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« Roush Dispatch
Housewives and Sisters: Good Neighbors
While some of us still miss Grey's Anatomy on Sundays, a perfectly entertaining bit of escapism to charge our batteries for the week ahead, ABC's new Brothers & Sisters has been growing on me. Week by week, culminating in this Sunday's most enjoyable episode yet, the show has become both lighter in tone and more emotionally compelling, proving to be a suitably compatible companion piece to Desperate Housewives — which, by sweeps coincidence or not, also enjoyed on Sunday its finest hour since the heights of its first breakthrough season.
Housewives' much-touted supermarket-hostage crisis lives up to its billing, in no small measure thanks to killer performances (in one case literally) by Laurie Metcalf as a deranged wronged wife who takes over her cheating husband's store at gunpoint, and by Felicity Huffman's Lynette, whose final hysterical showdown with the mad Carolyn Grisby in the wake of Nora's fatal shooting (Yay!) was the sort of galvanizing moment we'd long been waiting for.
Though it was no surprise to me (and, I'm sure, to others) that the obnoxious Nora was going to take the fall — a character this horrid deserved no better a fate — the brutal suddenness of her execution was still quite shocking. "She put the moves on your husband. Why didn't you say so?" Carolyn coolly remarks just before plugging the manipulative Nora. As the episode title promised, "Bang" (which also happens to be the title of a relatively obscure Sondheim song, as are most of the show's episode titles). "I believe the phrase you're looking for is, 'Thank you,'" Carolyn said. To which I couldn't help laughing, despite it all.
This Housewives episode , written by Joe Keenan (Frasier), struck that balance between suburban satire, over-the-top humor and high melodrama that eluded the show for much of its second season, and which it still only achieves sporadically in this improved third year. What other show would give you a moment like Bree welcoming people into her home to watch the hostage crisis on TV, with the greeting, "It's just awful. Deviled eggs?" All in all: Bravo.
Ditto to Brothers & Sisters, which gathered the entire Walker clan (as Rachel Griffiths' Sarah said, "C'mon guys, we're not the Waltons") and their assorted love interests to the family's Ojai ranch house, where they shared many summers (and where both boys and girls seem to have lost their virginity to a local scoundrel named Tucker Booth) but which is being sold to help avoid bankruptcy. Everyone figured the house would be empty. Everyone was wrong.
The script by David Marshall Grant and Molly Newman was a nice blend of sexy humor and potent family drama, with many characters coming into sharper focus as the family dealt most notably and heatedly (at the dinner table, natch) with the issue of Tommy's inability to conceive. Tommy wants his gay brother Kevin to be the sperm donor, but Kevin's issues about his sexuality and feelings of otherness make him reluctant. Baby of the family Justin volunteers, but Tommy shuns him for his immaturity and unreliability as a barely recovering addict. The eventual reconciliation was moving, but the initial confrontations were a gas, as Nora (the invaluable Sally Field) is prompted to blurt, "Is there something special about Kevin's sperm I'm unaware of?" And later: "Of all the madness I have ever witnessed from you, this takes the cake."
A pretty tasty one, too. I'm not sure how many more weeks Brothers & Sisters can spin out scenarios in which the entire family is thrown together in awkward social situations (the week before involved a fancy charity dinner) to sort out their business. But these last few episodes have helped convince me that ABC is right to give this series a full season to work its kinks out (hiring Rob Lowe to spice up the life of its least convincing character, Calista Flockhart's mewling Kitty, is another positive move).
Lately, the prospect of curling up with a Housewives-Sisters combo is far more pleasure than chore. (Having been given both of these episodes in advance, I was able to watch CBS's Cold Case-Without a Trace combo in real time Sunday night, albeit delayed by another long football overrun, and I find these a strong if sobering alternative for those who shun soaps. With NBC's football in the mix, and the devastating The Wire and the wonderfully macabre Dexter on pay cable (the latter getting even better as "the noose is tightening," as Dexter put it last night), there really is something for just about everyone.
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Nov 6, 2006 9:11 AM
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I am thoroughly enjoying this series. The performances of such as Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin and most of the others makes it a treat to watch. I do agree that Callista Flockhart is the weak link here.
You mention that this week's episode dealt, among other issues, with Tommy's impotence. However, Tommy is not impotent; he is sterile.
