Desperate Housewives

Rambler

Awanturnik
Since this has been brought up over in the Amanda Platell thread, I thought I'd start a new thread for it here.

My thoughts:

I'm watching this under increasing sufferance (to answer Philip's question I know at least one woman who watches every week). I still enjoy parts of it, but the voice-over is becoming almost unbearable - it's like listening to a 12-year-old's homework assignment 'Write a review of the story Desperate Housewives'. Parts of it look as though the writers, in their desire to keep the hook/gimmick going have totally forgotten about plot, character, dialogue, etc etc. Irritating and frustrating.

BUT, Glad to see K-Punk switching to a Bree avatar - for me, along with Lynette she's the only actual character on display - and easily the best reason for watching at the moment.

So, six out of 10.
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
6/10 is spot on. I'm quite enjoying it- it's not dark in any way at all, in fact everything's in a fairly comfortable surburban stasis- the young woman shags her toyboy, the harrased mother plows her own hard but rewarding furrow. It's as self congratulatory as Sex In The City, but simply quite a lot funnier.

Agree about the voice over, that's losing it's way big time. In fact the series as a whole is drifting a lot at the moment, but for now, it's still got some laughs. The best gig in the entire series was where Carlos beat up the cable guy and, realising he's the wrong guy, says it was because he was gay. That was hilarious.
 
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Rambler

Awanturnik
I loved the 'crys when he ejaculates' dinner announcement. That has the mark of still being quoted in 10 years' time.
 

jenks

thread death
i too am watching it slightly under suffrance - it's about the only thing we will both watch together. my wife likes it for a whole host of reasons including lynette's response to "let's just risk it". for me i am finding it less annoying than SATC which i just couldn't bear. i agree about the voice over, it was ok for an episode, a bit like the start of american beauty but the tone is just too arch too often.
for me Bree is the main reason to watch it, i love the whole sublimnation thing connected to her mother's death and there is something glacial and quite beautiful about her.
as for terri hatcher was i the only one to think 'christ, you've aged!'
 

mind_philip

saw the light
Everyone loathes the voice-over. Surely these kind of things get test-audienced? I'm definitely in agreement with the 'less irritating version of SATC' judgment; it has many of the same faults, it just doesn't have such annoying leads.
 

mind_philip

saw the light
That voice-over. It sounds like the kind of worthy effortful crap you'd expect someone to have toiled over for 12 months in a creative writing class.
 

Woebot

Well-known member
we love this at my house. its the cheese. will i want to watch a re-run? probably not.

best bit: alsatian licking the dogfood (which susan mayer/teri hatcher smears behind her ears in a bid to win owner mike's affection) before choking on her earring. c'mon thats ACE!
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
I'm not over-enamoured with the voiceover meself, but I have to say I've been stunned by the reception of DH, not only here but in the media in general. The prevailing view in the papers seems to be 'What's all the fuss about?' (This from a country that voted Robbie Williams' 'Angels' the best single of the last 25 years... someone buy me a plane ticket). Seems to me a classic case of negative hype syndrome, where hype has actually made people hostile to the show. It also demonstrates the absurdly high level of expectations British audiences have in relation to American TV shows. Imagine a British TV show so well-scripted (there are at least two stonedead killer lines in each episode), funny, painfully embarrassing, intriguing, female-positive.... It's impossible to imagine it, since the only genre that British TV can produce to any level of competence any more is comedy. Drama is dead in the water...

I agree DH is not dark, but thank god. 'Dark' is one of the biggest cliches in contemporary culture, surely.

As for the original question, in my experience, it's predominantly watched by women, but enjoyed by some men. And what could be better than that? :)
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
k-punk said:
Imagine a British TV show so well-scripted (there are at least two stonedead killer lines in each episode), funny, painfully embarrassing, intriguing, female-positive....

Shameless? Although that is an outstanding exception to the rule, so I take the point.
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
Shameless I shamefacedly admit I haven't seen.... Isn't that comedy though? (I speak from a position of genuine, total ignorance....)
 

Diggedy Derek

Stray Dog
Yeah Shameless is outstanding. It's both drama and comedy really- it's such a successful mix that Steve Coogan has got the idea of something similarly humourous yet weighty.

Good point that dark is overrated K-Punk.... however the script to Desparate Housewives isn't always so sharp for me. Every episode has the standard "Teri Hatcher chats to her daughter about how nice whatsisname is" scene. It's plodding, they don't take the effort to freshen things up enough. Even Friends, for all it's faults, always made the effort to approach repetive themes through a range of different scenes, always seeking a new angle.
 
B

be.jazz

Guest
I've seen the first four episodes so far, liking it quite a lot. Hadn't particularly formed an opinion of the voice-over either way. The best bits have been quoted ("ejaculation," the cable guy), I would add Lynette's "get out of the car!" incident.

I'm not really seeing the SATC comparaisons, however. Whereas SATC depressingly cloaked the traditional "every woman needs her man" under libertine exteriors, DH puts somewhat more down-to-earth situations in a plain-yet-surreal setting.
 
B

be.jazz

Guest
Surely, anybody with a name that sounds like a cheese has gotten off to a bad start in life?
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
be.jazz said:
I'm not really seeing the SATC comparaisons, however. Whereas SATC depressingly cloaked the traditional "every woman needs her man" under libertine exteriors, DH puts somewhat more down-to-earth situations in a plain-yet-surreal setting.

For me one important difference between DH and SATC is in the relationships amongst the women themselves. SATC seemed far more realistic (and honest) in the fact that relationships, secrets, tensions, between the four could be infinitely varied - whereas in DH the women are almost exclusively all four together, or each invidually at home; they never pair off to ask advice/bitch/confide in one another as real groups of friends do.

That's not a fatal flaw of course, but in a show that at least on some level wants to draw rounded female characters it's a lack - hell, even Friends managed this trick.
 

mms

sometimes
me and friends were talking about this, it appears to be more watched and valued by men than women, no women in the group were really bothered about it whilst all the men were, esp brie for the gay men amongst the group She seems tailor made for the gay icon role.


ive got over the voiceover thingy now.
 
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