Desperate Housewives

One of the TV reviewers for "Time Out"'s London edition wondered why "Desperate Housewives" has so handily repeated its American success in Britain. Since not every show that's a hit in America exports well to the UK ("Friends" gathered plenty of them over here, and "CSI: Insert Subtitle Here" has consistently been a key player for what used to be called Channel 5; on the other hand, "Murphy Brown" landed on stony soil when it was shown on BBC2, and don't get UK fans started on how "The West Wing" fares here), that's a good question. Fortunately, there is an answer. In fact, several...

1. Germaine Greer, Janet Street-Porter, the editor of "Cosmopolitan" (UK edition) and the TV critics of "The Times" and "The Mirror" have all pooh-poohed it. Since I respect their opinions in the same way I admire Britney Spears purely for her music, this is pretty much a glowing recommendation.

2. Never discount prior experience; just as many critics noted David Chase's work on "The Rockford Files" when "The Sopranos" started here (and never once gave due credit for that beloved '70s show to Stephen J. Cannell and the late Roy Huggins, but that's another story), so creator Marc Cherry's years on "The Golden Girls" (another show that did well here) may have counted. And though I admit I've never liked her, the goodwill Teri Hatcher built up among viewers of both sexes from playing Lois Lane for four years cannot be overlooked.

3. It strikes a major blow on behalf of those of us who don't give a rodent's rump about reality TV.

4. It fills the "Melrose Place"/"Knots Landing"/primetime soap-sized hole that's been gaping for a while now, even down to having former cast members of same, and does it without wildly OTT acting (making it closer to "Knots Landing" in terms of temperament).

5. The series wisely makes at least one of its main characters (Felicity Huffman's Lynette) seem like someone you could actually imagine meeting (key rule of TV: never make everyone too implausible OR too plausible - if everyone really wanted reality no one would have a TV. Or fiction books...).

6. It's both emotional and funny; and it may take a while to wrap up its plot lines, but if the alternative is a whole load of wad-shooting, I'll be patient.

7. The acting. Hatcher may have top-billing and a Golden Globe (and don't bet against her adding an Emmy in September), but five minutes watching Marcia Cross or the aforementioned Miss Huffman will tell you who the real stars are, acting-wise (the ex-Kimberly should have won the GG, not the ex-Mrs. Superman).

8. The eye-candy; never mind "Which desperate housewife are you?" think "Which desperate housewife do you want to sleep with?" Teri still has plenty of devotees and Nicollette Sheridan remains as hot as she was on "Knots Landing" (even if it's not real, it's spectacular) but it's Eva Longoria who really regularly leads viewers into temptation. And please do not deliver us from Eva. (I'll move on before making a "rod and staff" joke.)

9. They had the good sense to get Danny Elfman to do the theme, and unlike "Point Pleasant," I can understand why he said yes.

Welcome to Wisteria Lane. A great place to visit, thus far.

Some thirty years ago now, a fledgling writer and self-admitted 'desperate housewife' herself, one Susan Harris was sitting watching the gawd-awful writing and acting being perpetrated on some daytime sudser and said, "Well, hell! I can do this, and I can do it better!" And so she sat down and started work on what became one of the most ground-breaking series of its time, SOAP.

Fast-forward to 2004. Miraculously, and not a moment too soon, the can-do spirit and twisted, blackly comic sensibility that Susan Harris blended into her frothy concoction has seeped into the consciousness and the pen of one Mr. Marc Cherry, and television right now is all the better for it.

It was high time, in a slate of shows that range from the ones that take themselves all too seriously (THE WEST WING, ER and about any other medical or cop drama you can name), to the ones that have no shame at all (AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, FEAR FACTOR and every 'reality show' going), that somebody took the complete, over-the-top ridiculousness of both day-and-night-time soaps and gave them a good, hard shake.

DESPERATE is not a sitcom, but nothing on television right now makes me laugh harder. It isn't a straight drama, but I find myself just as involved as if I were watching LOST or THE SHIELD. It's not some stiff, stodgy or saccharine, treacly morality play, but when it comes to having a sense of those "family values" that certain politicians are so fond of emphasizing, it carries in one episode more commentary about love, compassion and caring for one's fellow man than all the seasons of JOAN OF ARCADIA and "that show with Della Reese" combined.

Not that it's going to receive the Nobel Prize anytime soon. I would just as soon settle for seeing every member of the terrific cast win an Emmy every year this show runs, and sooner or later, I have no doubt that it will happen.

