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There have certainly been more interesting family business shows on television over the years, so the premise for Brothers & Sisters is anything but original. Both Dallas and Dynasty set the standard for this kind of show many years ago. Tony Soprano’s family business is far more interesting than the Walker organic fruit business. Hell, the Ewings had more color with “dem dang blasted oil fields”. If you end up liking or are already a fan of Brothers & Sisters, originality isn’t the reason. I found the stories were far too slow and uninteresting to keep my attention for more than an episode. The impressive, potent performances offered by this solid cast carry all the weight on this series. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But I do question a series that once I’ve watched, what I remember are marvelous moments of acting with little about the plots forging an impact in my brain. There are a few gems in the story: The Northern Exposure episode is actually quite entertaining, as the entire Walker Clan descend upon a family retreat house, each hoping for some alone time with a significant other. There are also some intense 9/11 moments to be found in the two-parter, Mistakes Were Made. Beyond these compelling moments, I found myself quickly forgetting much of the actual story arcs of the series. No, trust me. The real punch is in the acting.

This was my first ever exposure to Grey’s Anatomy. Certainly I’ve followed the buzz the show has generated with its multiple awards and the feuding between two of the show’s actors. My first impression was not altogether a very good one. You see, season three begins with the aftermath of an obviously big ending from the previous year. From what I can gather, a character died and it left a void for a couple of the characters. I immediately began to feel like an outsider, a feeling I wasn’t very comfortable with. Fortunately, before I could give up feeling frustrated and hounded by an impending review deadline, something quite remarkable happened. Simply stated, I didn’t stop watching. In that moment of hesitation, I began to catch a glimpse of what everybody’s been going on about. The acting is surprisingly rock solid and not at all the flirty surface performances I had expected. So, for a short time, I was able to put aside my outsider feelings and begin to appreciate what I was watching. Before too long I was beginning to recognize the strong production values and clever writing which have been responsible for all that buzz I was hearing. While I avoided the needle scenes like the plague that spread through the hospital’s opening episodes, there is still a lot of high resolution f/x when it comes to wounds and surgery bits. This is by far the most realistic look I’ve seen in any medical show so far. The offbeat banter of the interns works well to offset the rather dramatic storylines hidden beneath this somewhat light series.