Sunday schedule

A look at Sunday night TV.

By ERIC DEGGANS
Published September 10, 2006

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Gotta try

* BROTHERS & SISTERS

10 p.m., ABC, debuts Sept. 24.

Showbiz shorthand: Thirtysomething with siblings.

My take: Small surprise that former thirtysomething star Ken Olin is one of the producers behind this star-studded series, which crams Ally McBeal's Calista Flockhart, Six Feet Under's Rachel Griffiths, Alias' Ron Rifkin and Sally Field into a sprawling story about a bustling family with several thirty-ish children thrown into disarray when the family patriarch falters. Just watching Flockhart trying to play an Ann Coulter-lite conservative pundit is worth the price of admission.

Will it survive? Arguments between the show's creator and a third, now-departed producer have spread rumors the program is troubled. But this series airs in the plush timeslot just after ABC's hit Desperate Housewives, which helped make a phenomenon of Grey's Anatomy.

Around the dial

* The Game

8:30 p.m., CW, debuts Oct. 1.

Showbiz shorthand: Playmakers meets Girlfriends.

My take: We know this is a spin-off of UPN's Girlfriends, mostly because that series' star, Tracee Ellis Ross, appears in two forgettable scenes to bookend this black-dominated sitcom about three women connected to three pro football players. Tia Mowry leaves her twin sister behind to play a medical student torn between her boyfriend's budding football career and her own needs.

Will it survive? Airing on the CW's night of black-oriented shows, this program faces outrageously low expectations.