A Damn Good Season Is Brewing
Brothers & Sisters
story editors Peter Calloway and Cliff Olin and staff writer Jason Wilborn will be taking turns with this new blog. This season's first entry is by Cliff Olin.
This whole TVGuide.com blog thing is new for me, and while I'm very excited to be writing it, I'm not exactly sure what I should be focusing on, so I've decided to let it be as close to a raw flow of consciousness as possible. This one blog, in particular, will serve as an introduction of sorts. Last year this little space on the Interweb was held down by our show's creator, Jon Robin Baitz (as is the case with many things
Brothers & Sisters, this blog being a microcosm, I'm just happy to be part of a team treading a path that he has carved for us). My name is Clifford Olin, I'm one of the writers for the TV show. This blog will have two other coauthors: Peter "I've grown old and wise and am in a serious relationship" Calloway, and Jason "wee man - I'm definitely getting married soon" Wilborn. Those are their real names, but those are not their real nicknames. Anyway, they're also writers for the show, and talented and charming ones at that. So we're just a few dudes and we're gong to try to have fun with this thing. One of us will post one of these every week. I can't tell you at this time exactly what you're going to get besides a peek into the psyche of the writers, and (when we're on set for one of our episodes) a literal peek behind the scenes of
Brothers & Sisters.
So... I just watched the first episode of Season 2, the one that's about to air this Sunday, the one I've now watched three times, the one y'all still haven't seen yet. And while I promise I'll do my best not to be "that guy" on "that blog," the episode is pretty damn good. I think what we have brewing for the whole season is pretty damn good as well, and - no spoilers - if you have a soul and you happen to watch ABC at 10 pm this Sunday, you're going to cry. A lot. And you're going to laugh. A little too much.
We've added four brilliant and passionate minds to our writing staff, in Mark Perry (our new show-runner), Jennifer Cecil, Liz Tigelaar and Jason (of this blog) Wilborn. We also added a new writers' assistant named Beth Schwartz, who is also talented and dedicated, but she is cruel. While we've been having a blast, and people have gelled, I feel that no new season of a television series comes without turbulence. The preseason ups and downs are nonstop. This story is good.... No, it's awful.... We're gonna get Danny Glover.... No, we aren't.... Yes, we are! Things of that nature. It feels like we're under a little more pressure than most shows (and maybe it's just in my head, maybe it's how it should be), because of the undeniable talent of our cast. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I believe we have the best ensemble in the history of television, and the guest stars we get it's unreal. I mean, think about it. Keep thinking....
It feels like we've been working forever, in a lab, underground, in Berlanti, California. Sorry,
Burbank, California. It's a year later, and we're back in a similar state of mind to that of Season 1, proud as hell of our work, but waiting anxiously for the numbers to come in on our premiere. We've already started to break Episode No. 211 for cryin' out loud, and the public has yet to see an inkling of what we've got in store. Maybe this will all feel real when the show airs. Or maybe it won't. It still doesn't feel real (though it couldn't have been any more deserved) that Sally Field won an Emmy. It really moved me because I see firsthand how much she puts into her work, but also because I think it will help put our show on the map. And screw the war.
Anyway, it's a year later for the Walkers, too, in Episode 201. Precisely a year to the day from when we first met our favorite family. It's Kitty's birthday, the first anniversary of William's death, and everyone's going to get together to celebrate (the birthday not the death)... everyone except Justin, who is still in Iraq. Each character is going through such... I'm cutting myself off now. Like I said, no spoilers. The episode was written by our head writers, Monica Owusu-Breen and Aliaoson Schapker (they're the best) and directed by Ken Olin - I don't know him too well at all, but he seems like a relatively decent guy and if nothing else, a hard worker, a gifted director and part of the driving creative force behind the show.
The episode is great, I guarantee it. I just hope that maybe four people out there are as excited for the season to start as we are (40 million would be OK, too), because it will move you. OK, the wheels have fallen off of the proverbial blogbus, so I'm going to shut myself up now. But let me leave you with this: "Pictures of you! Pictures of me!" Sorry, I can't get that song out of my head... I wonder why... maybe it's because it is the best song ever.
- Clifford
