, a produce distributor. Most of the action is set in the Greater Los Angeles area. The family home is located in Pasadena, California. The main branches of the Walker family tree included father William (deceased) (Tom Skerritt), mother Nora (Sally Field), and their five grown children - Sarah, Kitty, Tommy, Kevin, and Justin. Nora's brother, Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin) helps run the Walker family business and is involved in most of the family's affairs.

[edit] Plot points

The show's narrative launched with the death of William Walker at Kitty's birthday party. His death causes a number of secrets from his life to be revealed - secrets that impact the remainder of his family.

On the business side, Sarah, Tommy, and Saul, who are the most involved people with the family business, learn that William embezzled the company funds. The business revelation pales, however, to two major revelations on the personal front: William had a mistress, Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig) that he kept for decades, and the couple were believed to have had a child, Rebecca (Emily VanCamp). They later find out that Rebecca was not William's biological child but that he fathered another child Ryan by a second mistress Connie(deceased). Ryan will be portrayed by Luke Grimes.^[1] After Tommy finds out that his dad was going to open a winery for Tommy to run, he joins Holly in opening Walker Landing Winery, and later took over Ojai foods, to help bring them out of a financial crisis, making Holly and Tommy Co-CEO's. War veteran Justin struggled with drug addiction but eventually recovered and was deployed to Iraq, was injured and relapsed and is now beginning a relationship with non-sister Rebecca. Sarah divorces, and Kitty marries and begins the adoption process with one time Presidential hopeful and Republican senator Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe). Middle brother Kevin, a lawyer, marries on and off again partner Scotty and takes over for Kitty as his brother-in-law's Director of Communications while she publishes her book.

[edit] Characters

[edit] The Walker family

• Nora Walker is considered the matriarch of the Walker Family; stay-at-home mom
• Sarah Walker a working mom and Former Co-President of Ojai foods
• Kitty McCallister writer and former communications director for her husband, United States Senator Robert McCallister
• Tommy Walker, a husband, father, President of Ojai Foods
• Kevin Walker is the communications director for Senator McCallister and is married to Scotty Wandell.
• Justin Walker is a veteran of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and recovering drug addict.
• Ryan Lafferty, the Walkers' newly discovered half-brother.

[edit] Other family and friends

• Saul Holden, Former CFO at Ojai Foods; brother of Nora Walker.
• Julia Walker, a teacher, married with one daughter, Elizabeth (whose twin brother, William, died shortly after birth) with Tommy Walker.
• Rebecca Harper, daughter of Holly Harper; currently working at Ojai foods as their advertising executive, in a relationship with Justin Walker.
• Robert McCallister, a United States Senator, married to Kitty Walker.
• Scotty Wandell, a Head Chef; married to Kevin Walker
• Holly Harper, is Chairwoman and CEO of Ojai Foods; ex-lover of William Walker; mother of Rebecca Harper.

[edit] Recurring and former characters

• William Walker, deceased, founder and owner of Ojai Foods, was husband to Nora Walker and father to Sarah, Kitty, Tommy, Kevin, and Justin Walker, and Ryan Lafferty. The actor, Tom Skerritt has reprised his role in several flashbacks related to events after 9/11/01 and to the mother of his son, Ryan.
• Joseph "Joe" Whedon, a music teacher. He is the ex-husband of Sarah Walker. He and Sarah have two children, Paige and Cooper.
• Jason McCallister, a gay minister and brother of Robert McCallister; former boyfriend of Kevin Walker.

[edit] Cast Members

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role	Duration
Dave Annable	Justin Walker	Season 1 -
Sally Field	Nora Walker	Season 1 -
Calista Flockhart	Katherine "Kitty" Walker McCallister	Season 1 -
Balthazar Getty	Thomas "Tommy" Walker	Season 1 -
Rachel Griffiths	Sarah Walker	Season 1 -
Rob Lowe	Robert McCallister	Season 2 - (Season 1; recurring)
Luke Macfarlane	Scotty Wandell	Season 3 - (Season 1-2; recurring)
Sarah Jane Morris	Julia Walker	Season 1 -
Ron Rifkin	Saul Holden	Season 1 -
Matthew Rhys	Kevin Walker	Season 1 -
Emily VanCamp	Rebecca Harper	Season 1 -
Patricia Wettig	Holly Harper	Season 1 -
Maxwell Perry Cotton	Cooper Whedon	Season 2 - (Season 1; recurring)
Kerris Lilla Dorsey	Paige Whedon	Season 1 -

[edit] Recurring/Former

Actor	Role	Duration
Luke Grimes	Ryan Lafferty	Season 3
John Glover	Henry	Season 3
Will McCormack	Ethan Tavis	Season 3
Eric Christian Olsen	Kyle DeWitt	Season 3
John Pyper-Ferguson	Joseph "Joe" Whedon	Season 2 (Season 1; starring)
Tom Skerritt	William Walker	Season 1, 2
Eric Winter	Jason McCallister	Season 1, 2
Justine Dorsey	Sophie McCallister	Season 1, 2, 3
Max Burkholder	Jack McCallister	Season 1, 2, 3

[edit] Notable guest stars

• Danny Glover
• Chevy Chase
• Lyle Lovett
• Steven Weber
• Treat Williams
• Jason Lewis
• Marion Ross
• Susan Sullivan
• Jenna Elfman
• Margot Kidder
• Peter Coyote
• Megan Follows

