  This paper was motivated by a conjecture of Br\"{a}nd\'{e}n (European J.
Combin. \textbf{29} (2008), no.~2, 514--531) about the divisibility of the
coefficients in an expansion of generalized Eulerian polynomials, which implies
the symmetric and unimodal property of the Eulerian numbers. We show that such
a formula with the conjectured property can be derived from the combinatorial
theory of continued fractions. We also discuss an analogous expansion for the
corresponding formula for derangements and prove a $(p,q)$-analogue of the fact
that the (-1)-evaluation of the enumerator polynomials of permutations (resp.
derangements) by the number of excedances gives rise to tangent numbers (resp.
secant numbers). The $(p,q)$-analogue unifies and generalizes our recent
results (European J. Combin. \textbf{31} (2010), no.~7, 1689--1705.) and that
of Josuat-Verg\`es (European J. Combin. \textbf{31} (2010), no.~7, 1892--1906).
