Desperate Housewives

emmie · Post by **emmie** » Oct 4th 2004, 6:04 pm

I caught the first 15 minutes of Desperate Housewives last night. and it was sooo funny! most definitely dark humour with a soap opera twist.

I also caught a preview of life as we know it. it looked promising, but sasha wrote that the scripts are bad, so that is unfortunate.

Nothingman · Post by **Nothingman** » Oct 4th 2004, 6:43 pm

emmie wrote:I caught the first 15 minutes of Desperate Housewives last night. and it was sooo funny! most definitely dark humour with a soap opera twist.

So much I could say about this show, just going to let it be. To each his own. Where is that can of worms picture fnordboy posted when you need it.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Oct 4th 2004, 8:56 pm

I thought Desperate Housewives was funny too - very campy in a Melrose Place kind of way. Of course Marcia Cross definitely helps add an air of black comedy.

Creator Marc Cherry says he came up with the title before he had written a single word.

The former writer and producer of hit sitcom The Golden Girls, Cherry was out of work, thanks to reality TV eliminating many writing jobs. He was at home watching coverage of the tragic Andrea Yates trial one day two years ago with his mother, Martha Cherry.

As they watched the story of the young mother found guilty of drowning her children in the bathtub, he turned to his mother, horrified, and said, "Can you imagine being so desperate that you would do that to your children?"

His mother, he says, took the cigarette out of her mouth and said, "I've been there."

He started writing.

Cherry, 42, says he grew up with two siblings on his grandparents' farm in Oklahoma. His dad traveled a lot, so his mom was home on the farm raising the three kids.

"I always envisioned her as the perfect wife and mother," he says. "The idea that she had a period in her life when she was miserable was astounding to me. I suddenly realized that if my mother could be desperate in the life she had chosen for herself, any woman can."

Cherry says Desperate Housewives isn't meant to suggest all housewives are miserable, but that "we all have to be careful about the choices we make in life. What do you do when you're not happy in the situation you've put yourself in? What I'm really writing about is different aspects of my mother."

He envisions the show as Sex and the City meets Six Feet Under. He says there isn't a show on TV now about "a bunch of women who stay at home. We're entering into a post-feminist phase where we're realizing the choice of women going to the workplace is terrific, but a lot of women are making the choice to stay home."

And is that choice always so fraught with angst? No, but any stay-at-home mom will tell you there are moments when feelings of ambivalence are unavoidable.

wicked · Post by **wicked** » Oct 4th 2004, 8:58 pm

I missed it! ...sigh..oh well maybe in reruns eh? sundays are hard though...damn kids

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Oct 4th 2004, 9:05 pm

I rarely watch shows when they air - I always have to set my VCR! On the plus side, I get to fast forward through all the commercials.

dTheater · Post by **dTheater** » Oct 4th 2004, 10:18 pm

Life As We Know It looks pretty horrible but Desparate Housewives was fantastic. I loved it. It reminded of some of my favorite movies: American Beauty, Far From Heaven, Magnolia. And there odd-ball, silly humor; weird, surrealistic stuff; some kind of twisted mystery/suspence thing. It was deifnitely impossible to pigeonhole.

It's re-running this Saturday at 8 or 9 or 10 or something.

emmie · Post by **emmie** » Oct 5th 2004, 12:59 pm

I hope that the show will be able to keep the dark humor up and running. I'm just afraid that it might veer too much in the path of Melrose Place with people sleeping with everyone. but I love all the actresses playing the wives and mothers, they did a great job. I like that they present many different senarios like the single mother, unhappy marriage, the working mother, etc.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Oct 5th 2004, 6:44 pm

I stopped watching Melrose Place after a few years - right around the time that all the main characters had slept with each other. Once they started bringing in tons of new characters, I couldn't take it anymore. They moved from campy to beyond ridiculous. Hopefully Desperate Housewives will be able to stay on the right side of that line.

I do like the different women who are portrayed, but I feel like all the women on Wisteria Lane should read The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.

As for Life as We Know It, I won't be watching for several reasons. First, the fact that it's another ABC show about high school kids using the MSCL-esque type font is too much for me. Secondly, Kelly Osbourne. Ugh. Third of all, it just looks stupid. Fourth of all, I think I have more than enough tv shows to keep me busy.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Jan 20th 2005, 7:20 am

Marc Cherry, Marcia Cross, Michael Edelstein, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Nicollette Sheridan, and Tom Spezialy have been announced as Desperate Wives panelists for the Museum of Television and Radio William S. Paley Television Festival on March 8.

schris · Post by **schris** » Jan 21st 2005, 7:47 pm

Also, the recaps of Desperate Housewives on TWoP are hilarious!

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Jan 22nd 2005, 3:45 am

I'm hard pressed to name any TWoP shows that don't have hilarious recaps!

dTheater · Post by **dTheater** » Jan 23rd 2005, 3:04 am

Sad to come back to this thread and see how much I loved the first episode because since then, the show has gone so drastically downhill IMO. I'll still watch if I'm home, but I don't plan my night around it like I did for the first few episodes. I missed a few episodes too many and now I'm kind of out of the loop. It's still good -- some episodes moreso than others -- but really failed to deliver on the promise of that first episode which, again, was just great.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Mar 5th 2005, 11:18 pm

Info about the DVD release from tvshowsondvd:

Today's issue of USA Today has a "Life" section report called " 'Lost,' 'Desperate' destined for DVD", going over the basic info for both releases. We'll talk about Lost further in a separate news post, but here's the latest news on Desperate Housewives, quoted directly from the newspaper:

Desperate Housewives is due Sept. 20 ($60), with many extras, including an alternate ending to the season finale, unrated extended episodes, a documentary on the Housewives phenomenon and a Wisteria Lane fashion show.
We don't know if that's ALL the extras in the set, given the wording. We called over to Buena Vista to ask, and they told us to look for the official press release in the near future. They did tell us, though, that "$60" is the SRP ($59.99, to be exact), on both Desperate Housewives and on Lost. Stay tuned for more information, Desperate fans, and we'll bring it to you just as soon as we can!

