The Edwardsing of 'Brothers & Sisters'

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episode of Brothers & Sisters.*

Are the writers of Brothers & Sisters trying to inject a bit of the real life John and Elizabeth Edwards drama into the ABC show's storyline?


Main character Kitty Walker McCallister (Calista Flockhart) -- who just adopted a baby boy with her husband Sen. Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe), who’s running for California governor -- was diagnosed with lymphoma several weeks ago. The McCallister marriage had been on the rocks following the senator’s heart attack (yeah, this is a healthy family) which occurred on the same day their son was born. As Sen. McCallister forged ahead with a gubernatorial bid without first consulting his wife, he also emotionally withdrew from her, the woman who once served as his communications director. So Kitty turned to a fellow at-home parent and had an "emotional" affair with him, but broke it off and decided to work on the marriage. Robert and Kitty just were starting to repair the breach when Kitty was diagnosed.

Here’s where the similarities to the Edwards family come into play: In the latest episode, it seemed as though Robert wanted to simply let his gubernatorial campaign wither away. He refused to field questions or respond to attacks which criticized him for continuing to run for governor while his wife was sick and they had a baby at home. Meanwhile, Kitty actively urged him to continue the campaign and decided to stage an impromptu TV interview to express her full support of his bid for governor, hoping to blunt the criticism.

All I kept thinking about during that most recent episode was John and Elizabeth Edwards – minus John’s cheating and his love child – and how much flak they received when it was revealed early on in John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign that Elizabeth’s cancer had returned and had metasticized. There were all manner of loud voices attacking the couple for continuing the campaign in the wake of her dire diagnoses, and for bringing their young children along for the ride. Elizabeth herself was called a “terrible mother” for campaigning while sick and one blogger wrote: “Elizabeth, I don’t like the choices you’ve made. Take your kids home. Get off the freaking campaign trail.”



How will the campaign and the cancer treatment play out on Brothers & Sisters? Will there be continued political backlash against the candidate who keeps forging ahead with his campaign while his wife is sick at home with cancer and trying to care for their infant son?

Image credit: Randy Holmes/ABC.

'Desperate' Mondays: The Story of Lucie and Jessie

So Desperate Housewives last night glossed over the absurdity that was the battle between the depressed Tom Scavo and his wife Lynette after their family pizzeria went belly-up over who should seek a PR/marketing job in order to support their family of four. They just pretended that the whole Tom-guzzling-the-beer-on-the-front-lawn-in-his-bathrobe never happened.

Okay. I'll go along with this just as long as we can pretend that the Lynette of the past two seasons never really happened. If the Lynette character can regain her previous mojo, I'm willing to forget the bad years. Whaddya say DH writers?

But the Orson-is-a-kleptomaniac storyline? I liked him better as a sad little sack of a husband trying to redeem himself after doing time in the Big House. I preferred the middle-of-the-road Orson to the creepy Orson from last season or this new disturbed Orson. What is it with Bree Van de Kamp Hodge that she attracts nuts, like the killer pharmacist and now Orson, who nearly killed Mike Delfino when he intentionally ran him down and has now resorting to stealing things from his neighbor to keep his control freak of a wife unhinged?



Speaking of crazy, please tell me that I didn't witness the foreshadowing of Katherine Mayfair's murder at the hand of Dave Williams on the camping trip? (It was about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the forehead. However if the writers DON'T go down this road, I'll be pleasantly surprised.)

And, I feel compelled to comment on the much ballyhooed gal-on-gal kiss between Gabby Solis and Susan Mayer. What a publicity stunt. A cheap, disingenuous one at that. It reminded me of the misleading promo ABC ran for Brothers & Sisters when they claimed that during the show's two-hour extravaganza would feature a shocking death. That was technically correct, if you go to the Bill Clinton school of what constitutes the truth. Rob Lowe's character Robert McCallister did flatline during a heart attack, but he was revived in the Emergency Room. I felt totally sandbagged again by ABC last night. I think the DH writers are done a disservice by such disingenuous ABC promotions, using the "I Kissed a Girl" tune. . . maybe they need to hire Lynette.

Image credit: ABC.