Brothers And Sisters: The Complete First Season

Review By: Rocco Passafuime
RoccoPassafuime@TheCinemaSource.com

As much as TV has pushed the creative envelope over the past 55 years, nothing is more heartwarming to the average viewer than a little familiarity and comfort. As true as it is, something seemingly familiar and comfortable ends up surprising you by the level of quality and creativity put into it.

Since the network ABC rebounded, it has proven to produce a string of incredible comedy-dramas like Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, taking seemingly ordinary elements and making them extraordinary due to well-written episodes and great characters backed by fantastic casts. They continue in this tradition even in the seemingly more domestic family comedy/drama Brothers And Sisters, with its complete first season now available on DVD.

The series focuses on the Walkers, who live in California and run a family business with the Ojai Food Company. Kitty (Calista Flockhart) is a conservative radio talk show host, who returns home from New York to become a panelist on a TV political debate program. On the show, she soon meets Republican senator Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe), who she becomes attracted to, and becomes his communications director.

Kitty’s more conservative beliefs have caused a strain in her relationship with her mother Nora (Sally Field). However, the family’s unity is further threatened when, during Kitty’s birthday party, father William (Tom Skerrit) suffers a fatal heart attack and dies. Almost instantly, long-kept secrets of William’s begin to unravel.

As the family figures out who will take over Ojai, it’s discovered William had stole money from the company’s pension fund. It’s also revealed that he also kept hidden for many years a secret affair with an actress named Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig), and also had a child with her named Rebecca (Emily VanCamp), who soon attempts to bond with the Walkers.

Eldest brother Tommy (Balthazar Getty) has worked at Ojai while his father was still alive. However, it’s the eldest Walker, Sarah Whedon (Rachel Griffiths) who is chosen to take over the company, as it faces considerable debt.

Tommy now must deal with her sister taking over the company, while trying to have a family with his wife Julia (Sarah Jane Morris). Sarah, meanwhile, constantly has to balance running Ojai and keeping it afloat with the demands of her stay-at-home husband Joe (John Pyper-Ferguson) and her children Paige (Kerris Lilla Dorsey) and Cooper (Maxwell Perry Cotton).

Meanwhile, Kitty’s younger brother Justin (Dave Annable), who served in the U.S. military and fought in the war in Afghanistan, is a recovering drug addict, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from the experience. His fragile balance is soon tested when he learns he’s about to be called back to military service to go to Iraq. And brother Kevin (Matthew Rhys) is a successful attorney, however he continually struggles with his coming out as a gay man both internally and with his family.

The surprising thing about this seemingly modest and simple family drama is how complex it turns out to be. What keeps Brothers ...