Another Show to Watch: Brothers & Sisters

The folks over at TV Squad have been complaining loudly this season about the fact that all the new shows on TV have been serialized this year. And a bunch of them failed (e.g., the Nine, Daybreak, Jericho, etc.). The serialized shows are killing TV, they argue, because people can't commit to watching so many shows without missing an episode. You can tune in to CSI one week and then miss a couple weeks, then see it again and you're fine.

But if you take a look at the list of shows I watch over there on the lefthand side of this page, you'll quickly see that I don't subscribe to this theory of TV watching. I watch the shows I watch. I watch them every week. I am not a casual TV watcher. And I have TiVo, so I can still have a social life (not that I really do). I can watch my shows whenever I feel like it and never miss an episode. I watch TV because I love stories about characters that I am interested in. And if I'm interested in a character, why wouldn't I tune in every week to see what happens next?

With everything good on hiatus for about a month this holiday season, I decided to check out something I could stream from ABC. After suffering through some wholly unsatisfying nights of crappy, frequently freezing streams, I finally found some time to watch when everyone else wasn't on-line. And as I suspected, the serialized Brothers & Sisters is good enough to hold my interest for 43 minutes and has enough interesting characters to earn a season pass on my TiVo.

I realize that's not exactly a rave review, but I think this is the sort of show that will get better with time as the characters gel. It's like Everwood for a slightly older crowd -- no teenage characters at all -- which is sort of well... unique ... maybe even refreshing. And Sally Field is simply fantastic. Even Calista Flockhart is really good. I never watched Ally McBeal and was never drawn to Calista in general, but she and Sally have some of the best chemistry on TV at the moment. Who woulda thunk it?

And Rob Lowe starts a regular guest role next week... who could ask for anything more?