Kate Brasher

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American drama television series

title: "Kate Brasher" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2000s-american-drama-television-series", "2001-american-television-series-debuts", "2001-american-television-series-endings", "television-series-by-20th-century-fox-television", "television-series-by-cbs-studios", "television-shows-set-in-california", "cbs-television-dramas"] description: "American drama television series" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Brasher" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American drama television series ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
image	KateBrasher.jpg
genre	Drama
creator	Stephen Tolkin
starring	{{Plain list
theme_music_composer	{{Plain list
*Lisbeth Scott<ref name	VarietySeries profile at Variety.com
country	United States
language	English
num_seasons	1
num_episodes	6
executive_producer	{{Plain list
producer	{{Plain list
cinematography	Gordon Lonsdale
runtime	60 minutes
company	{{Plain list
network	CBS
first_aired
last_aired
::

| image = KateBrasher.jpg | caption = | alt_name = | genre = Drama | creator = Stephen Tolkin | developer = | starring = {{Plain list|

Mary Stuart Masterson
Hector Elizondo
Gregory Smith
Mason Gamble
Rhea Perlman | theme_music_composer = {{Plain list|
Nathan Barr
Lisbeth Scott | opentheme = | endtheme = | composer = | country = United States | language = English | num_seasons = 1 | num_episodes = 6 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = {{Plain list|
Danny DeVito
John Landgraf
Stacey Sher
Stephen Tolkin | producer = {{Plain list|
Mary Stuart Masterson
Cyrus I. Yavneh | editor = | location = | cinematography = Gordon Lonsdale | camera = | runtime = 60 minutes | company = {{Plain list|
Jersey Television
CBS Productions
20th Century Fox Television | network = CBS | first_aired = | last_aired =

Kate Brasher is an American drama television series created by Stephen Tolkin, that was broadcast on CBS from February 24 until April 14, 2001. It premiered at 9:00pm ET/PT on Saturday, February 24, 2001 and was cancelled after six episodes.

Overview

The title character was the single mother of teenaged sons Daniel and Elvis living in Santa Monica, California. Facing a financial crisis, she seeks legal advice at Brothers Keepers, an inner city community advocacy center, and is offered a job as a social worker. Her co-workers include attorney Abbie Schaeffer and Joe Almeida, the organization's street-smart director, who founded it after his daughter was killed in gang crossfire.

Cast

Mary Stuart Masterson as Kate Brasher
Hector Elizondo as Joe Almeida
Gregory Smith as Daniel Brasher, Kate's first son
Mason Gamble as Elvis Brasher, Kate's second son
Rhea Perlman as Abbie Schaeffer
Roger Robinson as Earl

Among those actors making guest appearances during the series' short run were K Callan, Dennis Christopher, Paul Dooley, Mariette Hartley, Josh Hopkins, Carl Lumbly, Spencer Breslin, David Naughton and Mackenzie Phillips.

Development and production

Series creator Stephen Tolkin based the character of Almeida on Rabbi Mark Borovitz, an ex-convict and alcoholic who became the spiritual leader of Gateways Beit T'Shuvah, a residential treatment center for Jews in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. The two men met when Tolkin contacted the rabbi for help with a friend who was dealing with substance abuse.

Although set in Santa Monica, California, the series was shot on location in San Diego, California.

Episodes

Critical reception

Anita Gates of the New York Times said the series "has an appealing cast and doesn't insult viewers' intelligence most of the time. But the main characters - who are 100 percent good and face off against people who are 100 percent bad - always seem to be making self-righteous speeches . . . There's nothing wrong with inspiring little speeches that make audiences cheer. It was always a pleasure to see Dixie Carter get carried away with one of hers on Designing Women. But the speeches have to say something in a fresh way, and even Ms. Carter's orations got old once the show's writers became so self-conscious about them.

Kate Brasher is trying too hard . . . to be quirky . . . to create a noisy ER-ish atmosphere of hustle, bustle, chaos and crisis, . . . [and] to be simultaneously uplifting and cynical."

References

[https://www.variety.com/profiles/TVSeries/main/157059/Kate+Brasher.html?dataSet=1 Series profile at Variety.com]
"''Jewish News of Greater Phoenix'', March 30, 2001".
"Public Catalog - Copyright Catalog (1978 to present) - Basic Search [search: "Kate Brasher"]". United States Copyright Office.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/24/arts/television-review-good-guys-vs-bad-guys-with-earnest-orations.html ''New York Times'' review]

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::