Written by: Kassidy at 11:05 am
Filed under: DVD Box Sets,Television
Brothers and Sisters is about to enter its second season. In anticipation of the second season, the complete first season has just been released on DVD courtesy of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The show revolves around a large, seemingly well to do family that owns their own business and resides in California. In the first episode, the head of the family dies and what ensues is practically nonstop drama.
Normally, I would not bother to watch something like this. While I have absolutely nothing against the show or shows like it, I just don’t have a lot of time to watch TV in general, and in some ways the “family” drama shows are a dime a dozen. However, Brothers and Sisters was originally appealing because of Sally Field, the matriarch of the family. After watching, Field was not the only thing that kept me watching. I found interest in the writing, the well executed storylines, the excellent acting, and the high amount of drama. I felt like this would be another Knots Landing, one of those nighttime soaps, but it really proved to be worth watching.
The Walker family consists of the following members: the father William (Tom Skerritt), the mother Nora (Sally Field), and the children, Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), Kitty (Calista Flockhart), Kevin (Matthew Rhys), Justin (Dave Annable), and Tommy (Balthazar Getty). William is the founder of the family business, Ojai Foods. Nora is the strongwilled wife and mother. The family is relatively close and incredibly shaken when William dies in the first episode.
Sarah left behind a career in advertising to focus more on her failing marriage and to work for her father. As a reward, he made her president of the company in his will. This causes great struggles for her as she tries to maintain a business, save her marriage, and makes time for her children. Meanwhile, Tommy, who made the business his life, is shocked to learn that Sarah will be the new president of the company.
Of course, through the season, Tommy has other problems so the company is not his only worry. Kevin works for the family business as a lawyer. He is a homosexual, a liberal, and has severe problems with his sister, conservative Kitty, who moves back home from New York, where she initially moved to be free.
Kitty and Nora do not get along, though at some point they learn to accept one another and heal their relationship. The main reason they do not get along is because of Justin. Justin is the baby of the family. He became a drug addict after enlisting in the Army and going to the war as a medic. He enlisted because of how helpless he felt about his sister being trapped in New York on 9/11. When he came home he turned to drugs.
Other important characters include Nora’s brother Saul, William’s Mistress Holly (Patricia Wettig), and William’s illegitimate daughter, Rebecca (Emily VanCamp). Senator Rob McCallister (Rob Lowe) also plays a memorable part. As with any new series, the point of the first season is to establish the characters and boundaries that make the show what it is. In the case of Brothers and Sisters that means that we learn what happens after William’s death and how everyone is going to be affected in the aftermath.
Brothers and Sisters works because of the complexity of the characters. There is plenty of drama in their own lives and then when you add them together so many storylines just explode. It provides for some very entertaining television.
There are plenty of special features in this box set. You will get a chance to check out at least four episodes with commentaries, some featurettes, some bloopers, deleted scenes, and an unaired episode. The audio commentary is present on the following episodes: “Affairs of State”, “Northern Exposure”, “The Other Walker”, and “Matriarchy”.
There is a featurette that is nearly 30 minutes long, called “Creating the Walker Family Tree” that talks about all aspects of the show’s creation. Another featurette, “Behind the Scenes with the Brothers” discusses the on and off camera relationship that the Walker boys have. The final featurette is just a few minutes long and offers interviews with many of the stars. The final featurette is called, “The Family Business”.
Brothers and Sisters offers a show that provides fantastic acting, excellent writing, and interesting entertainment that gets stronger as the season goes on. The video and audio quality is excellent and the special features offer much of the behind the scenes content that people love to sink their teeth into. Considering the fact that the show is excellent in so many aspects, I highly recommend that you check this one out if you haven’t. This is definitely one to add to your collection.
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Technorati Tags: Brothers and Sisters, Sally Field, DVD, Box Set Review, ABC, Calista Flockhart.
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Written by Kassidy - Visit Website
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Kassidy received her degree in Journalism in 2002. She lives in the Midwest with her husband of six years, Jason, and their two little girls, Madison (5) and Emma (2.5), with one (a boy) on the way. The couple is very excited to welcome their first son next January. Passions in life for Kassidy include painting, scrapbooking, writing, being a Mommy, watching romantic comedies, and dancing.
