BROTHERS & SISTERS (TV SHOW) - DVD review

"I know we're in different emotional places."

As one of the characters in "Brothers & Sisters" says that, I'm thinking, yes, we are. Some people think that's fine writing, and I'm watching this ABC series thinking it's probably the purest soap opera on the air during prime time. The production values come closer to daytime soaps than some of the slick melodramas, with more stand-and-talks, long exchanges, and a preponderance of emotion in each scene and every line of dialogue. Reinforcing the emotion is a weepy musical backdrop, and as the music comes to crescendo you know the dramatic tension has reached another peak.

"Brothers & Sisters" is a soap with all the limitations that a soap opera brings to the table. It's not stylish, and it's not going to win any screenwriting prizes any time soon. But people who like soaps will say in response, "Yes, but it's a good soap opera."

And that it is, because "Brothers & Sisters" is well-cast.

The series centers on the Walkers, an upper middle-class California family with grown siblings (it's hard to do the adult soap thing with little ones hanging around). The matriarch is Nora (Sally Field), who was traumatized more in season one by the revelation that her husband William had a woman on the side and a child by him than she was by his death. The trauma that launches the second season the family's sendoff of a brother who's struggled with drug problems. But Justin (Dave Annable) isn't going to rehab . . . he's headed for Iraq. Conveniently, his sister Kitty (Calista Flockhart), who's an Ann Coulter sort, is engaged to Senator Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe), a Republican who's running for president, and tensions mount when the family starts to think they're milking the situation for political gain.

Every TV melodrama needs a gay relationship lately, and in "Brothers & Sisters" the Walker's brother Kevin (Matthew Rhys), who had the misfortune of having a relationship with a minister who announces he's leaving the country to serve where he's needed. "I'll wait for you," Kevin says. And in a bit of boldness, ABC tempers schmaltzy lines like that with a very real depiction of a gay relationship, complete with kisses on the mouth.
Then there's Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin), who wrestles with coming out of closet.

A soap wouldn't be sudsy without sexual shenanigans, and there's plenty in "Brothers & Sisters." The oldest Walker sibling, Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), is trying to salvage her marriage to Joe (John Pyper-Ferguson), but learns that the wild ride on the washing machine that he gave her came at the same time as he was getting it on with another woman--plus, he had the audacity to hit on illegitimate half-sister Rebecca (Emily VanCamp). Not to be outdone in the insensitivity department, the oldest Walker brother Tommy (Balthazar Getty) becomes the business partner of his father's old mistress Holly (Patricia Wettig) and has an affair with his secretary (Emily Rose), which of course doesn't set well with his wife, Julia (Sarah Jane Morris). Then there's Justin, who at some point starts having feelings for his half-sister, Rebecca.

Yes, we are in different emotional places.

But I can appreciate the performances, especially Field, who almost makes you buy the late mid-life crisis that gets her doing a few wild things like smoking pot and having an interracial fling with Isaac Marshall (Danny Glover).

There's not nearly as much comic relief in this show as there is in "Private Practice," but it's also not as play-it-straight as "Dirty Sexy Money." Mostly it stays the course for standard-issue soap operas, with some scenes that will make you smile just a bit. Nora inherited her husbands Ojai Food Co. business, and food comes into the picture more than once in ironically amusing ways.

Video:
"Brothers & Sisters" is presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio and "enhanced" for 16x9 televisions. The picture has a soft look to it, presumably intentional, with undersaturated colors. There's probably more slight graininess here than I've seen in other shows recently, but not enough to become a distraction.

Audio:
The audio is a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround with subtitles in French and Spanish. At times, the sounds coming from effects speakers or even the front mains could be startling, which may or may not be a good thing. For me, it pulled me out of the show's flow, but others may appreciate the zesty and aggressive channeling we encounter here at times.

Extras:
One nifty bonus feature is an envelope full of "Nora's Favorite Family Recipes": Mango Peach Salsa, Pumpkin Pie, Hollandaise Sauce, Lasagna, Paella, Strawberry Shortcake, Pasta, Birthday Cake, Turkey Club, and Guacamole. The envelope containing the sturdy 4x6" cards doubles as a contents menu, listing all five discs and what you can find on them (in abbreviated fashion).

Disc 1 contains the episodes "Home Front" (with commentary by executive producer Ken Olin and actors Wettig and Rhys), "An American Family," "History Repeating," and "States of the Union." Disc 2 has the episodes "Domestic Issues," "Two Places," "36 Hours" (with commentary by actors Annable, Morris, and VanCamp), and "Something New." Disc 3 offers "Holy Matrimony!" "The Feast of the Epiphany," "The Missionary Imposition," and "Compromises." Disc 4 has the episodes "Separation Anxiety," "Double Negative," "Moral Hazard," and "Prior Commitments" (with commentary by executive producer Monica Owusu-Breen and actors Rhys and Luke Macfarlane).

Disc 5 features 7 deleted scenes (no commentary), a "Guest Book" short clip montage of series guest stars, a blooper reel, and two short making-of features, "TV Dinners: Food from Season 2" and "Open House: Designing the Brothers & Sisters Set." The former zeroes in on the food that often takes center stage (the food is actually scripted), and the latter features a 360-degree camera that gives you a sense of the Walker family house and you hear how the furniture was mostly purchased. And you see how fake some of the Ojai Food Co. set is.

Fans will be grateful, but the bonus features are pretty standard.

Bottom Line:
"Brothers & Sisters" is a soap opera, and there will be a large segment of the viewing public that won't give this a second look because of that. But as I said, the ensemble is strong and Field does a fine job of anchoring the series. As I watched this serious soaper, I couldn't help thinking of Field's versatility, doing it straight some 15 years after she did it tongue-in-cheek in "Soapdish," and almost 20 years after she and another great ensemble cast gave us the weepy but honest-feeling "Steel Magnolias." While I wouldn't put "Brothers & Sisters" in that league, Field's performance and those of her co-stars are certainly as good.