Watching Studio60

As I mentioned back in October, Steven Weber is going to have a guest-starring arc on the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters as a love interest for a character played by Rachel Griffiths, and that series of episodes starts tonight at 10 p.m. Also guesting for the first time in this episode will be Chevy Chase as an old boyfriend of Sally Field’s character, and Lyle Lovett as himself, serenading Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe as they nervously approach their wedding day.

As far as I’m concerned, Lovett alone’s enough reason to tune in. But I’m curious to see how the erstwhile Jack Rudolph will fit in with the business and personal shenanigans of the extended Walker clan. If you’re planning to tune in tonight for the Weber watch, here’s a quick introduction to the characters and storylines you’re going to be seeing.

Nora (Sally Field) is the Walker matriarch. Her husband, William (Tom Skerritt), died at the start of the series and was revealed as a philanderer and an embezzler. Nora’s overinvolved in her kids’ lives, and will be making a small step out in hers by looking up Chase’s character, Stan. Her children are:

Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), who heads the family company, Ojai Foods, and is going through a difficult divorce from her husband, Joe, which almost involved losing custody of her kids, Paige and Cooper.

Kitty (Calista Flockhart), who was a Republican pundit before becoming first Communications Director, then fiancee of senator and presidential candidate Robert McCallister (Rob Lowe).

Tommy (Balthazar Getty), who was so upset when his father’s will put Sarah in charge of the company he had long worked for that he split to start a wine company with his father’s mistress, Holly (Patricia Wettig). His wife, Julia (Sarah Jane Morris), left him earlier this season because she blamed him for the death of one of their newborn twins, and he had an affair with the office help, Lena (Emily Rose).

Kevin (Matthew Rhys), whose long string of bad relationships seemed to be ending when he fell for Jason McCallister (Eric Winter), Robert’s brother. They planned to make a long-distance relationship work when Jason was shipped to Malaysia for missionary work, but now Jason’s not returning Kevin’s calls, and Kevin’s letting a broke old boyfriend, Scotty (Luke MacFarlane), sleep on his floor.

And Justin (Dave Annable), who since the beginning of the season has come back from military duty in Iraq with a wrecked knee; refused to take pain pills for fear of resuming an old drug habit; taken the pain pills and resumed the drug habit; and kicked the habit thanks to a family intervention.

Rounding out the family is Rebecca (Emily VanCamp), Holly and William’s daughter, who only found out she was a Walker at the end of last season, and has been closest to Justin and least close to Sarah (who hates Holly for horning in on the family business and Rebecca for kissing Joe).

Also often around is Saul (Ron Rifkin), Nora’s brother and an Ojai Foods bigwig, who has always been curiously unattached and available for Nora’s family, and is now in the process of slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y coming out of the closet, even to himself.

Okay, so it’s a soap opera, but it’s a good soap opera with great acting. And, at least for a little while, with Steven Weber. The YouTube clip below offers a little preview of what he’ll be up to. For more background on B&S, check my recaps on Season One and Season Two. And if you miss Weber’s debut tonight, you can catch it later on ABC.com.

Steven Weber, Brothers and Sisters, ABC