Since the show of 10/22 had "Carter Pike" all it needs now is "Douglas Wambaugh" and it will be great. Seems like a continuation of Picket Fences, maybe the other side of the mountain so to speak. As for NH realism, that isn't important to me or probably most of the viewers. After all it isn't a documentary, just a TV program for entertainment. Thank you David E. Kelley.

Ever since Picket Fences went off the air, I've been waiting, ever sofreaking patiently, for another great melodrama to come alongfrom David Kelley. And though Boston Public started off alright, itsank, rather quickly.So I'd given up by the time I heard about this one, the Brotherhoodof Poland. And I thought, "What an unappealing title for a show."But, I found myself home the night it debuted, and figured sincethere's nothing good on tv anymore, I'd watch it. And I did. And,Brotherhood left an indifferent impression on me. It wasn't greatenough to get me excited and hopeful, but it wasn't terrible enoughfor me to disregard it completely. So I've kept watching.And last night, the fifth episode aired, and it's got Picket FencesDeux written all over it. And I love it. It's blatantly similar to PicketFences but that's just fine with me, I've been waiting for this foryears. The actors seem to be connecting more, and the writingseems to be getting a little less awkward...maybe Brotherhood justneeded to stretch its legs for a few weeks before it started to pickup some steam? I really don't care if it's 'inaccurate' as far as NewHampshire towns are concerned, I don't mind that reality seems toget checked at the door (that makes it better, if you ask me); it's afun and quirky show with smart humor and all the melodrama of aSirk movie. And wow, Randy Quaid did some fine acting last night;I've never really seem him in serious roles, and never thought hecould pull them off, but last night he actually impressed me withhis skills. Give this little show a try, it's only been getting better.

This show, judging by the pilot episode which I just saw tonight, has limited promise. It seems like a night-time soap opera set in a New Hampshire/New England setting that I don't really believe exists.Though I'm not a native of New England, I used to live in Maine, not too far from New Hampshire, so perhaps allow me to make some qualified observations nevertheless: I just didn't get a New England "feel" to this show, I just don't "recognize" any of these characters as being truly New Englander types. Sure, they can doll them up in LL Bean attire until the cows come home, but that in itself a New Englander does not make.I think the show runs the risk of bombing because it brings too much of a Hollywood/California frame of mind to a New England setting. The men in this show seem way too giddy for real New Englanders, and all seem WAY too preoccupied with their personal "issues"; the women seem more like annoying busy-bodies from some rich enclave of Sausalito, California; the kids - at least those that have appeared so far - seem more like big city high school kids in Los Angeles dealing with image problems and the like, etc. These are not the New Englanders that I remember from oh, twenty or so years ago when I used to live in that glorious part of America. Have times really changed that much? I thinketh not.One positive about the show is the incredible depth of the cast. Randy Quaid, Mare Winningham and Elizabeth McGovern just to name a few. I like these actors a lot, and hope the show really works for them, but the writing and the whole "atmoshpere" of the show really needs some work.If this show develops further, I hope it loses some of the soap opera feel. Just a thought, but it would be kinda' cool (for me anyway) if the show took a sort of David Lynch/Twin Peaks detour and got rather twisty. New England lends itself to that. It can be very twisty there. Very twisty indeed. ("Ya can't get there from here" - Bert and I).

"The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire" is David E. Kelley's latest attempt to bring another hit sitcom to television. After a rather confusing premiere, it looks like the usually-dominant Kelley is now 0 for 2 since "Boston Public" three years ago ("Girls Club," which came out last year, lasted two episodes).Being a resident of the town where the pilot for this show was filmed, I can safely say that the reason this show feels like it started in the middle of a storyline is beacuse the pilot never aired. The pilot was bad (So I heard), so they decided not to air it. Was this a mistake? It might have made some of the points brought up in the premiere a little more clear, rather than dump us right in the middle of something that's already been established and ends up being over our heads.Aside from that, I don't have high hopes for this show. It's advertised as a comedy, but there is a lot more drama than laughs (The humor, when it does come around, is usually hit or miss). The "first" episode feels too strongly like it's missing the backstory that was the pilot, and doesn't provide any outstanding reason to keep tuning in. The show will have to depend heavily on future episodes to build up what was lost, but between the already lacking appeal and competition of other shows in the timeslot, the future of the show is about as bleak as those of the three brothers it focuses on.