I am – Hercules!!

“Brothers & Sisters” is the only major new network show I didn’t get to see. Marti Noxon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) stopped being its showrunner. Greg Berlanti (“Dawson’s Creek”) was recruited to replace her. Sally Field replaced Betty Buckley. The original pilot was altered.

This much we know. It’s a soap, from playwright Jon Robin Baitz (writer of 1996’s Holocaust-survivor feature “The Substance of Fire”), about five California siblings – a conservative radio-show host turned TV personality (Calista Flockhart), a veteran of the war in Afghanistan (Don Annable), a homosexual (“Matthew Ryhs), and a pair (Balthazar Getty and Rachel Griffiths) who continue to work for the family farm.

Variety says:

… "Brothers & Sisters" tosses very talented actors into a flaccid family soap … there's initially precious little sizzle surrounding these philosophically divided siblings. … ABC has left behind a pilot that drifts through the early going, as well as one that's a bit too pleased with itself for daring to incorporate the war against terrorism into its multiple plotlines. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Seeing the pilot now, a messy reunion of a family divided as much by politics as personalities, you have to wonder what this project looked like before it got its extreme makeover. … of all the dramatic elements, the politics could be the freshest. Could be, that is, if Kitty wasn't such a humorless conservative and the dialogue wasn't so carefully written to avoid offending anyone, unlike in real political arguments. ABC is doing everything it can for the series. It not only scheduled the show to follow "Desperate Housewives," but cannily lengthened the hit dramedy to run a minute long, making it inconvenient to switch channels. And yet I have this feeling that some people will.

Entertainment Weekly gives it a “C” and says:

… The pilot was reshot, and it shows — the timing lurches and scenes grind into each other. Plus Flockhart, still playing some version of winsome Ally McBeal, is going to have to show some Ann Coulter fire before she's anywhere near believable as a right-wing TV personality. …

USA Today gives it three stars (out of four) and says:

… Much discussed, much altered and much delayed, Brothers & Sisters is neither as bad as you might expect given that troubled history nor as good as you might hope given the talents involved. Though the pilot has shimmering moments, it's too busy, chatty and rushed, as often happens with shows that have been substantially reworked. …

The New York Times says:

… As Kitty, Ms. Flockhart is making her first serious return to television since “Ally McBeal,” but she is not convincing as a woman of conviction. And that is too bad, because “Brothers and Sisters” has wit and grace. It’s a high-minded melodrama in the tradition of “Picket Fences” and “Thirtysomething.” …

The Washington Post says:

… Inconveniently for critics but encouragingly for die-hard optimists, the show was apparently still being tinkered with up to the last minute, so that the version submitted for review might differ in some details from the one that airs. Unless it differs in every single detail, however, "Brothers & Sisters" will still constitute a clear-cut invitation to click that little channel clicker as fast as your fingers can fiddle with it. … It's all so horribly, punishingly familiar -- and constructed from a blueprint that was already starting to crinkle and crumble back when TV sets had "hue" controls and wacky old Mr. Whipple was still squeezing the Charmin.

The Chicago Tribune says:

… the introduction to the five Walker siblings, as well as their parents and spouses, is handled gracefully; it's not often that a program introduces a dozen characters in the first 15 minutes without making you feel clobbered by information. But meeting the Walker clan and getting a glimpse at their personal lives -- at their political differences, marriage troubles, possible alcoholism in one case, financial malfeasance in another -- is like being led to a table of tantalizing appetizers. Even as you take a sample of these introductory delights, you're wondering whether the main course will live up to your expectations. But so far, so good.

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… Despite some faults, "Brothers & Sisters" is vastly superior to the tired (but trying to rebound) "Desperate Housewives." Still, ABC believed (and it's hard to doubt the network) that these two shows are a match. And yet, the tone shift viewers will get from 9 to 10 p.m. may be too off-putting to make it all work. … strives for possibly more than it can pull off …

The Boston Globe says:

… A show is going to have to work terribly hard to flop in the time slot after ratings royalty ``Desperate Housewives," but ``Brothers & Sisters" may be up to the job. This new ABC concoction is a piece of fakery that goes through the motions of a ``dysfunctional family drama" and winds up as a dysfunctional ``dysfunctional family drama." It strains to show the strains of the wealthy Walker family of California, and my eyes strained to stay open. … Maybe if Baitz and the executive producers, including Greg Berlanti from ``Everwood" and Ken Olin , focus more on telling their stories effectively, and less on constructing a masterpiece, ``Brothers & Sisters" will actually become the dishy soap opera it secretly wants to be.

10 p.m. Sunday. ABC.

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