Insightful, fun Housewives worth staying home for
Published October 2, 2004
By: Tom Jilcha
Desperate Housewives brings to prime time something that has become
in short supply -- fun.
A soapy mix of light drama and dark comedy, the new ABC series has
insightful things to say about contemporary mores, but the writing
never loses track of the primary goal -- to entertain. The social
commentary is made in such wickedly wacky ways, the hour never ceases
being an engaging joy ride.
A sharp ensemble, which brings well fleshed-out characters vividly
to life, completes a totally
satisfying package.
The premise borrows from Twin Peaks and Melrose Place, spiced by
a pinch of Designing Women. Some
might even see parallels to Sex and the City.
Mary Alice Young is living the "perfect" suburban housewife life
with a loving husband, good kids, a gorgeous home and an abundance
of close friends. Things seemingly couldn't get any better until
one sunny morning when, after her dailyritual of making breakfast,
tidying up the house and running some errands, she goes to her
bedroom closet, takes out a gun and blows her head off.
The seemingly senseless act leaves everyone who knows her in
shocked disbelief. Her gal pals are especially troubled, since
as one of them puts it, "Her life was our life." Worse, Mary Alice
was the one the others turned to when they had trouble coping with
mundane hassles. What could lead her to do such a thing?
Just as "Who killed Laura Palmer?" was the fuel that propelled
Twin Peaks, this mystery will drive the first season. Coincidentally,
Sheryl Lee, who played Laura Palmer, was originally cast as Mary Alice.
In a decision that makes sense only to Hollywood types, after a
fine turn in the pilot Lee was replaced by Brenda Strong. It could
be the network didn't want such a clear connection to a series
that started with a sizzle, as Desperate Housewives also does, but
ended with a fizzle.
Putting further distance between the two series, executive
producer Mark Cherry promises that unlike Twin Peaks, the
circumstances of Mary Alice's death will not be an endless
tease. "I'm not going to taunt people for years and years and
never give them answers," he said. "I want some kind of
satisfaction built in, too."
Mary Alice might be gone from Earth but she remains a presence
in the series, providing a voice-over commentary on the people
she left behind. She'll also occasionally reappear in flashbacks.
"Her looking down on her friends and being able to talk about
their lives and discern the deeper meanings of them will play out
over the long run of the show," Cherry said. "We're going to be
building to some big reveals at the end of season one."
Cherry has given himself plenty of juicy story lines to mine.
If anyone was going to end it all, it figured to be Lynette Scavo.
She was on a corporate fast track when her husband convinced her to
temporarily put aside her career to start a family. Then he got her
pregnant three times in four years. Once she delivered twins, so now
her days consist of wrangling with three incorrigible boys and an
infant girl while her husband hits the road on business trips.
Felicity Huffman is typically brilliant as the frustrated Lynette.
Susan Mayer, living proof that you can screw up macaroni and
cheese, also thought she had it made until her husband left her
for his secretary a year ago. Now she laments her nonexistent
personal life while her teenage daughter Jenna tries to play matchmaker.
Teri Hatcher, as Susan, hasn't been this endearing since her
Radio Shack spots with Howie Long.
Bree Van de Kamp makes Martha Stewart look disorganized and untidy.
Everything in Bree's world has to be perfect. She bakes from scratch,
sews new clothing, upholsters furniture and tends a garden that would
be the envy of Vizcaya. It's all enough to make her husband and kids
want to kill themselves. Marcia Cross injects credibility into what
easily could be a cartoonish character.
Gabrielle Solis doesn't fit the Wisteria Lane mold. A former model,
she's an unabashed gold digger who, after taking test spins with the
New York Yankees outfield, married a prosperous businessman named
Carlos, who likes to flaunt her like a Rolex and boast of how much
he paid for the latest bauble he bought her. His money doesn't buy
love, however. Gabrielle reserves her passion for their young gardener.
Eva Longoria, as Gabrielle, is at least initially overshadowed by her
better known co-stars.
Even though most of her friends are aware of Gabrielle's extramarital
activities, she isn't considered the neighborhood trollop. This
designation is reserved for Edie Britt, a predatory divorcee with
more conquests than Cleopatra. It's Susan's misfortune that she has
to wind up competing with Edie for the new guy on the block, the
handsome and eligible Mike Delfino.
Edie wasn't supposed to be a regular character but Nicollette
Sheridan aced the role with such elan, the producers decided they
had to have her every week. James Denton, last seen in the
short-lived Threat Matrix, makes the women's interest in debonair
Mike easy to understand.
Those who allow themselves one guilty pleasure on TV could do a
lot worse than making Desperate Housewives their weekly fling. The
potential is there for the pleasure to endure long after the guilt
subsides.
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