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May 26, 2012

What About Brian: What About Second Chances? (season premiere)

by Jonathan Toomey, posted Oct 10th 2006 10:19AM

What About Brian

(S02E01) I'm so glad that ABC renewed this show. Now we can only wait and hope it gets a full season order. Might be tough though, especially since it's going up against CSI: Miami and Studio 60. What About Brian is good though. It's not the best thing on televison but it is a great drama (with plenty of funny moments) that deserves a look. I'm pretty confident that anyone who likes Grey's Anatomy is going to find this show equally appealing.

For those that caught the five-episode first season back in the spring, you may have noticed that the cast has changed around a little. Gone is Nic's (Rosanna Arquette) husband, Angelo. Although they still speak of him (he's in Italy filming a movie) there's no sign of him returning. But who knows. New characters include Jimmy (Jason George) and Ivy (Amanda Foreman... Marshall's wife on Alias, right?). Jimmy works at the law firm with Adam. Also, according to this article, William Devane will be guest-starring at some point as Brian and Nic's father. I forget where I read it, but I think a lot of the changes had to do with the fact that a whole new writing staff was brought in during the off-season.

OK, so on to the episode. Six months have gone by and Brian has finally returned home. He pretty much went on a cross-country trip after his big fight with Marjorie in the season finale. Well he's back now, just in time for the wedding. Nice timing. Everyone is happy to see him, except Adam. Why you ask? Marjorie came clean with Adam about what happened with Brian (well... almost clean). So Adam knows and he's pissed. I suppose he has just cause to be. Random question though. How come Dave didn't seem even the slightest bit angry that Brian left him with the business to deal with over those six months?

Elsewhere, Nic finally got pregnant after going through all the hormone treatments that Angelo had been so against. If he ever finds out, that won't go well. But "not going well" seems to be the theme for the show right now. Dave and Deena are in therapy following their open marriage experiment. Dave can't forgive Deena and Deena is hell-bent on finding out who Dave had his fling with (Suzanne, the video game lady played by Marguerite Moreau). There might still be some hope for them. But they did light the bed on fire during their one sexual encounter. I'm thinking that Deena may take that as some sort of sign that things are coming to an end.

tarot cardSpeaking of signs... Marjorie. She's had six months to get over any feelings she had for Brian. We know she's crazy about him. Nic definitely knows too. Well, now the Gods are giving her a hard time about it as well. Marjorie got the same tarot card (The Ace of Swords) twice in the same day. There are multiple meanings but the two she heard? Letting go of one love and betrayal. Ooohhh. We all know what that means.

Now, this is where the episode got really good. Brian, Jimmy, and Dave took Adam out to a strip club the night before the wedding. During the evening, Brian apologized for kissing Marjorie. Bad idea. That was the one thing that Marjorie never told Adam. I love it! She hides the juicy details because she still loves Brian! So what does Adam do? He gets a stripper in the private room.

Everyone goes home and Marjorie shows up on Brian's doorstep. We all know how the rest of that night went. But this is where it gets interesting. The wedding is in the next episode. Will it happen? I'm thinking no. But it seems clear that Marjorie isn't just going to run into Brian's arms either. That's the whole show right there. So what do you guys think? How's this wedding going to turn out next week?

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katherine

abc needs to show this show streaming online
its like the best show that i have seen in a long time
but its hard to watch it because its airs kind of late
and a certain member of my family likes to hog the tv after ten

October 16 2006 at 10:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TimUF

can they please please pleeaaaase not place this show against studio 60????

come to think of it, what was ABC thinking moving this to a slot where it will compete with a heavyweight in Aaron Sorkin (and all his sportsnight/west wing junkies) and two established franchises (CSI, and monday night football)...

i get that theres not a lot of crossover between MNF and Brian, but i am one of those... and i am a west wing junkie also...

October 16 2006 at 2:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ron

I'm a huge fan of this show first of all. I couldn't wait for the season premiere. So it came as a shock that I wasn't feeling it. You can tell they've changed the writing staff. There just is some element missing. Last year was full of just the right amount of dramatic tension. This year seems to have moved on too much or something. You have to wonder where they'll go from here. I mean last year the whole appeal of the show for me was the tension between Brian and Marjorie. Now the cat's out of the bag and the fun of that, watching how it plays out is gone. I'm looking foward to seeing the fallout of the "wedding crash" episode, and I'm really hoping the new writing staff can get their feet on the ground a little and find the characters true motiviations. To me, it just seems like you could feel the love of these characters the writers had last year. This year it seems like the characters are just going through the motions, without the emotion they had last year.

October 14 2006 at 6:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark Rabinowitz

FYI, it wasn't the ace of swords, it was the three of swords, hence the 3 swords: http://images.facade.com/i/t/aquatic/l/r53.jpg

October 11 2006 at 1:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dorv

I loved this show last year, but don't think I can stand it this year.

Who do we root for? If Brian gets what he wants, then he's basically stabbing his best friend in the back. If Adam gets what he wants, he's getting a woman who doesn't truly completely love him.

There's no good end to this story!

(Though, the previews for next week, any reason to get Marguerite Moreau back on screen is fine by me)

October 10 2006 at 9:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nicki

Funny you say that, because I love Grey's Anatomy and find this utterly uninteresting.

October 10 2006 at 4:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
M

Really like this show...I think it might have a chance in this slot especially since it is so different from Studio 60 and CSI Miami...hopefully ABC will give it a chance

October 10 2006 at 3:29 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Anthony

Isn't Brian the week's guilty pleasure?

For some reason, I was really excited to have the show back on. It is pretty low key show. The episode last night was really good though. There were some great moments: the reception speeches, the fire in the bedroom. But why does each first episode have to have a Brian & Marjorie kiss???

Good sign for the show: Brian has the lowest average age for ABC last year meaning it brought down ABC's age skew. If it stays young in the 18-25, it might stay around the whole season.

October 10 2006 at 1:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tammy

Tracy A, about movie stars doing TV, it's also a sign that some television shows are better than they use to be with great writing and direction. I know most of the actors on Studio 60 said they weren't going to do television or another TV show right away but they couldn't resist Aaron Sorkin's scripts. The quality is there and it's not like other shows. Granted I think Studio 60 isn't his best work and Sports Night and West Wing were far better but then Studio 60 is supposed to be a drama and everyone wants comedy.

Other reasons would be the steady work while raising a family without having to go on location. For some shows it's a known schedule so you can have a home life, send your kids to school, etc. I've heard many actors refer to that when asked why this show, why now, type questions.

The ultimate role attracts them too. Geena Davis getting to be a female president is an example of this. Maybe you can't land that lead movie role you want until you can prove you can do something different and out of character so you take a TV role.

Lastly, the chance to direct, write and/or produce, is the other reason. Studios don't always risk a whole movie budget on an actor's first directing debut. They get their feet wet with television so they might agree to a show if they get to direct so many episodes and have more of a creative say in the matter.

The bottom line is television isn't a dirty subject for actors anymore. It use to be there were movie actors and TV actors and that's just not true now. With cable letting you push the envelope more and then HBO lets you erase the line sometimes, why not do a TV show. Plus they are even letting TV directors/producers do movies now... look at JJ Abrams. There is no line between the two anymore.

October 10 2006 at 1:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

I don't think you will have to worry about Studio 60 must longer. That show loses more supports than the Republicans.

October 10 2006 at 1:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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