Very interesting behind-the-scenes development over at Brothers & Sisters…
An ABC spokesperson is confirming that Monica Breen and Alison Schapker are out as showrunners and longtime B&S scribe David Marshall Grant is in.
The ABC rep adds that Breen and Schapker continue to serve as executive producers/writers on the show but are now “concentrating more on development.”
Note to self: Do some digging. Something about this smells a little fishy.
PHOTO CREDIT: Miranda Penn Turin/ABC
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Wait, what happened to Greg Berlanti?
Berlanti was only the showrunner during season one… back before it got completely ridiculous.
Congratulations Mr. Grant! Your writing on the show is fantastic!
Also, my parents tell me you were a good friend of my late uncle. I don’t want to give away the full name but he was named John and died in NYC in 1993. Thanks for being a friend to him through the end
Ah yes, John of course.
:::side eye:::
Get a grip jackass
….haha
I hope he is not the husband of the woman who plays Holly.
cant stand both!
thats Ken Olin…
I think you’re safe — pretty sure she’s married to Ken Olin, the guy who plays her boyfriend on the show
Patricia Wettig’s husband is Ken Olin — who’s been more into directing in recent years but now plays her significant other on this show. Hey, both were great on my old fave “Thirtysomething”!
David Marshall Grant was in “30something,” too — As Melissa’s gay friend Russell.
DMD wasn’t acting as Melissa’s gay friend. He is gay and married to his partner.
This show keeps getting more and more sappy. Maybe that’s why the shakeup?
This seems par for the course for this show. It burns through showrunners. They tossed the creator of the series, Jon Robin Baitz, a couple of years ago.
Hmmmm, hope this doesn’t affect the show as it has been great this season and last.
Not surprising at all. This season has been very weak and soapy. Instead of focusing on the WALKER siblings (all of them), the show is overcrowded with secondary and marginal characters like Robert, Holly, Rebecca, Ryan, Scotty, David, and now the surrogate chick (daughter of the Olins… sigh).
This show shines when Norah and her children are front and center. No matter what the writers do with the secondary characters, that won’t fill the void left by Tommy. He was and still is a key part of the wonderful chemistry that made this show so enjoyable.
I hope this new show runner recognizes that and brings back Tommy for good. I like Rebecca and Robert, but they should NOT be front and center. Same with Scotty and Holly; a little of these two goas a loooong way.
UGH. Tommy a key part of the wonderful chemistry of the show?! He’s the weakest link! I’m sorry to see him come back. I see no chemistry whatsoever between him and the rest of the cast. He is the contrarian of the group, and not in a good way.
Agree KH 100%. I was so disappointed to see he is coming back this week. He disrupts the chemistry of the cast to me. I am enjoying this season. I am glad they have Robert acting like himself again instead of some ogre as they portrayed him in the end of last season.
I agree – less R-named people: Rebecca, Robert & Ryan! I dispise and plotline that involves Holly and Rebecca – who cares??
I honestly, think Robert and Rebecca are fine. They just need to be treated as what they are .. secondary characters do the two siblings they are married/engaged to. They do not need major storylines for themselves. Nor does Ryan, Holly, Scotty, or Saul.
The show as at its best when Kitty had a backbone, Norah was a mother instead of a worrying ninny and the ancillary characters were ancillary.
Doing fine without Tommy! Walker clan is awesome. Holly is a good foil but sure hope they do NOT try to make her the “good witch.” Would ruin the dynamic.
This season has focused MUCH more on the Walkers than last, which is why I’m enjoying it much more. The last episode was fantastic mostly because they kept the focus on the Walkers.
David Marshall Grant has been with the show from the beginning and is one of their most talented writers. I have faith he will be a very good showrunner.
How many showrunners has there been now?
Bring Berlanti back!
Oh, god no. I respect your opinion, Cameron, because we all have our own taste, but I don’t want Greg Berlanti to be the showrunner again. He’s the one who came up with the whole Rebecca is not a Walker and Ryan is a Walker storyline. That’s when the show really started to suck. I absolutely detest the Justin and Rebecca pairing. That being said, I’m glad David Marshall Grant is replacing Monica Breen and Alison Schapker as the showrunner. I’ve always felt that Alison and Monica were two of the weaker writers on the show’s writing staff while David has always been one of the best writers on the writing staff in my opinion. Hopefully this move will help make the show start to get better again.
Are you sure about that? Ryan wasn’t introduced until season 3, and I thought Berlanti has had little to do with plot development since season 1.
Yeah, I’m sure. When they did the whole reveal that Rebecca wasn’t a Walker the writers said that he pitched the idea. Plus, he worked closely with the writers on the last four episodes of season two that were made after the writers’ strike ended.
Am I the only person that doesn’t know what a showrunner is?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showrunner
Before I google it, I’ll show off my ignorance here. But what the heck is a show runner and what’s their effect on the show???
