What About Brian

Plot

The series centers on 32-year-old Brian Davis, the only bachelor left in his group of friends living in Venice Beach, California. His best friend, lawyer Adam Hillman, recently got engaged to his long-time girlfriend Marjorie, a girl Brian is secretly in love with and whom Adam was planning to break up with prior to their engagement. Another friend, Dave Greco, 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. Brian's older sister, record executive Nicole, has recently married Italian model Angelo Varzi and is pregnant with a girl she names Bella. 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

The second season of the series premiered on October 9, 2006. Along with Wife Swap and The Bachelor, it was part of ABC's first primetime Monday evening lineup for the fall not to include Monday Night Football, since that show's shift to ESPN. Contrasting with what had historically been a night which drew high male viewership, What About Brian? was seen by some industry analysts as the closer to a new lineup appealing particularly to female viewers. Every episode in the second season begins with "What About...?". An unaired pilot with a completely different structure from the first episode was created, with Polly Shannon portraying Marjorie instead of Sarah Lancaster.

Music

Howie Day's "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'. Colin Hay's music has been used in several episodes: "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin?" ended the episode "Two in 24" and was also used in "Sex, Lies and Videotape"; "Beautiful World" ended "Moving Day"; "Don't Wait Up" ended "The Importance of Being Brian" and was also in "Sex, Lies and Videotape." Keith Varon has provided songs for the show.