Scheduling
After premiering in July 1984, Brothers completed the run of its first 26-episode season in December of that year, with the now-popular Brothers Christmas Special (featuring guest star Andy García) serving as the season finale. Beginning in May 1985 and through the end of the 1987 season, Showtime usually ran new episodes of Brothers on a May to December season schedule, a common free-form timetable for any cable network. However, like any other American series (no matter network, cable, or syndicated), each season consisted of a 26 episode order.
The fifth season had its premiere moved up to June in 1988, and had its episodes spread out over the course of a year, with one or two new episodes airing each month. The pace of new episodes eased down during this season when Showtime announced that Brothers was ending its run in 1989; apparently, Showtime wanted a clear-cut five year run while giving viewers enough to a chance to bid farewell to the series. The 25th episode of the fifth season, "The Road Yet Taken", was finally reached on May 5, 1989, and was the final regular episode of Brothers. Then, a few weeks later on June 1, a retrospective farewell special, "I Remember But I Don't Like It" aired, which featured Lou and Donald reflecting back on how their association evolved over five seasons. Thirteen months after the final season began, and just a couple weeks beyond the fifth anniversary of its premiere, Showtime aired the last repeat telecast of Brothers on July 25, 1989.
For the majority of its original run, Brothers had aired Wednesday nights at 8/7c on Showtime, with episodes from its current season being repeated in various late night slots during the week on the premium cable network's schedule.
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