Set of TV's Brothers & Sisters strives to bring a realistic touch to the travails of the troubled Walker clan
Brad Oswald - Watching TV
BURBANK -- It's a steamy summer afternoon in southern California, and a cluster of TV critics is happily gathered in the coolest kitchen on prime-time television.
It's not just the mercifully adjusted thermostat that makes this place cool; it's also the fact that this extremely well-appointed, almost fully functional but entirely make-believe cooking and gathering space is the hub of the chaotic goings-on that confound the fictional Walker clan of the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters.
By whatever standard you choose to apply -- real-world practicality, movie-magic imagery or design-magazine allure -- Nora Walker's kitchen is a show-stopper.
LED Street Light SP90-28W"This is probably the room we get the most mail about, and the most comments, because it's the dream kitchen," says production designer Denny Dugally, who's leading a small gaggle of professional TV-watchers on a tour of Brothers & Sisters' tightly packed collection of home and office sets in stages 6 and 7 of Walt Disney Studios' Burbank lot. "Whether you're a cook or not, you want to cook in this kitchen."
It's true. Unlike many TV-show soundstages, which employ a mix of actual items with well-crafted fakery to create a convincing onscreen look, the Brothers & Sisters kitchen is pretty darned close to the real thing. The floor is real hardwood, not just a clever paint job; the cabinetry and tilework are authentic; and even the kitchen sink and four-burner gas range can be made to function if a scene demands it.
"I tend to like to use real stuff wherever I can -- especially here," Dugally says, pointing to the ceramic tiles behind the stove. "If you've got heat on here, the last thing you'd want is fibreglass tile in behind it. In reality, it's always better for us to use the real stuff whenever we can.
"Pretty much everything you see is real... We've had design magazines get in touch with the set decorator and myself to ask where we got certain items."
There's no question, adds Dugally, that the attention to detail employed in constructing the sets makes it easier for the show's stellar ensemble cast -- led by Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths -- to bring Brothers & Sisters' scripts to life.
The series, which suffered a bit of a rocky start last fall after last-minute cast changes and rewriting made many observers think the show was in trouble, improved steadily throughout the 2006-07 season and finished as one of TV's best new dramas.
Brothers & Sisters follows the personal and professional travails of the multi-generational Walker clan, owners of a small-scale fruit-and-vegetable empire known as Ojai Foods. In last fall's series premiere, family patriarch William Walker (Tom Skerritt) died suddenly, leaving the business on the brink of financial ruin and forcing his fractured family to reconnect in order to save the troubled enterprise.
The firm's management fell to siblings Sarah and Tommy (Griffiths and Balthazar Getty), who discovered financial irregularities amounting to millions of dollars. Meanwhile, sister Kitty (Calista Flockhart), a conservative talk-radio host, moved home from the East Coast to rejoin the family while trying her hand at TV.
Brother Kevin (Matthew Rhys) was trying to balance a left-leaning legal career with a somewhat conflicted gay lifestyle, and youngest sibling Justin (Dave Annable), still reeling after a tour of duty in Afghanistan, continued to struggle with the post-traumatic demons that drove him to drug abuse. And all of this took place under the watchful but overstressed eye of matriarch Nora (Field), who was determined to keep the family intact even if she couldn't keep her own (stuff) together.
At the outset, Brothers & Sisters was deadly serious drama, so wrenching at times that it was almost hard to watch. Its uncertain start and early cast changes (Field was a late addition, replacing original mom Betty Buckley) were followed by a behind-the-scenes shuffle that saw executive producer Marti Noxon (Prison Break, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice) let go and new producer Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Jack & Bobby, Dawson's Creek) brought in to replace her.
Gucci BraceletAs a result, the show's storylines became slightly less weighty, and its viewership started to grow.
"I think the addition of Greg Berlanti was huge, because he came in and introduced an element of humour that gave the show a good balance," says Annable, one of several cast members on hand to chat with TV critics during this July-afternoon set visit. "I think that's what helps to move the hour along -- you get to laugh with these people and cry with these people, instead of just curling up into the fetal position and weeping after each episode."
Brothers & Sisters' first season garnered three Emmy nominations -- best lead actress (Field), best supporting actress (Griffiths) and best casting for a drama series.
The second-season premiere, which airs Sept. 30 (on ABC and Global), is bound to be a frenzied affair, given all the twists, turns and emotion-packed cliffhangers in last May's finale. Kitty, now communications director for presidentially inclined U.S. Senator Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe), has said yes to her boss's marriage proposal; Tommy has launched a winery business with his father's former mistress, Holly (Patricia Wettig); Justin's army unit has been called up for a tour in Iraq; and Sarah's marriage is on the brink of imploding after she learned husband Joe (John Pyper-Ferguson) made a pass at Holly's daughter (and the Walker children's half-sister), Rebecca (Emily VanCamp).