The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire

"The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire" is David E. Kelley's latest attempt to bring another hit sitcom to television. After a rather confusing premiere, it looks like the usually-dominant Kelley is now 0 for 2 since "Boston Public" three years ago ("Girls Club," which came out last year, lasted two episodes).

Being a resident of the town where the pilot for this show was filmed, I can safely say that the reason this show feels like it started in the middle of a storyline is beacuse the pilot never aired. The pilot was bad (So I heard), so they decided not to air it. Was this a mistake? It might have made some of the points brought up in the premiere a little more clear, rather than dump us right in the middle of something that's already been established and ends up being over our heads.

Aside from that, I don't have high hopes for this show. It's advertised as a comedy, but there is a lot more drama than laughs (The humor, when it does come around, is usually hit or miss). The "first" episode feels too strongly like it's missing the backstory that was the pilot, and doesn't provide any outstanding reason to keep tuning in. The show will have to depend heavily on future episodes to build up what was lost, but between the already lacking appeal and competition of other shows in the timeslot, the future of the show is about as bleak as those of the three brothers it focuses on.

This show, judging by the pilot episode which I just saw tonight, has limited promise. It seems like a night-time soap opera set in a New Hampshire/New England setting that I don't really believe exists.

Though I'm not a native of New England, I used to live in Maine, not too far from New Hampshire, so perhaps allow me to make some qualified observations nevertheless: I just didn't get a New England "feel" to this show, I just don't "recognize" any of these characters as being truly New Englander types. Sure, they can doll them up in LL Bean attire until the cows come home, but that in itself a New Englander does not make.

I think the show runs the risk of bombing because it brings too much of a Hollywood/California frame of mind to a New England setting. The men in this show seem way too giddy for real New Englanders, and all seem WAY too preoccupied with their personal "issues"; the women seem more like annoying busy-bodies from some rich enclave of Sausalito, California; the kids - at least those that have appeared so far - seem more like big city high school kids in Los Angeles dealing with image problems and the like, etc. These are not the New Englanders that I remember from oh, twenty or so years ago when I used to live in that glorious part of America. Have times really changed that much? I thinketh not.

One positive about the show is the incredible depth of the cast. Randy Quaid, Mare Winningham and Elizabeth McGovern just to name a few. I like these actors a lot, and hope the show really works for them, but the writing and the whole "atmoshpere" of the show really needs some work.

If this show develops further, I hope it loses some of the soap opera feel. Just a thought, but it would be kinda' cool (for me anyway) if the show took a sort of David Lynch/Twin Peaks detour and got rather twisty. New England lends itself to that. It can be very twisty there. Very twisty indeed. ("Ya can't get there from here" - Bert and I).

One of the best shows I have seen in a long time. There is a lot of junk on the tv these days. I never missed an episode of this show...then they took it off. Too bad some people can't see a winner when it is right in front of them. PLEASE GIVE THIS SHOW ANOTHER TRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am really tired of reality shows...they suck. I want humour like Bob Newhart, Friends, According to Jim, Red Green, and the new Canadian show Corner Gas. When I sit down to watch tv I want to be able to shut out the real world with a little humour, something that has unrealistic reality. That was what I found in The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire.

What is this, instant karma? What horrible thing did we do to deserve the Old Man's passing & this DK washout wannabe? As previously stated, the people don't act a bit like inhabitants of the north country; not that we're talking Berlin or Groveton here, but it's like the people in the show behave more like the leaf peepers & skiers from the flatlands you encounter at Loon & Waterville! Why couldn't they do this to Burlington Vermont instead? Still, I got a kick out of seeing the ol' home town on the telly too. But I'm a bit put out about the way they seem to portray Granite staters as chunky, beefy, backwards. I'll enjoy it while it lasts, but since the only shots of plymouth seem to be the exteriors (scenes showing a place without any recognizeable characters in the shot) & interiors only at the movie theatre, I'm not overwhelmed. Plymouth is on the telly, but not too much. Of course, the programme *is* about Poland, NH (completely fictional, the closest thing to a 'Poland' is Poland Springs, in Maine) I guess I ought not complain long or loud about the fact that there isn't a single town north of Concord with that many lanes to a street! I think DK has completely undershot any north country atmosphere he may have been trying to tap into; this really ought to be re-named "Boston public suburb". I was born in Plymouth & I've never seen or heard of a buck hanging out in the yard when someone shooed him off! Now, a moose certainly, but Northern exposure already did that. I wonderer if this is how Keene felt about "Jumanji"?

This show is about three brothers(Randy Quaid, John Carroll Lynch, Chris Penn) deal with life in a small town, and trying to keep there marriages together. I saw two episodes, I really find this show enjoyable. It shows these brothers are very insecure about issues, sometimes it gets funny and sad most of the time. I hope this show will be on a while!