BROTHERS & SISTERS
Atención a esta nueva serie que se estrena hoy domingo 24 en ABC después del estreno de la 3a temporada de "Desperate Housewives". Con un reparto de lujo y un prometedor equipo técnico, parece un cruce entre "SIX FEET UNDER" (de hecho, la impresionante Rachel Griffiths es una de las protagonistas) y "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES". Y también significa la vuelta de una muy rejuvenecida Calista Flockhart después de su última serie, "Ally McBeal". Aquí tenéis las fotos y un texto. Me parece que las mulas y torr*nts van a serme útilos con DH y B&S.
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In the premiere episode, "Patriarchy," Kitty Walker (Calista Flockhart) returns home to California after having been estranged from her mother (Sally Field) for three years. Meanwhile, William Walker (Tom Skerritt) brings Sarah (Rachel Griffiths) into the family business, where she soon discovers some glaring financial discrepancies that could undermine the Walker family's way of life.
The series follows the Walkers through the maze of American life today -- the pressures, limitless options and the struggle to grow beyond our backgrounds into ourselves. Through these fascinating siblings -- Sarah (Griffiths), the corporate VP who returns to the family business so she can give to her marriage as much as she does to her career; Tommy (Balthazar Getty), the loyal son trying to live up to his father's expectations; Kevin (Matthew Rhys), the gay lawyer cautiously learning about love; Justin (Dave Annable), the baby of the family, grappling with war trauma and addiction; and Kitty (Flockhart), right-wing radio host turned TV pundit who has always been daddy's little girl -- the show explores what it means to be a family in the 21st century, and how these brothers and sisters balance their own lives as they strive to accept their parents as people -- flawed, contradictory and forgivable -- rather than just as a father and mother. The parents are Skerritt as William Walker, the larger-than-life patriarch and president of the family business, and Field as Nora Holden, the opinionated wife and mother to the five Walker siblings. Then there's Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden, Nora's brother; John Pyper-Ferguson as Sarah's husband, Joe; Sarah Jane Morris as Tommy's wife, Julia; and Patricia Wettig as Holly, a woman who's history with William could bring the Walkers and their company down.
"Brothers & Sisters" stars Calista Flockhart ("Ally McBeal") as Kitty, Rachel Griffiths ("Six Feet Under") as Sarah, Sally Field ("Norman Rae") as Nora Holden, Ron Rifkin ("Alias") as Saul Holden, Patricia Wettig ("thirtysomething") as Holly, Balthazar Getty ("Alias") as Thomas, Dave Annable ("Reunion") as Justin, Matthew Rhys ("Titus," "Love and other Disasters") as Kevin, John Pyper-Ferguson ("Unforgiven," "Nightstalker") as Joe and Sarah Jane Morris ("Felicity") as Julia.
Guest starring are Tom Skerritt as William Walker, Josh Hopkins as Warren Salter, Matthew Settle as Jonathan Sellers, Tyler Posey as Gabriel Whedon, Kerris Lilla Dorsey as Paige Whedon, Maxwell Perry Cotton as Cooper Whedon, Jay Juguley as White Peyton, Michael Beach as Noah Guare, Laura Jordan as Fawn, Stana Katic as Karen Wells, John C. Moskoff as Leo, Ryan Michelle Bathe as Sasha, Laraine Newman as Lyla, David Burke as Jack Bishop, Daniel Edward Mora as Jorge and Angela Sargeant as Gladys.
"Patriarchy" was written by Jon Robin Baitz and directed by Ken Olin.
Series Credited cast:
Calista Flockhart .... Kitty Walker
Sally Field .... Nora Holden
Balthazar Getty .... Thomas Walker
Rachel Griffiths .... Sarah Walker
Dave Annable .... Justin Walker
Matthew Rhys .... Kevin Walker
Sarah Morris .... Julia Walker
Patricia Wettig .... Holly Harper
Ron Rifkin .... Saul Holden
Jimmy 'Jax' Pinchak .... Teddy Traylor
Maxwell Perry Cotton .... Cooper
Jay Huguley .... Whit Peyton
Tyler Posey .... Gabriel
John Peper-Ferguson .... Joe Whedon
Y otra crítica (desde luego, da muy buenos pronósticos):
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For most of its turbulent existence, "Brothers & Sisters" has been described as a primetime soap, which seems like a dismissive label when you consider the quality and star wattage of this cast, many of them "Alias" alums. But after looking at the pilot, with its familiar family conflicts, you have to concede that the description is fairly accurate.
The producers claimed, through forced smiles a couple of months ago, that ABC loved this show so much that the network encouraged wholesale changes in cast and perspective to get it right. That was just a little before showrunner Marti Noxon quit in exasperation and was replaced by Greg Berlanti. Seeing the pilot now, a messy reunion of a family divided as much by politics as personalities, you have to wonder what this project looked like before it got its extreme makeover.
"Brothers & Sisters," created by celebrated playwright Jon Robin Baitz, has all the traditional themes of unhappy marriage, unmet parental expectations, unexpected financial chicanery and (possibly) unfaithfulness. It deals with them convincingly, though not with any great depth or insight.
The wild card in this game is politics but, at least in the pilot, the story takes a cautious approach. It shows the card and then buries it in the deck.
Calista Flockhart stars as Kitty Walker, the most estranged of five adult children of Nora (Sally Field) and William (guest star Tom Skerritt), who operate a California farm, though mostly from a great distance. Kitty hasn't talked to her mother for three years, during which time she's become a right-wing talk-radio star.
Asked to interview for a righty-lefty TV gabfest, she flies out to Los Angeles for what she expects will be an awkward family reunion and an unappealing job offer. Instead, she gets caught up in the family drama and tempted by the job. (And the lefty is so handsome, you just know there's a Mary Matalin-James Carville thing embedded in the season outline.)
The family stuff is packed with guilt and recriminations and secrets. My favorite is the part where Kitty's family suggests she should accept a little of the blame for younger brother Justin (Dave Annable) being a traumatized Afghan vet because it was her right-wing rants that fueled his enlistment. It's a stretch, but at least it's an original stretch.
Still, of all the dramatic elements, the politics could be the freshest. Could be, that is, if Kitty wasn't such a humorless conservative and the dialogue wasn't so carefully written to avoid offending anyone, unlike in real political arguments.
ABC is doing everything it can for the series. It not only scheduled the show to follow "Desperate Housewives," but cannily lengthened the hit dramedy to run a minute long, making it inconvenient to switch channels. And yet I have this feeling that some people will.
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