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Nov 6, 2006 11:30 AM
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I was highly antipating this Sunday. Mostly for the hostage crisis on DH (and my hopes, thankfully fulfilled, that Nora would take the bullet) but also for B&S. It has grown on me, and this weeks looked especially fun. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed by either. And glad to see that the critics weren't either. The way DH was set up with Carolyn shooting at her husband, and then flashing back to see how it came to that, and how everyone got there was especially well done. Bravo...let's hope they keep it up. And B&S was fun, and the family was great together. I hope that they can keep it going. I look forward to the addition of Rob Lowe.
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Nov 6, 2006 12:31 PM
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I guess you could say I haven't warmed to Brothers and Sisters. Ten minutes in last night I started channel surfing and finally ended up watching Las Vegas that I tivoed on Friday night and forgot about.
As for Desperate Housewives, yep, that was good. Last season was such a bust that I've only been watching halfheartedly this season. But I enjoyed last night's episode. I hope this means the show is getting back on track.
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Nov 6, 2006 12:43 PM
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Fixed the "impotence" reference. Thanks.
And oh ye channel surfers of little patience. There were some awfully good payoffs to Brothers & Sisters last night. What, you expected all the juicy stuff in the first act? All of those who've been mourning Everwood (which also got better as it went on, and Greg Berlanti's influence is really beginning to make itself felt these days), this should be a must-see destination.
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Nov 6, 2006 2:57 PM
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I predicted that Nora would be the one who'd die. However, for a moment last night, I had this spark of hope that it could be Edie that would bite the dust. Last night, Laurie Metcalfe was the most outstanding, and scarily believable, in a cast of excellent performers.
As for B&S, the show is saved by the casts performances. The storyline is a bit slow in producing progress w/the business, and too predictable, at times.
Calista Flockhart's character needs depth. For a supposedly intelligent & outspoken republican celebrity of sorts, she appears way too flighty and shallow in her private life. And, what's the deal with her mother's peculiar attitude regarding her?
Great cast & performances. I'll be watching for a few changes, shortly.
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Nov 6, 2006 3:28 PM
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Last night's episode of B&S was simply wonderful, and I don't think the show moves too slowly at all.
The DH episode was the best I've seen in the last 2 years. I avoid all spoilers and promos, but ABC promoted the heck outta this epi so much that despite my best efforts I eventually stumbled upon a promo.
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Nov 6, 2006 5:19 PM
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I tuned into "Brothers & Sisters" originally just out of loyalty to actors I'd loved on "Alias" -- Ron Rifkin, Balthazar Getty and Patricia Wettig. I didn't think I'd keep watching, but that it would be interesting to see them. To my surprise, the show has become one of my favorites of the new season (with "Ugly Betty" and "Heroes"). I like the lighthearted tone, the family business dilemmas and the multigenerational aspect. I'd wish for less of Paige and more of Saul and Holly, but generally I'm very pleased with this show and eager to see where it develops. Rob Lowe can only mean good things.
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Nov 7, 2006 1:00 PM
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I almost gave up on the show. Actually I had given up on the show and then sometime around the fourth episode, I ended up giving it another shot. I'm glad I did b/c now I can't get enough of it. I think the show just gets better and better every week. This last episode was really, really good. I'm liking most of the characters (still can't completely get on board with Kitty) and I'm liking how the chemistry of the actors seems to be gelling. With the addition of Rob Lowe, it's only going to get better.
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Nov 7, 2006 2:33 PM
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Now you've told me most of the title episodes are from obscure Sondheim songs -- I'm looking forward to Netflixing this series next year. As I will with Dexter and the second season of -- ugh! -- what was the title of that other brilliant SHO miniseries? The one about terrorists?
Wish I had three tv sets, 3 DVRs, and a million dollars.
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Nov 8, 2006 9:16 AM
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B&S is a great show that keeps getting better. It's a slow burn, and in this ADD-addled media world, I'm surprised it's as popular as it is. The cast is stellar, especially Sally Field, who just rocks.
"Housewives" has been mostly great thus far this season. They seem to have gotten that quirky mix of humor and darkness back. Orson is a bit of a retread of George, with one major change: We care about Orson, whereas we didn't really care about George. Laurie Metcalf was amazing and will be missed (why doesn't she have her own show??) And I am so, so, SO glad Joe Keenan is on board. He writes intricate farce better than anyone else out there. (You oughta read his novels and see for yourself!)
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Nov 14, 2006 11:49 AM
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