Brothers & Sisters (TV Show) (DVD)

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"Brothers & Sisters" is a soap opera with all the limitations that a soap opera brings to the table. It's not stylish, and it's not going to win any screenwriting prizes any time soon. But people who like soaps will say in response, "Yes, but it's a good soap opera."

And that it is, because "Brothers & Sisters" is well-cast and well-performed. The show earned Outstanding Casting nominations for the first two seasons and star Sally Field earned Outstanding Lead Actress nominations for the first three, winning for her Season 1 work. But it's not just Field. This show has star power, with Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths, Matthew Rhys, Balthazar Getty, and Rob Lowe anchoring a talented ensemble cast. It's this generation's "Dallas," "Dynasty," or "Falcon Crest."

The series centers on the Walkers, an upper middle-class California family with grown siblings (it's hard to do the adult soap thing with little ones hanging around). The matriarch is Nora (Sally Field), who was traumatized more in season one by the revelation that her husband William had a woman on the side and a child by him than she was by his death. The trauma that launched the second season was the family's sendoff of a brother (Dave Annable) who's struggled with drug problems. And sister Kitty (Flockhart), who's an Ann Coulter type, was engaged to a Republican Senator (Lowe) with presidential aspirations. It's storylines like that which come right out of the headlines that make the show play to the masses. Luke Macfarlane, Sarah Jane Morris, Ron Rifkin, Emily VanCamp, and Patricia Wettig also star.

In Season 3, tensions boil at a family beach vacation in the season opener, then simmer around issues of trust fund access, social worker investigations, tell-all books, alcohol addiction, lost sons, conception problems and talk of adoption, and business risks that put the family's bread-and-butter fortune at risk. Throw in illnesses, infatuations, medical emergencies, Kitty's appearance on "Live with Regis & Kelly," and it's easy to see why people have warmed to this show. And as much as the first two seasons put me off, I have to say that as the show starts to embrace it's soap status rather than pretend it's serious drama, it starts to feel more comfortable and, yes, entertaining.

There's not nearly as much comic relief in this show as there is in "Private Practice," but it's also not as play-it-straight as "Dirty Sexy Money." Mostly it stays the course for standard-issue soap operas, with some scenes that will make you smile just a bit. Nora inherited her husbands Ojai Food Co. business, and the family winery and food continue to come into the picture.

This season, Ryan confesses a secret, Kitty does the celebrity book tour, Tommy has legal problems, Justin and Rebecca have troubles, Robert and Kitty's relationship is strained, Julia makes a life-changing decision, Holly and Sarah look for balance in their lives after Sarah makes a huge career change, and Kevin and Scotty entertain a rather shocking proposal. A baby is born, a life is threatened, and secrets threaten to destroy the whole family. So what else would you expect from a nighttime soap opera?

I'll say again that this isn't my cup of anything, but I do appreciate the level of performances, the production values, and the ways in which this season especially the producers have tried to integrate elements of "real life" to bolster the illusion that this family matters. For an ensemble show, though, Field continues to hold court, not just as the family matriarch but as the cast's big Oscar-winner. Flockhart steps it up this season too, and their two characters rise to the surface of this little family stew. Sometimes that's all it takes for fans, is a storyline or character to carry you through a show. And "Brothers & Sisters" offers multiple points of entry. The other thing about this season is that the show has definitely gone the tonal way of "Desperate Housewives," and it helps tremendously to get that little twinkle in the eye or wink-wink that makes the soaper seem as if it's not taking itself too seriously.