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The all-star cast of Brothers & Sisters is led by Rachel Griffiths, Sally Field and Calista Flockhart, but there is another character in the TV series that has been picking up plenty of press in the US.
The "character" is the wine the actors drink in every episode of the show.
American audiences are not used to their favourite TV stars heading to the bottle to celebrate or commiserate as much as the award-winning Brothers & Sisters cast do.
The show, which has 11 million viewers in the US, centres on the Walker family, headed by the meddling matriarch, Nora Walker, played by Field.
"One of the American tabloids recently did a count of the amount of drinks we have as a family," another Brothers & Sisters star, Dave Annable, said.
"It's funny, because it's become the Walker thing.
"We're always at family dinners and get together drinking wine."
The 27-year-old New York-born Annable's character is the only adult who opts out of the family drinking sessions, as he plays an Iraq war veteran with a drug addiction.
There is so much wine consumed in scenes the actors are not given the real thing. Non-alcoholic grape juice is used as a substitute.
Melbourne-born Griffiths is not a fan of the substitute, Annable said.
"We have a whole gag reel of us tasting the disgusting grape juice which doubles as wine in the show," Annable, who was at the 47th Monte Carlo Television Festival to promote the DVD launch of season one of Brothers & Sisters, said.
"They showed the deleted scenes at our wrap party and there were a lot of Rachel and the rest of the cast tasting it and making awful faces."
Annable is not surprised Brothers & Sisters has been such a success, including Field picking up the best actress Emmy Award last month.
"I was in the pilot and then they kept on adding all these big names like Sally Field, Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths and I thought this show can go on for 30 years with names like that," he said.
"You never know if a show is going to work and so few get picked up and become a hit, but I think this show has the pedigree to make it."
Griffiths particularly puts the pressure on other cast members to lift their acting game.
"As a young actor to work with someone like Rachel, I feel like I'm in the big league," Annable added.
"It's like playing for the New York Yankees baseball team."
- AAP
