Desperate Housewives

[ClassyCo]

Considering my utter laziness in purchasing my own Netflix subscription has rendered me unable to complete CW DYNASTY, I've been looking at another soap-style show to dive into. When I was young, I remember my aunt and her two daughters really liking DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES. Admittedly, I don't know much about the show beyond the basic premise, and I haven't seen any of it outside of the clips I've caught circling around online.

It aired on ABC from October 3, 2004 to May 13, 2012, totaling eight seasons and 180 episodes. The show was consistently well-received by critics and audiences, and eventually surpassed CHARMED as the longest-running hour drama to feature all female leads. The show is streaming on Hulu (and has been for a while), so I'm toying with the thought of giving it a shot.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this show?

No spoilers (if you can help it) please, but what are the pros and the cons?

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[Karin]

I really enjoyed watching this show when it was first broadcast. It was broadcast on tuesday's over here and it was the last show I remember watching when it would hit me that "yes today it's tuesday. There's a new episode of Desperate Housewives tonight." I was looking forward to watch it.

I like the characters. I like some of the pairings. The show is a bit over the top. It's not a traditional soap opera, as it has more dark humor than usual. But I'd say it's worth watching. I have rewatched it once.

 

[Willie Oleson]

It's a dramedy with an overarching dark mystery for each season. It had plenty of shock value, spectacle, cliffhangers and unhinged villains.
Despite the humorous bits I think the drama is more consistent than CWDynasty. There's always a payoff and in that regard quite similar to Knots Landing.
Since you're a sitcom fan the comedy shouldn't be too much of a hurdle.
Only the last season looks very forced and tired and it's sort of like when Valene gets the idea to write Greg's biography and then her artistic impulses are soooo overpowering that she literally can't stop. Even though everybody says "please, stop".

I can't see myself rewatching Desperate Housewives but I wish I could watch it for the first time.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

During the original run I would have called myself a fan. After seeing it advertised on a billboard I actually bought a television specifically to watch the Pilot after a two or three year complete digital detox. I watched every episode during its first (British) transmission, often twice (each episode was repeated the following week, immediately before the new one) and like Karin I looked forward to each new episode, which is something that I hadn't experienced since the Nineties, and have rarely experienced since.

The cast is solid, and production values, as I remember, were also excellent. If you can tolerate the occasional quirkiness of the tone it's hugely enjoyable. Unlike some of its dramedy peers, I would say DH is usually successful at being both dramatic and funny. It also has that "power of four" thing which is a kind of legacy from The Golden Girls (Jim Colucci's book on The Golden Girls has a two-page table featuring series that followed GG - Designing Women, Living Single, Sex And The City, DH and Noah's Arc - with their comparable characters).

While most of the seasons have their strong moments, I feel the first year is its purest, freshest and strongest - it's just perfectly plotted from beginning to end with a strong sense of identity. This waned a tad in later seasons as characters "evolved" and the series kept trying to find new ways to surprise or shock.

Back in the day we had a lot of DH threads here discussing the various episodes, and it was nice to have that "live" chat feeling with many viewers all watching the same new season at a time before streaming became predominant.

I can't see myself rewatching Desperate Housewives but I wish I could watch it for the first time.

Perfectly put. This sums up how I feel.

 

[Toni]

I was (and am) a big DH fan. Many factors make it an instant classic (like happened with "6 Feet Under" and "Game of Thrones" later): the flawless cast with actresses who either made a comeback (Hatcher, Sheridan, Cross) or were great discoveries (Longoria, Huffman), a supporting cast that was even better (a who´s who of the American character actors, including a certain guy whose initials were LH), and a bunch of insanely hot men in shirtless scenes. And, of course, cliffhangers (did they invent the mid-season cliffhangers?).

I don´t have any problem with the last season, I enjoyed it thoroughly, knowing it was "the end" for that universe. When I think of DH, nothing comes to my mind as the big "jumping the shark" moment: it was non-stop fun and a guilty pleasure with a heart. Of how many shows can we say that?

I mentioned DH in a video as one of the shows that "pretended not to be a soap": they just created a new original genre that didn´t deliver too good material in other series.

And, last but not least, those fantastic, super-creative promos from an inspired publicity staff:

 

[Mel O'Drama]

And it seems the most drama happened once the cameras stopped rolling, exemplified by the infamous Vanity Fair photoshoot, loaded with wardrobe tussles, dramatic walkouts, profane tirades, sly text messages and tearful phone calls.

Five uneasy pieces

So notorious it was covered by SNL.

 

[TaranofPrydain]

Desperately Housewives itself is heavily indebted to of Knots Landing's run with a lot of dry, sarcastic humor, many affairs (like the early seasons of Knots) and the psycho/shocking mystery of the season ala Jill Bennett or Danny Waleska. The main difference is that while Knots was completely sincere, Desperate Housewives plays it for camp half the time, which makes it more of a comedy-drama. Some seasons are better than others: the first is fantastic, the third is thrilling until Marcia Cross goes on maternity leave, most seasons are very good, but season two derails in the second half of the season and season 5 is a bit on the dull side. But its worth watching overall and the cast works extremely well, especially Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and Dana Delany.

 

[Karin]

I don´t have any problem with the last season, I enjoyed it thoroughly, knowing it was "the end" for that universe. When I think of DH, nothing comes to my mind as the big "jumping the shark" moment: it was non-stop fun and a guilty pleasure with a heart. Of how many shows can we say that?

I can think of a jumping the shark moment. There was one occasion where they jumped several years in the plot in between seasons. It felt like a jumping the shark moment at first. I think the show recovered after it and got good again. But it was annoying at the time since I felt cheated out of watching certain character developments that had happened in the years we hadn't seen.

Still I'd say you're in for a good time watching Desperate Housewives. I have had moments where the plot has moved me to tears. That doesn't happen watching all shows. But I've had more moments when I've laughed out loud. So you're in a for a good time. Let us know what you'll think once you'll start watching, ok?