'Brothers and Sisters' and Lincoln

I've got two days to go till the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 1 and I have absolutely no idea what's gonna happen. I figured I'd get my fingers warmed up, though, and what better way to do that than talk about television.

Let me begin by saying that I had the idea to track the mentions that Abraham Lincoln gets in pop culture. The dude is popular. Still. And those who have to talk to me day in and day out know that I am a bit obsessed with the man. I read Team of Rivals in awe, which is, of course, due both to Doris Kearns Goodwin and the big man himself. This brings me to this week's episode of Brothers and Sisters, starring a lot of people, including Sally Field.

First of all, the woman could make dry toast cry. She won a well-deserved Emmy this year for her work as Nora Walker on the show's inaugural season and kept it going with the first episode this season playing a mother of five. She is also rumored, according to IMDB.com, to be playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Team of Rivals, called, not surprisingly, Lincoln. And in this week's episode, which I watched tonight, Rob Lowe mentioned Lincoln. Lowe plays a Republican senator running for president and is engaged to Kitty Walker played by Calista Flockhart.

Another storyline happening is what happens when parents divorce. Rachel Griffiths (who is Australian just like I will be one day), kicked ass portraying a mother in the moment her husband takes the kids as their court-appointed primary care giver. We usually are aware of such arrangements as they've already taken place. But that moment is probably pretty intense anyway and while Sally Field most likely doesn't show up and perhaps it isn't so neatly wrapped up, Griffiths nails it.

I have a weakness for the family drama and this one I just had to note. Good thing I don't review television for a living because I'd starve. Watch the show.