What About Brian

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What About Brian

The Season 1 cast of What About Brian.
Format Drama
Created by Dana Stevens
Starring Barry Watson
Sarah Lancaster
Rosanna Arquette
Matthew Davis
Rick Gomez
Amanda Detmer
Krista Allen
Jason George
Amanda Foreman
Tiffani Thiessen
Jessica Szohr
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 24
Production
Running time 60 minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Picture format 480i (SDTV),
720p (HDTV)
Original run April 16, 2006 – March 26, 2007
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

What About Brian is an American dramatic television series created by Dana Stevens and co-produced by J.J. Abrams' company Bad Robot Productions. The series premiered on April 16, 2006 on ABC, as a midseason replacement and concluded on March 26, 2007. The show regularly aired on Monday at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT in the United States. On May 16, 2006, ABC renewed the series for its second season,[1] notably making it the only new series to be picked up by the network from the 2005-2006 television season (the network not renewed the popular show Invasion), despite it being the final new series introduced by ABC during the season. The series returned October 9, 2006, with a full 22-episode season confirmed by November 10, 2006.[2] The second season order was subsequently scaled back to 19 episodes by the network.[3]

What About Brian ended its run after two seasons on March 26, 2007.[4]

Contents

[edit] Main cast

Actor Role
Barry Watson Brian Davis
Matthew Davis Adam Hillman
Sarah Lancaster Marjorie Seaver (Season 1-2 [Episodes 1-18])
Rick Gomez Dave Greco
Amanda Detmer Deena Greco
Krista Allen Bridget Keller
Rosanna Arquette Nicole Varzi
Raoul Bova Angelo Varzi (Season 1)
Jason George Jimmy (Season 2+ [Episode 6-])
Amanda Foreman Ivy (Season 2+ [Episode 6-])
Tiffani Thiessen Natasha Drew (Episodes 20-)
Jessica Szohr Laura (Episodes 19-)
Stacy Keibler Stephanie (Episodes 19-)

[edit] Other characters

Actor Role
Payton Spencer Geneva Greco
Mikaila Baumel Larissa Greco
Olivia and Ava White Carrie Greco

[edit] Pilot

Thirty-two-year-old Brian Davis is living the life of a single guy in Los Angeles. However, he is the only bachelor left in his group of friends. His best friend, lawyer Adam Hillman, recently got engaged to his long-time girlfriend Marjorie, a girl Brian has secretly long had a crush on and who Adam was planning to break up with. His other best friend Dave Greco, who is co-founder with Brian of Zap Monkey, a company that designs and produces video games, cannot wait to welcome Brian into the marriage club, as Dave has been married with Deena for 13 years and has three daughters. His older sister, record executive Nicole "Nic" Varzi, has recently married and is pregnant, even though she is in her forties. Brian's journey to find romance leads him down a road where the picture perfect relationships of his friends are tested and revealed for what they truly are.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of What About Brian episodes

[edit] Unaired Pilot

The cast of What About Brian's unaired pilot with Polly Shannon as Marjorie.
The cast of What About Brian's unaired pilot with Polly Shannon as Marjorie.

An unaired pilot with a completely different structure from the first episode was created, with Polly Shannon portraying Marjorie instead of Sarah Lancaster.[5][6]

[edit] First-run channels, days and times

  • ABC (USA) Monday 10pm (2006+)
  • E4 (UK) Tuesday 9pm (May 2007+)- Has now ceased airing in the UK
  • RTP2 (Portugal) Thursday 10.40pm (Feb 2007+)
  • TF1 (France) Saturday 4pm (May 2007)
  • La Sexta (Spain) Thursday 12am (July, 19th 2007)
  • TV2 (New Zealand) Friday 8.30 pm (2007+)
  • NET5 (The Netherlands) Tuesday 09.30 pm (2007+)
  • WOWOW (Japan) Sunday (April 2008)
  • Nelonen (Finland) Sunday 4.30 pm (2008+)
  • Raidue (Italy) from Monday to Friday 04.15 pm (June, 3rd 2008+)

[edit] DVD release

DVD name Release date Ep # Additional information
The Complete Series September 25, 2007 24 Featurette: What About Season 3, Cast interviews, Bloopers.

[edit] Music

  • Howie Days' "Collide" is the song used in the announcement commercials.
  • The theme song that appears at the beginning of each episode is "Calling All Friends" by Low Stars.
  • The 1970 song "Hey Hey What Can I Do" by Led Zeppelin inspired the theme song and also has lyrics that parallel the show's plot. The lyrics of the song tell of a man's love for a woman that he will never have all to himself; a woman who 'wants to ball all day', 'stays drunk all the time', and who 'won't be true.' The first verse is a declaration of his love and his desire to tell her that she is the only one for him. The second verse describes her infidelity and his jealousy and frustration. In the third verse he comes to the conclusion that he must leave her 'where the guitars play', a sentiment reinforced by the vamp in which the lead singer, Robert Plant, is backed by the rest of the band repeating the two lines; 'Hey hey what can I do' and 'Oh Lord what can I say.'
  • Colin Hay's music has been used in several episodes of What About Brian:[7]
    • His song "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin" ended the episode "Two In Twenty-Four" and was also used in the episode "Sex Lies and Videotape."
    • "Beautiful World" ended the episode "Moving Day."
    • "Don't Wait Up" ended the episode "The Importance Of Being Brian" and was also in the episode "Sex Lies and Videotape."

[edit] Trivia

  • The Greco residence is a house in the 100 block of Dudley Avenue in Venice, CA, though the interior is a loose recreation of the real interior built on a soundstage.
  • What About Brian was photographed with Panavision Genesis digital cinematography cameras, and is one of the first users.
  • The location used for Brian's father's real estate business is the Clarity Partners building on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.
  • A planned bonus episode for the second season was to consist entirely of scenes where the male characters cold-cocked each other in the jaw for no apparent reason, then acted like nothing just happened. In one scene, Adam asks Brian if the Weather Channel's 'Local On The 8's' segment is about to show, whereupon Brian punches his lights out, then says "yes, I think in a minute it will".

[edit] References

  1. ^ What About Brian renewed for a second season - Link
  2. ^ TV.com: Justice pulled, Brian pumped
  3. ^ What About Brian: Aren't There Any More Episodes?, TV Series Finale, March 28, 2007
  4. ^ ABC Unveils 14 Early Series Pick-Ups, Broadcasting & Cable, March 21, 2007
  5. ^ TV: The Life of Brian ABC kicks around a great show with rescheduling and retooling. Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
  6. ^ ¿Qué hacemos con Brian? (Spanish). Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
  7. ^ Colin Hay songs from TV and Movies at Tunefind. Retrieved on 2006-12-06.

[edit] External links