“Brothers and Sisters:” A Lot of Light Moments and a Little…Rob Lowe

TV’s post-holiday season/pre-Sweeps, like a second semester, offers up many new and noteworthy surprises. “Grey’s Anatomy” signs in without an ounce of mirth, it’s tragedy bookending tragedy, especially with the most recent episode in which George is present for the wrenching tragedy of “pulling the plug;” “What About Brian?” brought refreshing new energy and plot pacing…the jury is still out for some shows, which will reprise with fresh episodes for the late January rollouts. I await tonight’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” with bated breath (whatever “bated” really means….) and rerun last night’s “Brothers and Sisters” with applause for its breezy tone, an always-welcome dose of the versatile Marion Ross and the continued return of “Senator” Rob Lowe as Kitty’s new boss and potential love interest. Especially after the past few “new” episodes in which Nora and Holly (Patricia Wettig) noiselessly wrestle for a place in the company and Nora defers to Holly’s past with her own husband, William, realizing William’s long-time lover was very involved in the family business and she acknowledges the value of a move by Holly facilitates the business to continue to survive and hopefully, strongly rebuild….and Justin goes off to rehab after he and his brother go up against the Army and Justin loses the war but wins the temporary battle, hopefully so he can heal before returning to Iraq….Last week, the once nearly mute arm-candy of Samantha on “Sex and the City” known as Smith Jarrod, appeared on this family dramedy with equal parts confidence and voice and sexual ambiguity, getting involved with Kevin as a “straight” soap actor with a girlfriend who “can’t help it” if he finds the straight-ahead gay Kevin “hot” and sleeps with him “more than once,” which is apparently something he never does. Kevin is noble and vulnerable and Jason’s recurring character is absolutely, positively not, all of which hints at a lot more short-term pain and misery for Kevin than the annoying fact that his sister has taken a PR job with Rob Lowe’s “senator” who, despite having a gay brother of his own, is anti-gay marriage.

All of which bring us to the Walker women (including great grandmother Marion Ross) who all flirt with and swoon over the sexy senator who manages to snag a last-minute caterer for Nora’s 60th birthday party, around which last night’s episode centered. Most of the brothers and sisters come down with the flu which they catch, ostensibly, from Rachel Griffith’s Sarah, whose down-and-dirty fevered flu cause her to defect for an afternoon from her position as surprise party czar; with good humor, she and Joe “mistakenly” end up in Nora’s 60th birthday video tribute and the party is themed as a “medieval” fest which Sarah or Kitty had misheard as the “mid-level” package when they hired the company which fills the Walker home with oversized family crests, serfs and swash-buckling fencers…all of which leave room for humor; in order to “rent” Justin out of rehab for the event, When Tommy must sign a pledge promising that Justin would not be in a place with any access to liquor or drugs, Kitty and “Senator Robert” Lowe are thrown into an oversized closet where they sip wine and use the “speakeasy” as a post-teenage love shack, where Kitty admits she has feelings for her boss upon which she would love to act if she weren’t on a “man-fast” with her mom and presumably if Robert were not her boss.

The mood was festive, the action fast-paced and the acting, as always, first-rate.

And now for the some of the other shows…as they emerge from the holiday hibernation…