Brothers and Sisters

The Walker Clan

Brothers and Sisters is a drama series that ran for five seasons from 2006 to 2011.

The series details the lives of the Walker family. Patriarch William Walker runs his family fruit business, Ojai Foods, with one son and daughter and his brother-in-law. Another daughter works in politics, one son is a vet from Afghanistan with an addiction problem, and the other is a gay attorney. William's wife, Nora, is the heart of the family. When William dies, his family not only loses their patriarch, but finds themselves suddenly privy to secrets they wish had never been exposed...

The series was produced by ABC and can be extremely funny. The show could switch from high drama to high comedy within the same episode, or even the same scene.

The Walker family, are detailed here.

For some unearthly reason, the show features featured Rob Lowe as a Republican Senator. From California.

Tropes used in Brothers and Sisters include:
  • Almighty Mom: Nora Walker.
  • Apron Matron: Nora Walker again.
  • Always Camp: Scotty was a cater-waiter before becoming a chef; but averted with Kevin, who's a lawyer, and Saul, an accountant.
  • Bad Dreams: Kevin, after donating part of his liver to save Elizabeth, who is really his daughter.
  • Berserk Button: Most of the family members have one; Sarah's seems to be whether she can balance work and family; Kitty's is the new baby; once upon a time Nora's was Justin and the war; etc.
  • Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: Kitty- and a male, non-blonde version in Rob Lowe's character. The former would have been a Blonde Republican Sex Cat, had her pregnancy not miscarried.
    • Rob Lowe was initially a guest star- the ratings went up so much he became a regular.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Rebecca and Justin used to believe each other were blood siblings, but then found out otherwise. Justin still felt somewhat uncomfortable on the subject.
  • But Not Too Gay: Averted with Kevin (and Scotty), who makes out as much as his siblings. Played straight with Saul, who rarely has an onscreen kiss, which could be tied to Nobody Over 50 Is Gay.
  • But We Used a Condom: Kitty's pregnancy.
  • Candlelit Bath: Subverted.
  • Cat Fight: Or a rather bizarre attempt at one, considering both participants are in their late 50s.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Justin's medical knowledge comes in handy when Julia goes into premature labor with the twins.
  • Commuting on a Bus: Tommy, at the moment.
  • Convenient Miscarriage
  • Daddy's Girl: Kitty.
    • Also Sarah, who was the heir apparent to Ojai.
  • Dinner and a Show: Family dinners are not generally pleasant and subdued affairs. So prevalent, it's merited lampshading recently.
  • Dysfunctional Family: Hoo, boy.
    • Walker family dinners are massive arguments waiting to happen. Just see the above two tropes.
  • Easy Amnesia: Holly in Season 5, though to be fair, it's a long-term plot point and her memory seems to come and go.
  • Embarrassing Slide: A Home Porn Movie among a collection of clips for a birthday video.
  • Family Business: Ojai Foods.
    • When an investment decision went badly, Holly Harper stepped in to bail the company out in return for a controlling interest.
    • Then she got cleaned out via a Ponzi scheme.
    • The company eventually closed down.
    • Then they found water in a property William Walker bought.
    • Then we had the pile-up.
  • Family Drama
  • Family Versus Career: Sarah's constant struggle.
  • Flamboyant Gay: Scotty, though toned down quite a bit from the pilot.
  • Food Fight: The aforementioned Cat Fight.
  • Former Teen Rebel: Nora.
  • Geeky Turn On: Kitty and Robert have sex in their office after a vigorous policy discussion.
  • Home Porn Movie: Sarah and her then-husband. Hilarity Ensues.
  • How We Got Here: One episode opens with Nora, Sarah and Rebecca entering a hotel lift, their hair disheveled. It's implied they've all had sex. None of them had. Nora passed out drunk while kissing Roger Grant, Sarah merely had a lot of alcoholic drinks and Rebecca spent the night alone in the honeymoon suite after Justin went to help a Addicts Anonymous sponsee.
    • The St. Valentine episode of Season 1 also opened with the end; Kitty in bed with McCallister, Justin with Tyler, Kevin with Scotty, all calling each other and Sarah, who didn't have sex, and finally Nora, who ends up being calling from... jail.
  • In Vino Veritas: Well, Ojai Foods did make wine.
  • Invisible to Gaydar: Saul, who doesn't understand why men, even gay men, would have any interest in baby showers or other female-oriented activities; Kevin, Jason, and Chad also qualify.
  • Jerkass Facade: Kevin, especially in the earlier episodes.
  • Lampshade Hanging: In one episode, Sarah tells Nora about her ex-husband remarrying his first wife and going on a month-long honeymoon to Europe with her kids. Nora responds that she stopped watching those trashy soap operas in 1982.
  • Law of Inverse Fertility
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Rebecca--twice, believe it or not--and now Ryan.
  • Meaningful Name: Well, she is known as "Kitty".
  • Mistaken for Cheating: Justin in one episode; others have played this briefly for laughs, most notoriously the "Mom is a Lesbian" fake-out in early Season 5.
  • Nobody Over 50 Is Gay: Averted with Saul, born 11 August 1938. He spent most of his life in the closet.
  • Not Blood Siblings: Justin and Rebecca.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative: "You're my favorite brother." "Only brother."
  • Personal Effects Reveal: The photograph of Rebecca Ryan.
  • Put on a Bus: Jason, all the way to Malaysia. Joe. Rebecca. And after he stopped commuting, Tommy left to go after Julia and Elizabeth.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: In real life, the actors playing Rebecca and Justin used to date, and apparently had so much sexual chemistry onscreen that Brother-Sister Incest was heavily implied. The writers eventually gave up and put in a Retcon that Rebecca was not a Walker to deal with this issue.
    • Part of the reason we don't see Tommy any more is because Balthazar Getty would show up late to tapings, or not at all, making life difficult for the rest of the cast.
  • Running Gag: Any Walker family get-together must involve at least one stand up argument.
  • Sexy Shirt Switch: Kitty, twice. Rebecca has also go in on the act.
  • Sibling Triangle: Justin and Tommy's relationship with Lena.
    • And then Justin vs. Ryan over Rebecca. An interesting variation since Rebecca was once thought to be Justin's sibling.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: Justin and Rebecca have a big argument and then proceed to have sex with each other for the first time.
    • In a variation, Robert and Kitty once had sex in their office after a policy discussion.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Interesting example with Kevin's boyfriend, Jason; the actor left to film a new show, so the producers brought back Season One boyfriend, Scotty, albeit a little more mature and subdued, making him more like the character he was replacing.
  • Switch to English: Sarah is in France and attempts to ask for directions from a Frenchman. After much struggling, the Frenchman casually reveals he can speak English and the rest of their conversations stays in English.
  • Tangled Family Tree: Rebecca's the daughter of Holly and William, no wait, the daughter of Holly and David; now there's a Ryan who's the son of William and some random dead woman; plus, Tommy's daughter Elizabeth is really Kevin's daughter because he donated sperm... confused yet?
  • Token Minority: Don't know what to call this one- Robert and Kitty's adopted child Evan is African-American. And a baby.
  • Truth-Telling Session: Frequently, sometimes as much as twice an episode.
  • Wedding Day: More than one.
  • Your Cheating Heart: William. Oh my god, William.
    • Plus Tommy and Julia both played around on the side while they were separated.
    • And Kevin is heavily implied to have had issues with this in the past.
    • While married, both Sara and Joe came close to doing so.
    • Not to mention Kitty having an (emotional) affair with a guy in the park.
    • And in an episode where Sara wonders if Luke cheated on her, we find out it was really Scotty who was the cheater.
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