Beloved family drama Brothers & Sisters is finally coming to Disney+ Israel
An impressive cast. Brothers & Sisters / Randy Holmes/ABC
ABC’s beloved family drama is returning to Israeli screens. Next Wednesday, June 17, the American series Brothers & Sisters will arrive on Disney+ Israel with all five seasons, after previously airing in Israel on HOT. The series originally ran in the United States from 2006 to 2011 and totaled 109 episodes.
Sally Field stars in the family drama as Nora Walker, the dominant, warm mother of an affluent family from Pasadena in Los Angeles, a role that earned Field the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. When the family patriarch (Tom Skerritt) dies suddenly, secrets, debts and betrayals are exposed that threaten to tear apart the successful family business and the family members themselves. The widow and her five adult children are forced to come together again, and to get to know their parents, and themselves, through the contradictions and flaws that are gradually revealed.
Alongside Field, the impressive cast also included Calista Flockhart, forever Ally McBeal, as daughter Kitty, Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Hilary and Jackie) as daughter Sarah, Balthazar Getty (Alias) as Tommy, and Dave Annable (Special Ops: Lioness) as the youngest son Justin. The other brother, Kevin, was played by Welsh actor Matthew Rhys, in what was his international breakthrough role, before he starred in the acclaimed series The Americans, which also earned him an Emmy, and later in Perry Mason, The Beast in Me, The Widow’s Bay and others. Kevin was a gay lawyer in a relationship with Scotty, played by Luke Macfarlane (Platonic). At the time, their relationship was regarded as one of the most prominent, complex and sympathetic portrayals of a gay couple on an American broadcast network.
The supporting cast of Brothers & Sisters also included distinguished names: Ron Rifkin, also from Alias, as Uncle Saul; Patricia Wettig (thirtysomething) as mistress Holly Harper; and Rob Lowe. The star of The West Wing and Parks and Recreation played Senator Robert McCallister, Kitty’s partner, first in a recurring role and later as part of the main cast.
When it aired, the series received a warm reception, mainly thanks to its large ensemble cast and Field’s performance, and was a genuine ratings success in its early years. However, in its later seasons its momentum waned, and the fifth and final season was also accompanied by declining viewership and a sense that the series had moved away from its peak years.
The series was created by playwright Jon Robin Baitz, who had previously written for series such as The West Wing and Alias, and later served as an executive producer on Ryan Murphy’s Feud. The showrunner in the first season was Greg Berlanti, creator of Everwood, which recently arrived on Netflix, and later the architect of DC’s superhero television universe, including Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Ken Olin (thirtysomething), who was also one of the executive producers, directed many episodes of the series.
Just this week, Matthew Rhys told The Hollywood Reporter while promoting the new and excellent The Widow’s Bay, whose first-season finale will air next week, that he still believes Brothers & Sisters could have more life in it. According to him, he, Annable and Olin once pitched ABC a two-hour Christmas special, but the network’s new executives, who canceled the series, showed no interest. Rhys added that he would still be happy to see a revival of Brothers & Sisters, among other reasons because viewers continue to stop him and tell him how much they loved it.
