KEY POINTS:
Brothers & Sisters might sound pretty self-explanatory but the Walker siblings are dealing with a little more than your average TV clan.
Whereas family dramas once existed in a bubble, protected from the turmoil of the outside world by a cosy, relationship-fuelled formula, Brothers & Sisters goes out
of its way to reflect the real world.
The Emmy-nominated show centres around the California-based family of five children and their dysfunctional lives. Written by Tony award-winning playwright Jon Robin Baitz, its biggest selling point is its dream-team cast. Oscar-winner Sally Field plays the family matriarch, Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart is daughter Kitty, and Six Feet Under's award-winning Rachel Griffiths is Kitty's sister, Sarah.
It's a drama with lofty ambitions. The siblings embrace one another unconditionally while trying to live up to their seemingly perfect role-model parents. But the family unit acts almost as a metaphor for American society. The siblings represent the divisiveness of the red and blue states yet are bound by a bigger love.
"We are a country like a family," says Field, who plays the sweet, yet seething, Norma. "We are bonded together. And because of everything that's gone on, we can't hear what the other person is saying. We fly up in the air and have reactions to certain words ... and in many cases we are saying exactly the same thing."
Still not convinced Brothers & Sisters is real? Meet the Walkers. There's Justin, the kid who has come back from Afghanistan and turned to drugs to deal with the post-war trauma.
The black sheep in the family is Flockhart's right-wing radio host Kitty, whose strong political beliefs led to a major rift with her leftie mother. Norma's still reeling from the effects of her youngest going to war.
Not surprisingly for a show that tries to be a family West Wing, critics have had a field day. Some say it is too earnest, the large cast too unwieldy, and the dialogue awkward.
When Kitty's brother Kevin (Matthew Rhys) pokes fun at her political views, she erupts with this:
"I am conservative, tough on crime, big on defence, America first, old-fashioned and in your face. If you think this is funny, great, I'm glad to be of comic service. You just keep on laughing and watch the rest of the country pass you by."
Yet while ratings in the US haven't been through the roof - the show premiered second to Without A Trace - Baitz has faith that viewers will eventually discover it, and get to know all those many characters for themselves.
Those who do will probably tune in for the family drama - or for a squiz at 80s heart-throb Balthazar Getty, who plays a brother, Tommy - rather than the politics. There's Kevin, the partnerless, gay brother, the seemingly perfect marriage between the parents - "they're like Ron and Nancy," says a naive Kitty in the pilot episode - Sarah's marital issues, and the family business, which is in some kind of financial danger. The good guys and the bad guys aren't immediately obvious. "There's this really lovely sense of humour that runs through the whole thing, yet it's very poignant and serious without taking itself too seriously," says Flockhart. "I really liked this family who hate each other. They love each other. They fight. They support each other. That's what really interested me in this script."
Brothers & Sisters suffered its share of creative turmoil, too. Betty Buckley was originally cast as Norma but was replaced at the last minute by Field.
Field was a big fan of Baitz and impressed by what she saw as a "tremendously complicated" character, so it wasn't hard to convince her to come on board.
"I think it's hard to find really good, complex characters for women, be it television or film," she says. "Television right now is a very interesting place altogether. There's a lot of interesting work being done in television. And certainly it's always difficult for women who aren't young or stunning, you know.
"I hoped I'm not as flawed as her, but I'm sure that I am. The truth is I'm sure that I am. Like her, I just can't see them. And the times that I can see them are the times that any of my grown sons have turned to me, like the sons or daughters in the show, with tears in their eyes or with anger on their face and told me in no uncertain terms what I did. I either had to say 'You're wrong. I was there. That's not what happened.' Or I had to say 'You're a jerk for feeling that way', or I had to go 'Yikes. You know. I'm so sorry'."
It's five years since Flockhart was last on screen in Ally McBeal. Then she adopted a son, Liam, became involved with Harrison Ford (now her fiance) and seemingly disappeared from the limelight.
The entertainment journalists on this promo tour have been warned not to ask about Ford, told Flockhart doesn't like to talk about her private life. Her reputation for being aloof seems a little misplaced, however - there's something about her that suggests shyness is behind it.
"I used to be a workaholic and perfectionist and very ambitious. I don't know why, but it's all melted away, and it just doesn't exist any more."
There's not much left of McBeal in her any more, she says with a little sadness but what she does remember fondly is the comedy, something she's been able to enjoy in her new role.
"Ally McBeal was very big. I fell down a lot and she was very manic, and all that stuff. The comedy is different. This is more grown-up. It's a little more sophisticated. It's not slapstick. But I think there's definitely going to be room for it in this series."
Aussie actress Rachel Griffiths, who speaks with a quasi-American accent when she's not playing Sarah, knows a thing or two about starring in a drama that confronts real issues after years of Six Feet Under. Sarah was a dream role that feels more like her than any other.
"I'm a person who gets a lot done. I effectively run a business, co-head of a household. We travel on the three continents often. I maintain my family ties. I have to talk on a sophisticated level to people like you. There's a lot of aspects to my job I take seriously and I juggle. That woman never really got a chance to express herself on film before ... "
Ron Rifkin, who plays Uncle Saul, had a similar feeling towards his character when he read the script.
"In addition to the love and the support and the nurturing, there are very complicated sides to family. There's jealousy. There's anger. There's hostility. There's why did daddy love you more than he loved me? Why did you give him this and not give this to me? And it's all of that. Sometimes in our families, our sisters or brothers marry people we don't like. So what do you do? You have to learn to live with it."
Lowdown
What: Brothers & Sisters, a family soap opera in West Wing clothing about a family's five adult siblings.
Starring: Calista Flockhart, (Kitty) Rachel Griffiths, (Sarah) Sally Field, (Norma) Ron Rifkin, Saul) Balthazar Getty, Dave Annable (Justin), Matthew Rhys (Kevin) Rob Lowe (Robert)
When & where: Monday, 8.30pm, TV2