Brothers & Sisters

The pilot managed to introduce a large cast of complex characters while maintaining individuality and clarity--and the characters and their problems were interesting to boot! Calista Flockhart gets to use her very real acting ability portraying a character who has very little in common with Ally McBeal. Tom Skerritt and Sally Field are terrific as the parents, and each of the brothers and sisters has his or her own problems to deal with, and yet the story doesn't have the feel of a tear-jerking melodrama. The ending of this episode was a shocker, and it will be interesting to see if the writers can maintain the tension in future episodes.