This season has been a lot better with the focus back on “Brothers and Sisters” (And Nora) and less on the others. I practically stopped watching when everyone was separated and dealing with their significant others. That never works for this show
Can somebody list the order of showrunners of this show?
I feel like Ken Olin was a big part of the mix but is he still (apart from acting, of course)? I would imagine that it would be weird for Patricia Wettig to work for a show that your husband was fired from?
taylor—actually breen and schapker were the ones that came up with the rebecca isn’t a walker storyline. the best stories this show had happened under berlanti.
No, in interviews Monica/Alison stated that the Ryan reveal was Berlanti’s idea. Berlanti helped oversee the show briefly after the strike.
I was disappointed at all the loose ends left hanging after last season’s finale. How did Kitty and Robert make up ? Last season she missed the helicopter. The writers glossed over it.
Dear David Marshall Grant, please make this show funny and entertaining again.
It definitely seems like more than that boring press release. The show has faltered creatively this year (Kitty’s cancer? Boring Justin becomes a doctor stories?). The fun is gone. Time for a new direction…
bob–no it was indeed Berlanti who came up with the ‘Rebecca isn’t a Walker’ storyline. He took over the show again at the end of season two, after the writer’s strike, and orchestrated the Rebecca De-Walkering and the Ryan twist. Monica and Allison then took over at the start of season three and did a terrible job imho. The Justin/Rebecca relationship was unbearable to watch most of the time. All they ever did was bicker over the stupidest things and whine and pout. It all felt so forced. While I was never a fan of the couple from the start, the storylines Monica and Allison developed for them were god-awful and did nothing to win over already skeptical fans.
Add in the lame Ryan storyline they came up with, the ridiculously contrived Tommy embezzlement storyline, Kevin working for Robert, and the complete lack of any decent storylines for Sarah, and you’ve got the recipe for a terrible season. I’m surprised they even kept them as showrunners for the start of season four.
I love B&S and have watched from the very beginning. Although I favored (and miss) the more serious tone the series initially took, I can understand the need for some coloring outside the lines. Families are that way. I do become exasperated with some out-of-character allowances (The prodigal daughter Kitty used to be so in control at the start) and plot whims (another out-of-wedlock Walker child? Sarah’s rocky professional and personal life? Justin’s medical school enrollment? Saul’s glossed-over personal life?). For those of us who have seen the name David Marshall Grant since THIRTYSOMETHING days, we can applaud his promotion and look forward to some stable and quality writing and storytelling, even if it means some changes in cast and new directions in plot. Again, families are like that.
I think this season has been an improvement over the last two seasons (I don’t care for the baby stories but I’m glad Kevin and Scotty are still together), but I’m not sad about the shakeup.
I do have to say I’m one of the few who likes Tommy, and I think he was OK in the first season.
Nothing can save this show from being unwatchable! The talent of the actors involved is wasted on this melodramatic garbage!
DMG used to be a pretty terrific actor, but he seems to have largely given that up in favor of writing and directing. He played Kevin Costner’s brother in one of my favorite movies (American Flyers).
I think the new season is great! Awesome writting and acting. Way better than last year. I’m always excited when it’s Sunday night and B&S is on!
Am I the only one who likes Justin and Rebecca together? I am not a fan of Ryan, and honestly could care less about his presence on the show, but love the Justin and Rebecca pairing.
No, you are not the only one. I’m also a huge fan of the Justin and Rebecca relationship and am eagerly awaiting the wedding episode. We do seem to be in the minority though. In my opinion their relationship has been written much better this season compared to season three so it may change some of B & S viewer’s minds.
What the hell is Ryan doing in that picture? He’s a minor character (and insanely annoying) so what’s he doing standing there?). I’d pick 10 other characters before I’d pick him.
Sometimes its just the easiest picture to grab, though I would have used one of David Grant himself.
Although, Ryan Lafferty IS main cast this year
So this is why Holly is now poor. New writers are going to get this show back to where it should be. Maybe now we can focus on the family with no more illegitimate William Walker children. Get rid of Ryan and let Gilles Marini stay as long as he wants.
I think that Kitty’s cancer story arc has been the shot in the arm the show needed this season to bring the focus back onto the family
I just took B&S off my TiVo season pass. It was somewhat bittersweet, I thought the writing and acting has always been top-notch, but I just stopped caring about the characters. I guess I just lost the urge to watch. Now, Modern Family, can’t wait for that one every week!
I find it annoying that Roxy Olin (daughter of Patricia and Ken) is on the show. Wasn’t she the girlfriend of the closeted actor that Kevin was dating? Now she’s the surrogate mom? She’s doing double duty as a reality star on The Hills, and they don’t even address her background… WTF?
Actually, not The Hills. It’s The City, but she’s appeared on both.
Olin’s daughter is playing the surrogate. WTF? She already had a role in B&S. She was Kevin bi-lover’s girlfriend.