The Temple of Dagon

I can only recommend this excellent series about family, values, love ......Have to see it ! I have come to BROTHERS AND SISTERS somewhat late in the game. I had some initial interest in it when Marti Noxon was the show runner during the developmental stage, but after replacing several original cast members and after Noxon left over "creative differences" and persistent rumors from the set that the show was in utter disarray, I opted not to watch it. I had friends who watched it, however, and reading critics I knew that the show had managed to get past Queer as Folk seasons collection its initial problems it had developed into a critically well regarded show. Though not viewed as being in the same class as the best productions on TV like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, THE WIRE, LOST, and THE SHIELD, it had clearly created a place for it as a well regarded family drama.I have just finished watching all of Seasons One and Two of the show. I have the first episode of Season 3 DVR'd and after watching that I'll be ready to start watching it live next Sunday. I very much enjoy the characters on the show and largely watch the series for that reason. I'm not certain that the overarching series narrative is as good as the group of characters that they have assembled. I've been put off by a relative timidity in the story telling. So far the show bears a strong resemblance to a high class soap opera. A highly regarded critical study of soap operas bears the title STORIES WITHOUT END. I find that applies to buy Macgyver 1-7 dvd BROTHERS AND SISTERS. The stories here never end, but they never really go anywhere substantial. Contrast that to the series on which Marti Noxon previously worked: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. That landmark series featured a number of stories that had ends, as well as beginnings and middles. Things happen on BROTHERS AND SISTERS, and there are a host of mini story arcs, but as a whole the show is not characterized by a number of master narratives that frame and carry the series forward. Contrast this with another show by show runner Greg Berlanti, ELI STONE. One of the joys of that show is following the central story of whether Eli is a modern day prophet or whether he is merely plagued by visions caused by his brain aneurysm. The closest to a master narrative on BROTHERS buy all seasons of Macgyver dvds AND SISTERS is: siblings and parents strive to get along while keeping and revealing family secrets. As a result, the show sometimes just feels like a superior reality show.What makes what is overall a fairly limited concept work so well is a great and talented cast. The cast is filled with both Hollywood veterans and Smallville seasons 1-9 boxset newcomers, with both American and superb imported actors. In one of the major recastings, Sally Star Trek Voyager 1-7 boxset dvd Field took over as the matron of the Walker clan (interestingly, she and Tom Skerritt, who died in the first episode, played a married couple in STEEL MAGNOLIAS). Frankly, she didn't seem right to me at first. I felt that she had a tiny bit of trouble finding her character, though with the Nikita 1-5 complete collection reputed chaos onset in the beginning that might not be surprising. I loved Calista Flockhart on ALLY MCBEAL and was initially excited about her return to TV, but I found (and still find) her role as a right wing journalist off-putting. To be honest, neither she nor her future boss/love interest Rob Lowe make especially convincing right wingers. They seem like everyday folk with tags and labels tacked onto them every once and a while. Lowe will make a quip about school vouchers to give some superficial credibility Sons of Anarchy 1-2 collection set to his being a conservative, but neither the leftists nor the leftists on the show seem convincingly political. It is more like window dressing than anything. I've always liked Rachel Griffiths. I originally saw her in several British productions where she spoke with her natural accent and then loved her on SIX FEET UNDER where she affected an American accent. That role makes her very easy to accept on BROTHERS AND SISTERS as an American. I was Rome seasons on dvd previously unfamiliar with the world of Welshman Matthew Rhys, but he sports a perfect American accent, as does Aussie Merlin box set complete John Pyper-Ferguson, who I previously Arrested Development dvd complete knew only from an unsympathetic character on my favorite current show, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (he played the CAG from Pegasus who pulled a gun on Apollo while they both sat in their Raptor). I enjoy both Ron Rifkin and Balthazar Getty (who Grey's Anatomy seasons 1-6 box set had both purchase Queer as Folk complete set been on ALIAS -- it took me a long, long time to stop seeing Rifkin as Arvin Sloane, which I eventually did, though I got a huge blast out of the guest appearance of Joel Grey at the end of Season One, who memorably portrayed "the Other Arvin Sloane" on the series). Although I didn't initially care for Dave Annable as the youngest Walker sibling, Justin, he eventually became one of my favorite characters. I like Sarah Jane Morris, who I remembered from FECLITY, but she really hasn't been given much of a chance to shine on the show.