Brothers & Sisters - TV-PG

Meaty ensemble drama for mature audiences.

TV Rating: TV-PG Network: ABC Cast: Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Calista Flockhart Genre: Drama
Available on: DVDDownload

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this grown-up drama deals with the complex relationships between a group of adult children and their parents. As such, some of the issues the characters deal with -- including marriage counseling, infidelity, and frostiness between a mother and her daughter -- might be too mature (and possibly of little interest) for tweens and younger teens.

Families can discuss the rewards -- and challenges -- of loving and respecting siblings. Why is it important to see past differences and support one another? When siblings fight, feelings get hurt; how can brothers and sisters air their grievances without resorting to arguments? How do teens expect their relationships with their siblings (and their parents) to change as they get older? Who's responsible for maintaining those relationships?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Lucy Maher

In BROTHERS & SISTERS, five grown-up siblings realize how much they rely on one another when a family tragedy makes them realize that they need to play a much larger role in their parents' lives.

When conservative radio host Kitty Walker (Ally McBeal's Calista Flockhart) and her four siblings -- Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), a corporate executive who gives up her job to help her father run the family business; Tommy (Balthazar Getty), her charming brother who also works for their dad; Kevin (Matthew Rhys), a gay lawyer who cautiously guards his heart in the dating world; and Justin (Dave Annable), an Iraq war veteran and baby of the family -- return to their parents' Southern California home to celebrate dad William's (Tom Skerritt) birthday, they find themselves discovering a lot more about one another. They also discover that they must accept their parents as flawed individuals, rather than as the larger-than-life father and mother who raised them.

Among the issues the siblings are dealing with are Kitty's cold war with her mother, Nora (Sally Field), who objected to Kitty supporting Justin when he decided to enter the military after 9/11, Sarah's faltering marriage to the affable Joe (John Pyper-Ferguson), and the mismanagement of the family business by both Nora's brother, Saul (Ron Rifkin) and William, who is hiding a secret relationship with Holly (Patricia Wettig).

Produced by Ken Olin (Alias and thirtysomething), Jon Robin Baitz (The West Wing), and Greg Berlanti (Everwood), it's no suprise this show is well-acted and well-written. Brothers & Sisters should entertain adults, who will nod in recognition at the ins and outs of the marital and family relationships the show portrays. But the subtleties of the script may be lost on kids -- even younger teens -- and the adult themes explored in each episode (infidelity, politics, years of resentment, etc.) are definitely aimed at grown-up fans.

Fans might also like What About Brian or Gilmore Girls.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content A single character hooks up and brings women home to bed. In some of these scenes, nudity is implied. The show deals with and discusses both heterosexual and homosexual sexual relationships.
Violence
Language On the milder side. "Screw you," "ass," "damn," etc.
Message
	Social Behavior While the show's overall message is that it's important to respect and be there for family members in good times and bad, episodes deal with mature, complex topics like infidelity and long-term family tension. Characters are meant to be flawed humans.
	Commercialism
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Social drinking.