Sisters Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

That makes sense. I tuned out a lot of Brian and Justin as they bored me to tears. 

I'd forgotten they recast Reed in the last season. Glad I never saw most of that.

[DRW50]

A promo I hadn't seen before. 

Seeing that Trevor story again gives me PTSD...the real start of the end.

Please register in order to view this content

 

[Khan]

I still think NBC mandated this and other, darker storylines in an attempt to make "Sisters" more desirable to male demographics.

[DRW50]

I wouldn't be surprised - it would explain a lot in this period.

(oddly, the voiceover guy makes the Trevor story seem lighter than it actually was)

[janea4old]

Stephen Collins played Teddy's husband at the end.  I wasn't aware of his BTS behavior at the time.

Now I wonder if anything icky happened with him on the Sisters set?  (hopefully not but these guys are usually repeat offenders)

[chrisml]

Is it bad that I don't even remember Trevor? I think I hated Georgie's storyline with the therapist so much that I blocked out so much about her character.

[DRW50]

I don't blame you there. 

For me the relationship with Georgie and John and their kids was a foundational part of the show. Having Trevor lash out as he wasn't the son they were worried about (due to his brother having cancer) was believable, but the tone was so dark and bleak. It was extremely difficult to watch. And rather than giving a rebuilding period, this just went right into the therapist story, which made me sick and led me to quit watching.

Edited January 7 by DRW50

[DRW50]

Please register in order to view this content

 

[te.]

That promo actually makes me want to watch Sisters, which always seemed too much like a milquetoast drama to me.

[chrisml]

I assume Gregory Harrison was in the last year? Does this mean he was in the last year of Sisters and Falcon Crest? 

[Khan]

No, he was in the next-to-last year.  In the last season, Teddy became involved with Dr. Gabriel Sorenson (Stephen Collins), the neurosurgeon who saved her life after she had sustained a gunshot wound to the head during a carjacking.

[chrisml]

Ah ok. Thanks for the explanation. I stopped watching with the whole sleeping with the skeezy therapist storyline. Hated that season. Not even sure I finished. I just remember John Wesley Shipp as a boxer (think it was that season but I might be confused).

[Contessa Donatella]

He played Lucky, didn't he?

[Khan]

You probably weren't alone, lol.  In retrospect, the Dr. Caspian mess was just that: a mess.

As @DRW50 said upthread, it came too soon after John and Georgie's issues with Trevor - a season-long arc that was dark, brutal, went on too long and was not entirely character-driven.  Furthermore, it robbed "Sisters" of its' emotional bedrock - meaning, of course, John and Georgie's relationship - and pushed Alex and "Big Al," of ALL people, into the position of tentpole couple.  And it did all this by distorting basic truths about the Whitsigs.  Suddenly, Georgie's accusing John of always avoiding serious issues (nevermind his decision to return to work when Evan was sick with leukemia) and of undervaluing her as a wife and mother, and I'm like, "Where the hell is THIS coming from?"  For that matter, why in God's name is Georgie in therapy alone, when the entire family should be in therapy together, as they continue to work through all their problems?

Moreover, the Dr. Caspian storyline reinforced a lot of stereotypes about therapy and therapists, and it took at face value a subject (False Memory Syndrome) that remains controversial and not entirely embraced by the psychiatric community.  Instead of making Georgie sympathetic, it made her look selfish and stupid; and instead of wrapping up the story responsibly, they chose to protract it by turning it into a literal sting operation at the same time that Teddy was performing her own sting on the man who'd murdered her husband!

Of course, when you view it today, in the year 2025, there's no question that it wasn't JUST an affair; that, in fact, Dr. Caspian raped Georgie; and that John had no right to slut-shame his own wife the way he did.  This, in turn, casts a real pall over John and Georgie's reconciliation a year later, because, why would any intelligent, self-respecting woman go back to any man who chose to blame her instead of the man who took advantage of his wife when she was in the most fragile emotional state?

Edited April 14 by Khan

[chrisml]

Thanks @Khanfor the information. I wish my memory of the show were stronger post. I just remember feeling that the quality of the show dropped so significantly the season after Ward won her Emmy. It was so bizarre how a show could become unwatchable (at least for me).  I'm the kind of viewer who rarely sticks around when I feel there's a point where you have made a decision that I can not accept and that fifth season started off badly and I was out. Why mess with a formula that obviously works? That Caspian story was gross on so many levels. It's ridiculous that nearly ever soap thread is full of  discussions about female characters being assaulted, victimized, abused, and/or stalked, etc. Depressing.