TV Review - Brothers & Sisters: Season Five

This has been a weird, transitional season. For the past, couple of seasons, the writers have been consumed with the love and political life of Kitty Walker, played by Calista Flockhart (Ally McBeal), and, Robert McCallister, played by Rob Lowe. It was a great storyline, but it quickly ran out of steam, and this season saw it in a snap disappear. The character of Robert McCallister was killed and Kitty left town, rarely to be seen.

At the same time, the relationship between Kitty's youngest brother, Justin, and his wife, Rebecca, played by Emily VanCamp (Everwood), was also quickly abandoned. The season started with the two of them in the midst of a divorce. Rebecca's mother, Holly, played by Patricia Wettig (thirtysomething), who at once was an integral part of the series was paying her last respects and was seemingly on the outs.

So, with four major characters all of a sudden gone, the show had some holes to fill. With the threat of the show being on the bubble for cancellation, which it eventually was, the writers had to write resolutions for the characters and not necessarily end on a cliffhanger. One thing they did was give Nora Walker, played by Sally Field, a stable job that makes good use of her uber-mom, parenting skills.

They also gave her a more stable love interest, somewhat. Another thing was the focus on Luc's family. Luc is the French artist, played by Gilles Marini, who fell in love with Kitty's eldest sister, Sarah Walker, played by Rachel Griffiths. Yet, the show also spent a lot of time on Kevin, played by Matthew Rhys, and Scotty, played by Luke McFarlane, getting a child.

All of this didn't come until the second half of the season, which unfortunately was the weakest half. When the show was still dealing with the old stuff, the show was good. When the show was dealing with this new stuff, it was just okay. Unfortunately, the season got more lackadaisical as it progressed. The first episode of this season was the best and the season finale the worst. It wasn't worse from an acting standpoint because all of the actors are still loveable, but from a writing and even a directing standpoint, the premiere was extremely better than the finale.

The series was still a rarity on television. It's a TV program that's a family drama, concentrating on home-life, and not being a cop or being a doctor. Not many shows explored the home-life. Most shows are about the streets or the office. I still appreciate that above all else.

Four Stars out of Five.

Rated TV-PG.

Running Time: 1 hr.

http://abc.go.com/shows/brothers-and-sisters