Our thanks to all the readers who brought this to our attention, but especially Alyssa Kaplan, who was the first to alert us, and sent us the online link to the story.

UPDATE!
Wow, it hasn't even been two hours since we posted this info, and there's more info already! Thanks goes to reader Scott Lovelace, for pointing us toward a story by trade magazine Home Media Retailing (formerly (Video Store Magazine). In his take today on the releases, HMR writer Erik Gruenwedel gives us different info about the extras, possibly filling in the gaps in USA Today's list! Here's a quote from that story:

Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season, winner of two Golden Globes for best comedy and best actress (Teri Hatcher), includes this season's alternate ending; unrated and unintended episodes; cast commentaries; a making-of documentary; a fashion show, and series creator Marc Cherry's favorite episodes with audio commentary.
Cool, many of us were hoping for the commentary tracks, and according to this report they'll be there! One disappointment is that there's no mention of the original version of the pilot being included. For those of you who don't know, the pilot was shot at first with a slightly different cast, including Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks' "Laura Palmer") playing - yes, you guess it! - dead girl "Mary Alice Scott". We hope the original pilot finds its way onto the DVD, too! Stay tuned and we'll let you know when the press release shows up.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Mar 12th 2005, 3:47 am

More DVD news from tvshowsondvd:

Lots of news has been flying around - both on and off the Internet - about the September 20th release of Desperate Housewives - The Complete 1st Season on DVD. By now we know that this will be a 6-DVD set that list-prices for $59.99 in the USA (though you can pre-order it now from Amazon for just $41.99) and in Canada the SRP is CAN$87.99 (but Amazon.ca pre-sells it for CAN$50.60).

Today Buena Vista also released a look at the packaging for this set, and the question that jumps to mind immediately is "Where are these womens' dresses?" It's a different look for DVD cover art, which strangely reminds me of the "paper doll" cut-out dresses that young girls would play with. I wonder if this was the intent of the art designer and the studio? If not, I can't help but wonder where they were going with this. Well, I'd buy this in a plain brown wrapper, frankly, and we suspect most of you will, too!

The double-Golden Globe-winning show will come to DVD with a wealth of extras. The studio hasn't given us a final list of them yet, but the rumors include mention of these possibilities, but not everything may even be listed here:

* Alternate ending to the first season finale
* Extended, unrated episodes
* Cast commentaries
* Creator Marc Cherry's favorite episodes with audio commentary
* A making-of documentary about the phenomenon of the show
* A Wisteria Lane "fashion show"

What's really on there, and what's not? We're still waiting for the studio to issue their formal press release with that info. Stay tuned!

Click here to view the cover art.

Post by **Natasha (candygirl)** » Mar 16th 2005, 5:16 pm

tvshowsondvd has posted the official DVD press release:

AMERICA'S FAVORITE SHOW COMES TO DVD!

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON

The Housewives Dish the Dirt and Spill More Secrets In Never-Before-Seen Footage, Deleted Scenes, Backstage Visits, Audio Commentary and More DVD Bonus Features!

Catch All The Love, Sex, Gossip, Lies, Mystery and Delicious Scandal On September 20!

BURBANK, Calif., March 15, 2005 - The most talked about, sexy and fun show of the year comes to DVD for the first time in a sizzling box set, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, available on September 20th from Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Winner of two 2005 Golden Globe awards for Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actress - Teri Hatcher (Musical or Comedy), DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES is nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. The release date of September 20 is timed for fans to collect and enjoy the entire first season just before the hotly anticipated premiere of Season 2 on ABC TV.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON features bonus material found nowhere else. Included are the Season One finale's alternate ending; unrated and exclusive extended episodes; the 'Making-of' the Season One finale; cast commentaries on favorite episodes; creator Marc Cherry's favorite episodes with audio commentary; a short documentary on the Housewives' phenomenon worldwide; Wisteria Lane Fashion show; and more. Available on 6-disc DVD for $59.99 (S.R.P.).

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES is the sexy, funny and utterly engaging look at one suburban neighborhood, where the secret lives of housewives aren't always what they seem. Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong, Nip/Tuck) narrates and takes us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors. There's Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher, Tomorrow Never Dies), divorcee and single mom of Julie Mayer (Andrea Bowen, Boston Public); Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman, Sports Night) the ex-career woman and mother of four unmanageable kids; Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross, Everwood), the Martha Stewart on steroids; Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria, L.A. Dragnet), the ex-model and cheating wife; and serial divorcee Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan, Beverly Hills Ninja), whose romantic conquests have everyone buzzing.

Then there are the men, including 17-year old gardener John (Jesse Metcalfe, Passions); hunky neighbor Mike (James Denton, The Pretender); fed-up husband Rex (Steven Culp, Thirteen Days); Gabrielle's domineering husband Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Six Feet Under); suspiciously newly-widowed husband Paul (Mark Moses, Ally McBeal) and more. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES' great guest stars include Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blue), Lupe Ontiveros (Storytelling), Richard Roundtree (Shaft) and more.

Marc Cherry is executive producer and writer, Michael Edelstein and Tom Spezialy are executive producers, and Charles Pratt Jr. is consulting producer of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, from Touchstone Television.

* STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 20, 2005
* Suggested retail price: $59.99 (6 Disc DVD).
* Bonus materials unrated and subject to change.
* DVD aspect ratio: 1.33:1, formatted 4x3
* Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

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