Two shows I regularly watch currently have story lines featuring characters battling cancers. Jackie Taylor (yes, Kelly's mom) on the new version on 90210 has breast cancer and Kitty McCallister on Brothers and Sisters has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
We found out about Jackie a couple of weeks ago and she was already undergoing treatment. They even showed a very quick shot of her bald head before jumping up and pulling on her wig so that her daughter wouldn't see. I thought it was cool that there was some aspect of realism on a show that is not very realistic!
When Kitty was diagnosed, I wrote on Facebook that "I hope that they go there." So far, I've been pleased with how the writers of Brothers and Sisters have handled the character's diagnosis and treatment. They have tapped into the fear one deals with facing such a deadly illness. They've shown Kitty writing letters to her young son in the event she dies. They've shown her look like crap after chemo - dark circles under her eyes, exhausted. And they've shown Kitty search out alternative treatments hoping there was another way instead of chemotherapy.
I felt myself becoming anxious watching last Sunday's episode. Kitty was at a party when she brushed some fly-away hair strands from her face and they fell out in her hand. She ran to the bathroom to see and discovered a huge bald patch. Man, it brought me back to that morning in my very own bathroom.
The episode ends with Kitty buzzing her own head and she joked that she looked like a peach. I give it to the writers for allowing Kitty to have a sense of humor about it. Watch the scene below!
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