TV treatment: My Brother’s Keeper
My Brother’s Keeper
is the story of identical twins (played by one actor) living in the same city. One of the brothers is a traveling salesman who enjoys a good income and a fair amount of free time. His brother, however, is an ultra-deep-cover operative for a super-secret spy network. As such, it is imperative that his movements be nearly undetectable. So, when he is called upon to serve his country, his salesman brother must cover for him in public, at work, and at home.
Cast of Characters
Edward Barlow — The older of the twins by a few minutes, and a top-secret deep-cover agent for the United States Security Network. Although only in his early thirties, Edward is an extremely competent agent, and is much in demand for his expert handling of delicate situations. Because of the sensitive nature of his business, he is more of a trouble-shooter than a regular field agent; his specialty is solving problems lightning fast on the basis of information gathered by the Organization. Thus, he is rarely away for more than a couple of days at a time. Although he does value his brother’s contribution, Edward can’t help but feel mighty superior when comparing vocations. Thus does it rankle all the more that his brother has two boys while Edward feels cursed with two girls.
Earl Barlow — The younger of the twins, a fact of which he is reminded whenever Edward wants to pull rank. Although as talented as his brother in his own way, Earl is a bit more sedentary in lifestyle. His sales acumen lead him to create a sales lead tracking and customer follow-up system that not only increased his territory tremendously, but also made it largely self-maintaining. Thus he can set his own hours … very convenient when covering for brother Ed. He is one of only three people in the world who knows of Ed’s cover. Even though he is constantly brow-beaten by Ed about his age
and the seeming boringness of his life, Earl does make considerably more money than Ed; a fact that he is usually too noble to bring up. Usually.
Helen Barlow — Earl’s wife; a simple, down-to-earth, good humored, and trusting woman. She and Earl have what could be called a perfect marriage, even if Earl does seem to be a bit too interested in the day-to-day goings on of his brother and his wife. Helen knows without question that Earl is faithful, so she never worries about it. She is more plain featured than Ed’s wife, Lucy, but it doesn’t bother Helen a bit, and her wonderful nature more than makes up for any physical lacking. She is happy with her husband, happy with her life, and happy with her two boys; Troy and Kirk.
Lucy Barlow — Ed’s wife; a very pretty woman with a great figure who is not too observant, slightly forgetful, and not prone to ponder things overly much … all good traits for security reasons. She dotes on her Eddie
(a nickname given by Earl that Edward hates), and if there is anything in her life that concerns her, it would be that she and Edward don’t seem as well off as Earl and Helen. Unlike Edward, Lucy couldn’t be happier that they have two little girls; Alicia and Becky.