What About Brian

What About Brian
The Season 1 cast of What About Brian.
Format	Comedy-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	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

What About Brian was an American dramedy 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, 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]

Main cast

Other characters

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 whom 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 to Deena for thirteen years and has three daughters. His older sister, record executive Nicole "Nic" Varzi, has recently married and is pregnant with a girl she names Bella, 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.

Episodes

Unaired Pilot

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]

International broadcasts

Country	TV Network(s)	Date of Premiere	Weekly Schedule
Australia	Seven Network 7Two	February 18 2007[7] November 4 2009	Sundays, 9.30pm Wednesdays, 10:30pm (repeats)
Bulgaria	bTV	2008	Monday–Thursday, 9.00pm (first run) Monday–Friday, 3.30pm (second run)
Finland	Nelonen	2008	Sundays, 4.30pm
France	TF1	May 2007	Saturdays, 4.00pm
Israel	Xtra HOT HOT3	December 24, 2006 2007	Sundays, 10.00pm Sunday–Thursday, 7.10pm
Italy	Rai Due	June 3, 2008	Monday–Friday, 4.15pm
Japan	WOWOW	April 2008	Sundays
Latin America	Sony	November 2006	Mondays, 9.00pm
Netherlands	NET 5	2007	Tuesdays. 9.30pm
New Zealand	TV2	2007	Fridays, 8.30pm
Norway	TV2	2008	Tuesdays, 11.25pm
Pakistan	STAR World	September 2008	Sundays, 9.00pm
Portugal	RTP2	February 2007	Thursdays, 10.40pm
Spain	La Sexta	July 19, 2007	Thursdays, 12.00am
United Kingdom	E4 Channel 4	May 2007 ‏	Tuesdays, 9.00pm Fridays after midnight
United States	ABC	April 16, 2006	Mondays, 10.00pm

Ratings

Season 1: 6.3 million viewers
Season 2: 5.9 million viewers

DVD release

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:^[8]
  • 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."
• Keith Varon has provided songs for the show.^[9]

References

External links

• What About Brian at the Internet Movie Database
• "What About Brian" at Yahoo! TV
• What About Brian at TV.com
• "What About Brian" What About Brian