Brothers and Sisters - The Complete First Season

Enter the complex world of the Walkers, and explore what it means to be an American family in the 21st century. Though they live very different and conflicting lives, the Walkers find unity under the family roof. Relationships bend but never break as they strive to find their own identities and embrace each other’s differences. It's "an encounter to look forward to," says The Wall Street Journal. Get caught up in one of television’s most reflective and sophisticated dramas. Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, Balthazar Getty and Patricia Wettig lead a stellar cast in ABC’s critically acclaimed hit Brothers & Sisters. Experience every episode of Season One, including exclusive, in-depth bonus material, in this six-disc DVD set.

Stills from Brothers and Sisters (click for larger image)

Just because you're all grown up doesn't mean your family dynamics get any easier. Luckily for TV fans, the first season of Brothers and Sisters makes for addictive watching while exploring the intricacies of a family, in crisis and in repose. First, let us give thanks for the amazing Sally Field, who has literally grown up on the small screen, and who now plays the matriarch of the Walker family, though not as a power-mad dowager, but as a well-meaning, slightly naive but fiercely loyal California girl gone ever-so-slightly gray. In fact, when this show debuted in the fall of 2006, it was known as the "new Calista Flockhart show," but Field quickly became the standout in a stellar ensemble cast.

While the Walkers' problems of money and business deals may seem rarefied to some, the family pecking orders and feuds are universal and handled deftly by the writers and the actors, including Patricia Wettig, the icy former mistress of the dearly departed Walker pere (Tom Skerritt), and brothers Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty. Rachel Griffiths is a tart sisterly counterpoint to Flockhart's flighty Ann Coulter wannabe. In short, anyone with a family should be able to relate. And, perhaps, cringe a bit. --A.T. Hurley