'Desperate
Housewives,' and untidy, too
The long-running ABC dramedy could use a freshening up
By Tom Conroy
May 12, 2011
Often when we TV viewers have let a series fall out of our regular rotation for a while, we wonder if we can catch up with it again. For shows with complicated multi-episode story lines, like “Mad Men” and “The Wire,” this can be hard. For others, revisiting the series after some time away can simply throw its flaws into high relief.
That’s the case with ABC’s comedy-drama “Desperate Housewives,” now in its seventh season. In its first year, the show perfectly blended soap-opera parody and character-driven drama. Now those elements clash. Most of the original characters are working the same comedic and dramatic territory as always, with far less to show for their efforts. And the writers have failed to exploit the talents of Vanessa Williams, who’s playing the new fifth Housewife, Renee.
Loyal fans are probably finding enough to keep them entertained — the dialogue remains witty but unforced — but people who have given up on the show have little cause to regret the decision.
The three most recent episodes, which are leading up to a two-hour season finale this Sunday at 9 p.m., have brought the series full circle by focusing on Paul Young, whose wife, Mary Alice (Brenda Strong), committed suicide just before the pilot, setting the first mystery in motion.
Susan (Teri Hatcher) has been trying to help Paul, who is despondent over the suicide of his second wife, Beth (Emily Bergl). But Felicia Tilman (Harriet Sansom Harris), who is Beth’s mother and the sister of the woman Paul murdered, Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook), who was blackmailing Mary Alice, has been putting poison in the meals Susan cooks for Paul.
The back stories and relationships are even more complex than that last sentence suggests — for example, Susan is grateful to Paul because he allowed her to be the recipient of one of Beth’s kidneys. But in its early seasons, “Housewives” made the over-the-top melodrama work. The twists and turns provoked both gasps and chuckles.
Now it feels as if the writers were just going through the motions. When Susan was dragged off by the police, it was something we’d seen happen to too many characters on the show too many times before.
Susan remains the same well-meaning klutz she was seven seasons ago, but the sight of a pretty woman taking pratfalls is a lot less fresh.
Though Gaby hasn’t evolved either — in most episodes she still has some ’splainin’ to do to her husband, Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) — Eva Longoria hasn’t lost her skill at making the character’s callousness funny. When Bree (Marcia Cross) is angry because Gaby’s overweight daughters have eaten some baked goods she prepared, Gaby says, “You can’t leave food out. They’re like bears. You have to tie it up in a tree.”
But the sudden appearance of a menacing stranger outside Gaby’s house in the most recent episode, clearly intended to hook viewers for the season finale, recalled too many similar moments in past seasons.
Meanwhile, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is still engaged in her seven-season-long war with her husband, Tom (Doug Savant), over which of them is better suited to be the family’s breadwinner. The most recent fight was ludicrous without being very funny: Both of them had planned family vacations, so they agreed to let the kids decide. Each parent delivered a prepared presentation, complete with blown-up photos of the destinations.
Unlike the other Housewives, Bree (Marcia Cross), originally a caricature of a prissy perfectionist, has evolved in ways that reflect her travails over the years. Unfortunately, she was funnier as a caricature.
The current fifth Housewife, Renee (Vanessa Williams), had some good lines in the last three episodes but didn’t have anything interesting to do. She and her old college friend Lynette, who are partners in a decorating business, disagreed over how to redesign Tom’s office; later, she did a background check on a potential boyfriend of Bree’s.
Perhaps the writers are preparing to have Renee killed off in the season finale and don’t want viewers to miss her too much.
Estranged fans of this series can go home again. But they’ll probably wish the Housewives had maintained the place better.
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