New dramas hope viewers are willing to commit

‘Brothers and Sisters’
Next to "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Brothers and Sisters" (ABC, Sundays, 10 p.m. ET) probably has the most star-studded cast of the new fall shows. It also seems to be fraught with problems: It was the one pilot that didn't show up in critics' hands until just days ago, and numerous big names have left the show, including former producer Marti Noxon (of "Buffy" fame), and onetime lead Betty Buckley, who was replaced with Sally Field.

The remaining powerhouse cast includes Field, Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin and Patricia Wettig, with Wettig's husband Ken Olin behind the scenes. The show also landed a droolworthy timeslot, following hit "Desperate Housewives" Sunday nights on ABC.

Flockhart plays Kitty Walker, a conservative satellite-radio host who's living in New York, but weighing an offer from an LA-based national TV show, which would return her to the bosom of her large liberal family. Field is her mother, who's got issues with some war-supporting advice Kitty delivered to another family member. The family also is rich with issues that don't involve politics, including an apparent death, various relationship woes, and financial chicanery in the family business.

The cast is first-rate, especially Rifkin, Griffiths, and newcomer Dave Annable, who played nerdy Aaron in FOX's short-lived "Reunion." Field looks as agonized here as she did in "Sybil," but she's probably a good choice, and should clash memorably with Flockhart. It appears that the show will be combining regular familiar clashes with those brought on by Kitty's differing politics. Not a bad idea, but the personal battles work better in the pilot — references to blue and red states, Log Cabin Republicans, and Ron and Nancy feel forced. However, there's plenty of promise here. If the show can manage to play those a little more naturally, "Brothers and Sisters" might just be a family worth adopting.    —Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

“What you can’t seem to understand,” a man named Knapp tells an FBI agent, “is you’re the only ones playing by the rules.” That line crystallizes the central conflict in “Kidnapped” (NBC, Wednesdays, 10 p.m. ET), which is less about a kidnapping than it’s about the conflicting interests of those who want to recover the victim, the teenage son of a wealthy family.

FREE VIDEO 'Kidnapped' A wealthy family's son is held for ransom in 'Kidnapped.' MSNBC

“Kidnapped” shows us what’s happening with the kidnappers, but reveals little about their motivations or plans. Instead, quasi-renegade freelance victim-finder Knapp (Jeremy Sisto) is the major protagonist, along with a retiring FBI agent, played by Delroy Lindo. Lindo and Sisto front an exceptionally strong cast and a production that seems like it should have been a film.

Unfortunately, it’s yet another serialized drama, as the intriguing and well-produced concept is deployed in service of a story that may take even more than one season to unravel. With only one central kidnapping case to give the characters something to do all season, the series is facing a probably inevitable descent into absurdity.    —A.D.