Brothers & SIsters Season 2 Episode 1 Review

Where we last lef the Walkers of "Brothers & Sisters," Justin (Dave Annable) went to back into war; Kevin (Matthew Rhys) started a relationship with Kitty's Senator fiancee Robert's brother Jason (Eric Winter); Sarah (Rachael Griffiths) has separated with her husband; and Tommy (Balthazar Getty) and his wife Julia (Sarah Morris) suffered a loss of their son while their baby daughter is healthy and alive. It starts off with Nora (Sally Field) doing a webcam video for Justin and talking about what the family has been up to. She hasn't seen most of them through the summer. Kitty's birthday nears and so does the anniversary of their father's death. Kitty returns to her mother and gets the cold shoulder. They fight during trying to pick out her wedding dress and it gets on YouTube. Rebecca (Emily VanKamp) is in Kitty's old room and Kitty resents her. They come to a head with their rivalry. Julia is understandably disappeared after the death of her son, she hasn't come out of her house and only talks to her parents. Sarah has hot sex with her still sexy husband Joe (John Pyper-Ferguson) and she still has hopes of getting back together.

Through the whole episode we are made to worry about Justin as Nora and the rest of the family. Let me just say Justin Walker is a great character. Not only is he was a surfing recovering drug-abusing veteran, he cared a lot about his family. He moved beyond the hetero-stereotype, he has no problem taking care of his nephews, hanging out with his sisters and had the heart to pull Rebecca into the family. He is surely missed through the episode, it is not a bad thing because I think that is what they were going for. Rebecca even mentions it at the end, that he is the heart. Rebecca is getting to be an interesting character, I like Emily better with this character than the one in "Everwood." The episode gets a bit preachy too but with all the melodrama and comedy, you let them get away with it. The Walkers sure do drink a lot and it is understandable, with everything they have to put up with. I would be drinking too!

Jason drops the bomb on Kevin that he is off to Malaysia to perhaps for a year. Before he does that, we do get to see Eric Winter shirtless. Yay! For pictures from that episode of Eric Click Here at DreamCaps Forums Being that we only seen Kevin and Jason together for two episodes, it feels kind of rushed that they are talking about that Kevin even hasn't said "I love you" or they haven't 'defined' their relationship but Kevin did say Jason was his boyfriend. Maybe if they left it for a n episode more. Fans and viewers like it when you extend a relationship more than two episodes. It felt all too premature. It is all about a plot line that Kevin is learning how to keep the faith and even praying. Their kiss is covered by their heads. As for the other gay storyline, I stand by that Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin) is bisexual. His old friend drops by with a picture of them in the past. That is all. He later calls Kevin's bitching a bluff by saying he doesn't know how easy he has it.

I was going to say this next part is full of spoilers but ABC has pretty much done that. I actually am worried about Justin because he is a great character. By the near end of the episode, we get good news and then get bad news again. ABC has been showing clips of a funeral in the previews. I was relived not to see the funeral scene wasn't in this episode but it is yet again shown in next week's preview. What a spoiler. I don't like that ABC or whoever did that. In the scene in question, there is a coffin covered an American Flag and a gun shooting salute. There is Kitty, Nora, and Robert. If ABC is not doing this to spoil us but to fuck with our hearts (they even show Justin in black & white)--that is not called for. I am hoping it is just a friend of Justin's.

And here come the Popples

With everything that has returned from the 80's like the Transformers, Care Bears, Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony, He-Man, and Strawberry Shortcake, few things have remained. Surprisingly, lots have stayed. Only He-Man and Rainbow Brite did not survive, unfortunately. And there are movies of the Thundercats and Smurfs in the works but, just when everyone thought there was nothing else to revive...

Popples, Mattel's answer to the Care Bears in 1986. They convert into pocket balls and in the cartoon, bounced around. Popples were created by Those Characters From Cleveland, a subsidiary company of American Greetings.

I snap this out with my video camera at Toys "R" Us. This time released from Playmates, not Mattel.

This cartoon was on the back of the box, there are 4 regular Popples released and 4 other of the Pufflings. The illustrations look like the new Care Bears from the new CBS series. They just released plush figures that look like the cartoon ones.

The new four sort of look like the original, there is only 1 male one this time and he sort of looks like a dragon.

The Pufflings look exactly like their original predecessors except for colors, probably.

The original Pufflings.

I used to love the Popples, I am glad they are back.