[edit] Episodes

[edit] DVD releases

Name	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season One	September 4, 2007	February 25, 2008	November 28, 2007
Season Two	September 18, 2008	March 13, 2009 (Ireland) March 16, 2009 (UK)	October 29, 2008
Season Three	September 1, 2009 [2]	TBA	TBA

[edit] Production notes

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2008)

The series is from producer Ken Olin (thirtysomething and Alias) and Jon Robin Baitz, one of Broadway's most prominent playwrights (The Substance of Fire). Noted producer Greg Berlanti was also an executive producer and "show-runner" during season one. Berlanti continues to serve on the series as executive producer. Mark B. Perry, (The Wonder Years and One Tree Hill) served as the showrunner for twelve episodes before departing the show in the aftermath of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The current showrunners are Monica Owusu-Breen and Alison Schapker.

After the series pilot was shot, and the show was picked up by ABC, the series underwent some moderate changes. Most notably, three of the roles were recast:

• The Walker family had originally been the March family, and the original matriarch of the show was Iva March, who'd been cast with veteran theater actress Betty Buckley. The role was ultimately renamed Nora and cast with Sally Field.
• The character of Kevin had originally been named Bryan, and had been cast with actor Jonathan LaPaglia. Like the current Kevin character, the Bryan version of the character was also gay, but had been married, and was going through a divorce. The Bryan incarnation of the character also had a child, and he and his ex-wife were going through a custody battle. Bryan's child later reappeared during the first season as the show, where he was recast as "Gabe," Joe's child from his first marriage. The show has subsequently received positive press attention for its depiction of Kevin Walker, who came to be seen as a breakthrough in the depiction of gay men on television: he has had several love interests, has kissed his boyfriends on-screen, and had a commitment ceremony with his partner Scotty in the second season finale — the first such ceremony ever shown on American network television between series regulars rather than minor recurring or guest characters.^[3]

• The character of Jonathan, the man with whom Kitty was involved as the show began had originally been cast with writer and actor Dan Futterman. They had previously acted alongside each other as lovers in the film The Birdcage. The role was ultimately recast with actor Matthew Settle.

The more minor role of Cooper, Sarah and Joe's younger child, was also recast after the pilot episode.

Robert McCallister was the name of a character on a previous Greg Berlanti production, Jack & Bobby, about a boy who grew up to be the President of the United States. As with the Robert McCallister on Brothers & Sisters, the character on Jack & Bobby was a Republican who had a wife named Courtney and a son named Jack.

Brothers & Sisters is produced by Berlanti Television, After Portsmouth, and Touchstone Television (Fall 2006-Spring 2007), which is now ABC Studios (Fall 2007-present).

[edit] Ratings

[edit] USA TV Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Brothers & Sisters on ABC:

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Sunday 10:00PM	September 24, 2006	May 20, 2007	2006-2007	#37	12.2[4]
2	Sunday 10:00PM	September 30, 2007	May 11, 2008	2007-2008	#38	11.5[5]
3	Sunday 10:00PM	September 28, 2008	May 10, 2009	2008-2009	#33	10.9

[edit] UK TV Ratings

In the UK, the show fared well at the start for Channel 4 and started on the same viewing figures that Desperate Housewives's third season was for the channel, with around 2.4 million^[6]. The show aired in the timeslot previously occupied by Desperate Housewives and was promoted heavily on magazine covers. The series debuted on Channel 4 on June 20, 2007 at 20:30 with an audience of 2.221m, the second episode was screened the same evening at 22:00 with an audience of 1.443m^[7] The series then settled down to a regular audience of around 600,000, quite low for a primetime show, and Channel 4 started airing the remainder of the series in double bills from September 2007.^[8]

The second season was shown on E4 starting on March 30th at 11pm, after the first run episode of Desperate Housewives. Season 2 ended on E4 in July 2008. From October 11, 2008, Channel 4 looked set to air Season 2 in a varying afternoon slot on Saturdays around 4.30pm. The channel did these for a couple of weeks using double bills but afterwards began airing the episode, still in double bills, in a un-specified time slot after midnight on Sunday night. On the countdown to the Season Three premiere on More4, More4 began airing repeats of Season Two on weekday afternoons in double bills from 3pm-5pm.

The third season premiered on More4 on January 8th and has a regular slot of 10pm on Thursdays after ER.

[edit] Awards

Emmy Awards

• 2007
  1. Nominated - Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series (Jeanie Bacharach & Gillian O'Neill (casting directors)
  2. Nominated - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Rachel Griffiths)
• 2008
  1. Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Sally Field)
  2. Nominated - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Rachel Griffiths)

Golden Globe

• 2008
  1. Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Drama (Sally Field)
  2. Nominated - Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Rachel Griffiths)

SAG award

• 2008
  1. Won - Best Actress in a Drama Series (Sally Field)

[edit] References

^[9]

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Brothers & Sisters

• Official Site
• Brothers & Sisters at the Internet Movie Database
• Brothers & Sisters at TV.com

v • d • e Brothers & Sisters Awards and nominations · Episodes Main characters Nora Walker · Sarah Walker · Kitty Walker Tommy Walker · Kevin Walker · Justin Walker · Rebecca Harper · Saul Holden · Holly Harper · Julia Walker · Robert McCallister · Scotty Wandell Supporting characters Joe Whedon · Ryan Lafferty · Paige Whedon · Cooper Whedon