And now, it’s time for a good old-fashioned nighttime soap opera.

As the title suggests, this new drama is the story of the Walkers, five screwed-up siblings and their supposedly perfect parents.

As “Brothers & Sisters” opens, younger sister Kitty (Calista Flockhart, “Ally McBeal”), a right-wing radio host, has returned home to California to consider a TV offer.

Once there, she hooks up with her siblings: Sarah (Rachel Griffiths), the corporate VP who returns to the family business to have more time for her marriage; Kevin (Matthew Rhys), the gay lawyer; Tommy (Balthazar Getty), the loyal son and womanizer; and Justin (Dave Annable), the baby of the family who’s dealing with war trauma and addiction.

Kitty fears an acrimonious reunion with her mother Nora (Sally Field), who regularly disagrees with her daughter’s politics because of what happened to Justin during his tour in Afghanistan.

An ongoing subplot is financial trouble at the family’s fruit exporting business, which neither family patriarch William (Tom Skerritt) or uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin), the company’s accountant, will talk about.

“Brothers & Sisters” has a lot going on, without every little detail of the characters’ back stories touched on yet. Also, it lacks the deft touch of its lead-in, “Desperate Housewives.” With a cast this talented, there should be more here. Another way to put it is that there is all kinds of untapped potential on “Brothers & Sisters.”