The Good
A timely show that examines a modern day family.
The Bad
They have a booklet that lists out the episodes but not where the all the audio commentaries are! Arrrgh!!
Brothers and Sisters: The Complete First Season is a highly interesting show centering on the Walker Family. Featuring a bevy of solid actors like Sally Field, Tom Skerrit, Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths among others, we are taken into the lives of all these people and it is here that it becomes clear just how different each of the Walkers are. William (Tom Skerrit) and Holly (Sally Field) Walker are the parents of the brood and things take an unexpected turn very quickly when William dies in the first episode titled “Patriarchy.” However, it is here that we find out how the family business isn’t as cozy as everybody would like to believe, Justin Walker (Dave Annable) is a drug addict and Kitty (Calista Flockhart) is a right wing radio host. All of this continues to play out over the rest of show, showing us that underneath that perfect looking family things really aren’t as they seem.
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In the episode “Northern Exposure,” we see Kitty and Warren (Josh Hopkins) being forced to deal with the fact that Tommy (Balthazar Getty) and Julia (Sarah Jane Morris) cannot have children. “Something Ida This Way Comes” gives viewers a full page advertisement on the vagaries of inviting a member of the family to visit who just brings bad energy everwhere they go. Lastly, “Matriarchy” sees the entire family having to deal with the fact that Justin is going to be going to war.
The most refreshing thing about Brothers and Sisters: The Complete First Season is how much it focuses on character. The writing for this show is top notch and it really makes all of these characters stand out in very specific way. Yet another good show from ABC.
Features
I was sort of bothered that they didn’t list out in the episode booklet where the audio commentary tracks were on this release. To make matters worse for the commentary that I listened to on the episode “Affairs of State,” they had four people talking and my first question was did they really need to have that many? The people on this track are writer Jon Robin Baitz, Matthew Rhys who plays Kevin Walker, Patricia Wettig who plays Holly Harper and producer Craig Wright. They talk about how hard it is to do the recap segments that appear before the episodes, that the kitchen in the show was influenced by the movie Postcards from the Edge, and how the show explores fundamental things about relationships.
Behind the Scenes
Family Tree
Basically, this is a “making of” piece that makes this show look a lot like Six Feet Under. Executive producer Ken Olin discusses how this show came together and how there’s also something about the general family unit that people find interesting. We hear from the writers and they are just gushing in their praise of the actors (yes one of them even says, “They make us look good.”) This featurette goes through all the creative people on this show and really seems to be trying to give us a feel for the atmosphere on the set. Truthfully, this segment didn’t have anything that amazing about but it should make fans of the show happy to get this behind the scenes look.
Deleted Scenes
Family Business
In this featurette we find out a little bit more about executive producer Ken Olin. With his wife as an actress on this show and his son as a staff writer, this whole thing plays as a family affair. The fact that this show is also about a family really isn’t something that can be lost on anyone. If I cared more about Ken Olin I guess I would have found this segment interesting but overall it just seemed superfluous.
Video
Widescreen (1.78:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. This is one of those shows that looks very fluid in its presentation but something about the camera setups seem to say that it wasn’t that simple. There aren’t many camera tricks or snappy editing moves and in a lot of ways this show felt like a Sandra Bullock movie in its style. It really seems like the people at Disney have mastered the art of compressing these shows. On the 6th disc I found some pixilation when I put it in my player, but once I accessed the MENU everything was fine.
Audio
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take advantage of the surround sound offering because I watched this show on my one speaker TV. Aside from that, once I turned things up about halfway everything sounded well put together. My biggest problem with this show is the darn whispering that these characters do whenever they say anything. The acting just seems so stilted and not real that I sometimes felt like I was watching actors acting, instead of characters on a TV show going through whatever their situation was.
Package
The front of this slipcase cover looks like an indy film as it showcases all the members of the cast in small pictures. The back cover gives us a nice family shot, as well as a couple of pictures of Flockhart and Field. There is a tiny description of this show, a Special Features listing and a technical specs list. All 6 DVDs in this set pull out in one piece of artwork. There are more images from the show and there’s even an episode guide that lists out the episodes, but doesn’t say where the commentary tracks are.
Final Word
Having never watched an episode of Ally McBeal, I was amazed at how good Calista Flockhart was here. You must understand that that whole period where she was this big, TV star was completely over my head. So I didn’t come into Brothers and Sisters with any preconceived notions or ideas about who she was or what she was going to be. I just took the character of Kitty at face value and she played her to perfection. I completely believed her political stances and more to the point, I feel that she would make the decision she made in the opening episode. There is a coldness to the character of Kitty and Flockhart nailed it in her portrayal.
In addition to this, I was really impressed with what a strong ensemble this show had. With that many actors it might seem like it could be difficult juggling all the characters and their storylines but that never seemed to be an issue. On top of that it was really impressive that with the multiple characters, storylines, plots and two part episodes, they managed to keep the narrative arc for each show completely intact. Brothers and Sisters: The Complete First Season showcases well made television of the highest order.
Brothers & Sisters was released .
