Farewell, Walker Clan; “Brothers and Sisters” No More

On Friday, ABC cancelled “Brothers and Sisters,” a series we have come to know and love for the last five years.   Gone is Nora’s incessant whining.  Gone is Kitty’s, uhm, whining.  Gone is Kevin’s, uhm, whining.  Gone is Justin’s (bad acting) and, uhm, whining.   Wow, there was a lot of whining on that show.

Having worked in this business for the last 18 years, I understand why shows get canceled.  It’s ratings and money.  In this case, “Brothers and Sisters” ratings had been dropping and the cost of producing the show was not.  Big cast = big money.  I noticed during last week’s opening credits that Sally Field was listed as an Executive Producer.  Giving a star a big title is often a way to justify a large salary.

In any case, I’m disappointed in ABC (and I should note that I am an employee of ABC/Disney).  Why not give the producers a heads up that the show was being canceled so a proper finale episode could be written?  Instead, the producers thought the show might be ending, but also knew they could be coming back for a much shorter sixth and final season.  It would have given them a chance to tie up loose ends and let us, the fans, send off the Walker family in a fond farewell.  Instead, the Sunday episode was sort of an ending, but not really.  It really left a lot wide open, and of course, never mentioned it was the season finale b/c the show had not yet been cancelled.  If the show had been on for only a season or two, I could understand the abrupt ending, but after five years, the audience deserves so much more.

So Farewell, Walker clan.  As Entertainment Weekly pointed out, it did not end as the series we fell in love in with, but I will add, it was a series we loved.