Love over Guatemalan Idol Carlos Peña

The Latin American Idol is over (September 26) and the winner is Carlos Peña and he has lots of fans. The whole country of Guatemala won't stop talking about. I know this because my parents are from Guatemala and they listen to radio stations online. His full name is Carlos Enrique Peña Aldana and he's 19 and from Guatemala. He beat out a Mexican participant. Picture from fan blog, carlosfans.net

Here is the official website of Latin American Idol.

The only popular singer to ever come from Guatemala is Ricardo Arjona, he wasn't that popular in his home country until he went to Mexico and other countries. Now people lvoe him. Well, all the luck to Carlos..

Unknown Hotties of the Week 10/1/07

Dylan Bruno

Actor, "Numb3rs"
Check out more on him here at Caramelitos Baronil

Marcus Collins
Actor and Model that has been in "As The World Turns," "The Guiding Light" and "One Life to Live"
Click here for more

Shaun Suisham
Football player for the Washington Redskins
Click here

Must Seen but Unseen TV

Wow, I can't believe it has been a year since I covered trends from sitcoms like children characters mysteriously disappearing, mothers that are re-cast and children that magically grow up quickly. Now I am covering those 'unseen characters.' There are a lot of shows where a character is mentioned but never seen and never cast. There are for example Maris Crane from "Fraiser" and Stan Walker from "Will & Grace." There are different characters: Partially Seen like the Nanny from "Muppet Babies" where you just see her legs and feet; Heard but Not Seen like Charlie from "Charlie's Angels;" and Never Seen Only Mentioned like the first two mentioned. Now in the new shows, I noticed in "Hot Shots," Christopher Titus' character's wife Janelle is "Partially Seen." We only saw her back in the first episode but not her face or face.

One of the most famous characters never to be seen is in the TV series Columbo, where the wife of the main character is often mentioned but never ever seen. One episode, "Troubled Waters", featured both Columbo and his wife going on a holiday on a cruise liner, with various conventions and jokes being made about them constantly missing each other in passing. Maris and Stan that are the most interesting by their uncastable quirks. How Maris is described, she is pale and has an abnormally rigid vertebrae, slightly webbed fingers and an underbite. Stan is always described as fat and sometimes in strange positions.

Related Topic: Sitcom Trends: Different moms, rapid-aging kids and disappearing kids

Moonlight First Episode Review

All vampire shows have their lore and each time they start, they got to explain the rules. "Moonlight" gets it over with it by the beginning. Mick is a 90-year old vampire detective who lives in L.A. who doesn't hurt innocents, he protects innocents... No it is not "Angel" and it has been mentioned before. Alex O' Laughlin ("The Shield") is all with the feathered hair and intriguing and charming. We do get to see him shirtless in the beginning as well. He narrates like flim-noir but the show is not shot in such a way. He can disappear out of nowhere like Angel but stakes, crosses and garlic don't effect him. The sun just makes him 'sick' but he doesn't instantly burst into flames. He does have the super smelling, super strength, incredible speed and rapid healing abilities. Cliches are abound like him falling in love with the hot blond reporter Beth (Sophia Myles). Any show that hires Kevin Wisman ("Alias" gadget man Marshall) is a good one. Also, Jason Dohring, fresh off from "Veronica Mars," plays the 400-year old Josef. He is coy and sexy, great to see. Nice to see him in dress clothes. Brian J. White, also fresh off "The Sheild" plays a lieutenant.

The vampires on this show have the teeth, the eyes, but not the monster faces from "Buffy." Mick, like Angel, feeds from medical blood packets. The vampires have connections, they actually have jobs, some big ones. Josef is scared the secret of the vampires will be revealed and doesn't want anyone to know and puts it on Mick to kill those responsible. The real connection between Mick and Beth is that Beth is the girl he was sent to save on his first case. She was kidnapped by his ex-wife Coraline, (40 Days 40 Nights, A Knight's Tale, and "Dirt" Shannyn Sossamon) the one who sired him. Mick is like Nicholas (Geraint Wyn Davies), the vampire from "Forever Knight" that had morals and was ethical, not a 'soul' concept like Angel had. The real conenciton with "Angel" is gone. Angel's former showrunner David Greenwalt was brought on as executive producer and showrunner for Moonlight after the original pilot presentation was shot. During that time he ditched most of the pilot and gave several prominent roles to some new actors. But he then left the show for personal reasons. It is not known how much of his influence is still left in the first episode shown but you can kind of feel it. The original pilot writers Ron Koslow and Trevor Munson remain as Executive Producers and Creator credit.

The show is definitely quotable. I see it being as a cult favorite, if it has breakaway success, let's see...