Question: I gotta tell you, Rescue Me's killing off Johnny just strikes me as cheap storytelling. Sure, they're doing a good job handling the aftermath, and the writing and acting are solid, but I think it's a lazy way to wrap up a love-triangle story line. Pearl Harbor did the exact same thing; you have two guys and one girl. So your solution: Kill one of the guys. Have I got a point, or am I being too critical?
Answer: Not too critical — you have a right to your opinion — but for me, calling it lazy is way too simplistic. I mean, comparing this show to a cardboard epic like Pearl Harbor? Get serious. This was not just another clichéd love triangle — in which case killing one of the rivals might have looked like a cliché. This was a seriously warped, deeply disturbing mess of a relationship involving two brothers and one of the brothers' ex-wives, all clouded by the aftermath of life-altering tragedy (the death of young Connor, Tommy and Janet's only son). The fact that the brother ...
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Question:
I am so glad to hear that Everwood creator Greg Berlanti is now collaborating with the writing team for Brothers & Sisters. This show has been a big question mark for me (along with Six Degrees), but I have been looking forward to trying it out. It has a great cast, appealing promos and now a fantastic writer! Do you think Berlanti's involvement has the potential to make this my Everwood semireplacement?
Answer: The news that Berlanti is giving Brothers a creative hand is one of the few positive headlines I've heard lately. I'm still not sure a show like this can fill the Everwood void, though. Also on the Brothers & Sisters front, Ryan wonders: "I heard a rumor they are reshooting the pilot of Brothers & Sisters without Dan Futterman! Say it ain't so! He had great chemistry with Calista Flockhart in The Birdcage, and in the scene available on the Web from the original pilot. I was ecstatic when he returned to Judging Amy in 2004 and saddened that it was the show's final
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America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
Question: What's your opinion of the Friday-night slot awarded to Ugly Betty? I keep hearing glowing reviews from most of the critics who have seen the pilot, so I cannot understand why ABC would try to kill this show before it even takes off. Don't you think Sunday night's slot following Desperate Housewives would be a much better fit? This sounds like a show that would have a similar audience.
Answer: This conversation came up a lot during the critics' press tour, and quite a few of us agree with you, with the caveat that none of us have seen the still-being-revised pilot of ABC's Brothers & Sisters, which will occupy the post-Housewives slot in the fall. The reason Ugly Betty would be such a good fit is because it shares many of the attributes of Housewives at its best: namely, a stylized blend of high comedy and soap-opera intrigue. Because ABC's entertainment chief feels Betty is better suited for an earlier time period, it's airing Fridays at 8 pm/ET, which you rightfully describe
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Question: I saw a trailer a few months ago and didn't recognize any of the actors, so it may have been a foreign film. It was about a set of brothers and a woman; one goes to war and is taken hostage. The family assumes he's dead and the other brother ends up falling in love with the wife; then the presumed-dead brother returns. Is this movie available on DVD or not even in theaters yet? It looked really interesting, and any help you could give me in finding it would be great.Answer: You saw a trailer for the exceptional Danish film Brothers (2004). The only cast member most Americans would know is Connie Nielsen, who is Danish but had never made a film in her native language until Brothers; she started her movie career in France and then moved to the U.S., where she starred in films like
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