Into the West

As some of you probably know, the TV series Brothers & Sisters was recently cancelled. I've bemoaned the cancellation of many a TV show during my life, but Brothers & Sisters is different because it has been with me through the incredible journey of the last few years.

I started watching the show during season 2, when I had only recently discovered that there were other Gay Mormons out there. Turns out they were real people, they were just like me, (not strange, or weird, or whatever I was worried about back then) and some of them had blogs. After reading a few posts by other bloggers about Kevin & Scotty, I decided this was a show that I needed to see. Not wanting to jump in to the middle of the second season, I signed up for Netflix so I could start fresh from season 1. I was living at home at the time, and I can still remember the fear and trepidation I felt when I worried that my parents would discover what I was watching. The show was so good that I increased my subscription to two discs at a time.

I don't want to go into too much detail about the show, or about Kevin & Scotty's relationship. I want to preserve those experiences for future viewers. But in many ways I was just like Kevin Walker. Struggling to be more open about my sexuality. A pronounced workaholic, that really wanted to do a good job for his bosses. And of course, desperate for a real relationship and yet somehow unable to quite manage or understand what that means. While I had certainly seen gay media prior to this point, Kevin & Scotty were the first real gay couple that I ever saw. Even though it wasn't perfect, they had what I so desperately wanted. Hopefully someday I'll be lucky enough to have something like that.

To make an ensemble cast drama work, you really have to have an amazing cast. Of course, Brothers & Sisters had lots of very talented actors. Sally Field is amazing in her own right, but she had some great chemistry with Calista Flockhart and Patricia Wettig. Rachel Griffiths of Six Feet Under fame is always amazing, and the list just goes on and on. While The West Wing gave us the walk & talk, Brothers & Sisters gave us epic Walker family phone trees, disaster dinners, and plenty of wine.

Most viewers of the show knew that its days were numbered. When Rob Lowe leaves a series, it is always a bad omen. But still, just a few episodes before the season finale I felt like things were starting to pick up again. Then they cancelled the show, and the last two episodes felt like this messy hodge-podge of events that were attempting to wrap up all the story lines in the little time they had left. One more season with a clear and defined series end point would have allowed things to close in a much more elegant and meaningful way.

That said, I'm grateful for the memories. This box set will soon be making its way to my shelf, where it can share a highly coveted spot right next to the West Wing and Firefly.