A lot has been going on with the Walker clan on ABC's primetime soap opera "Brothers & Sisters." If you follow the show on Sunday nights, you know how loud, goofy, and fun the family can be. And it certainly doesn't hurt that you have actors and actresses as talented as Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Ron Rifkin, Patricia Wettig, and Rachel Griffiths leading the pack.The thing that makes "Brothers & Sisters" so great is that the more you watch, the more the characters become real. They may do some outlandish things--but you seem to understand their motivations, because after all, most of us belong to some kind of family. But another refreshing aspect of the show is that it's also chock full of gay.
One of the six Walker siblings is Kevin, an out gay attorney played by the adorable Matthew Rhys. In the year-long history of the show producers haven't shied away from portraying Kevin's sex life, but they also haven't been salacious about showing it. Kevin has boyfriends. He makes out with them. Fights with them. Goes to dinner with them. It's nice that it's not always about his being gay or about having sex--it's more about Kevin's need for connection and love.
The show's openess must owe a great deal to the showrunner Greg Berlanti, who also created the wonderful and gay-friendly tv show "Everwood" a few years back. But credit should also go to two key players from the older tv program "Thirtysomething," a show that (like "Ellen") was a watershed for the portrayal of gays on television. Ken Olin directs most of the the episodes of "Brothers & Sisters" with the same honest, emotionally open tone that was leant to "Thirtysomething" when he was the show's featured actor. And a number of the "Brothers & Sisters" scripts are written by actor and writer David Marshall Grant. Grant is an icon of sorts, not only for being an openly gay actor with a resume pages long, but for also being one half of the first gay male kiss on television in a 1989 episode of "Thirtysomething."
Boy have the times changed in the nearly 20 years since that kiss. But in an interesting twist, "Brothers & Sisters" is winking at that very sea change in gay acceptance. For the past few episodes, the writers have hinted that Kevin's older uncle Saul, played by the amazing Ron Rifkin, is himself a closted gay man. And they've brought on sultry Michael Nouri as the object of Saul's affection--an old friend who just happens to have become newly available after a divorce from his wife.
I feel like the storyline realistically demonstrates how the sea change in gay acceptance has (or hasn't) affected many gay men of an older generation. When you're a 40, 50, or 60 year-old man and suddenly it seems like it's okay to come out and be gay, to lead a gay life, how do you change your worldview? Do you want to live a different life?
The story is one that deserves to be told, but like the recent Senator Craig interview on the "Today Show," it's also hard as hell and uncomfortable to watch. Maybe it's just how earnestly Uncle Saul is portrayed by Ron Rifkin, and how his Lady McBeth-like protests to his nephew sting us because they hit close to home. Or it could be that the storyline seemingly came out of nowhere. But in either case, I have decided to trust the capable hands of Berlanti et. al. to take us on an honest journey.
So when I call "Brothers & Sisters" the gayest show on tv, I mean it with affection. It's nice to see myself on tv. (Well, if I were a really rich, good-looking lawyer with a bed full of nice, hot boyfriends.) But still, the show embraces family in all its messiness, love, and aggrivation, and it doesn't sift out the relationships or stories that just happen to be gay.