But besides bringing us a terrific show to look forward to on Sunday nights, (something that hasn't happened for me personally since the heyday of THE X-FILES), let us give thanks for something else that TV has been far too slow in acknowledging...the value of beautiful, brainy and talented actresses over 40.

For realizing that Teri Hatcher DESPERATELY needed a role that would prove she could do a helluva lot more than play yet another version of Lois Lane. That Felicity Huffman, one of our most under-appreciated talents, DESPERATELY needed the sustenance of a role like Lynette Scavo to sink her teeth into. That Marcia Cross DESPERATELY needed the kind of showcase for HER talents that the likes of Frances Conroy, CCH Pounder, Sharon Gless and other top notch actresses only get on cable, and that Bree Van De Kamp will prove once and for all what we always knew from MELROSE PLACE--this woman ROCKS!, and for giving Eva Longoria something that all actors as gorgeous as she have DESPERATELY needed forever...the chance to prove that being a treat for the eyes, does not automatically mean that your acting talent is about as deep as a kiddie wading pool.

Thank you, thank you, thank you...and thank you for making us all DESPERATE for more of the shady doings on the sunny side of the streets of Wisteria Lane.

I'm gonna address something in a serious tone, that is way unlike the premiere of Desperate Housewives. Television, has gotten entirely too serious. It has! Even its comedies can be horribly depressing.

As I sat watching the premiere of Desperate Housewives, I found myself doing something I haven't done in quite some time, and that is "smiling," No, I mean, a huge smile, a GRIN of thankfulness.

I have a theory that most pilot scripts suck, because they are establishing a series, I have hardly ever liked a PILOT script, even if they do their job well which is establish character and the mood of the show. The great story telling comes after the pilot.

The only good pilot I have seen in recent years, was the pilot for ALIAS (brilliant) now a week ago, I saw the PILOT for LOST (edge of your seat good). But even those were topped by the intricate, hysterical, amazing pilot script for DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. If the writers are out there, reading this, 1. Thank You. 2. why are you reading this, get to writing more of this wonderful show.

They also have gotten a superb cast of women. OLDER WOMEN! WOMEN WOMEN, not some 20 something year olds with bland looks on their faces and pouty lips! But Talented, amazing, beautiful, WOMEN (and I'm a guy in my 20's) I appreciate that... WOMEN over 40 ROCK! I speak of course of Felicity Huffman, who can do more with one line of Dialogue, than any other actress I know. This show, brings also the RETURN of Terri Hatcher, THANK GOD! It's about TIME!! And it also brings me, MARCIA CROSS, an actress who should have been given an EMMY for her brilliant, heartbreaking work in EVERWOOD last season.

The producers/Direction/showrunners of the show, have established a look for the show. it's American BEAUTY on ACID. A gorgeous use of color and cinematography, of scoring, and well, I mention it again, because it's so important... GREAT WRITING!

On every level, the PILOT for DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES impresses. It has bite, humor and heart. I hope that it will be around for a long time. But even this one episode is enough to remind people everywhere, that network television can still be FUN!

I like every single episode and the way of the whole story was that you can see how much I love it.

All I can say about this show is: You gotta love the dirty laundry!

At first when I saw the pilots, it was like: What the heck? Are they serious that they were going to make a show about a bunch of shallow people living on a street having sex and complaining about not having enough sex? But at the end, I was wrong.

This is a show about misunderstood and troubled people who really cares about each other and shows it. They are human and they hurt people like everyday-people do. I love this show and it is so humane and the characters are so likable in every single way.

The desperate housewives are portrayed by Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Eva Longoria. As much I hate the character Gabrielle, I have to say, I have to love Eva Logoria's charm because she is delightful to watch as a person in interviews. I love the character Bree. She is so stunning to watch as this perfectionist with a family that is nothing but 'perfect.' Felicity Huffman plays the real everyday-mom who's stressed - Lynette, who's also an great character. There's Teri Hatcher's character, Susan, which I liked at first but she gets boring but she does have a great cheerleader, her daughter Julie, who is probably much more likable than her.

And there's Edie Britt ... the 'slut' of the neighborhood. I hated her at first, but then, slowly, loved her.

What makes this show so creative is that it is narrated by a housewife that committed suicide on episode one. It is an extremely nice turn in television.

This is my favorite show ... next to Lost. ABC is doing very well this season.