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The Movie: In 2004, Wisteria Lane became televisions hottest address, as "Desperate Housewives" became a massive hit for ABC, who surprised many by bringing out a network show that became widely considered a replacement-of-sorts to HBO's recently departed "Sex and the City". The series spawned a following that grew rapidly and even resulted in contests seeking desperate housewives and a PC (and that likely doesn't also mean politcally correct) "Desperate Housewives" game on the way. Anyways, the series opened with Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) taking her own life right after she completes her daily chores - she then becomes the narrator of the show. At her funeral, we're introduced to the main characters: Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), a former exec who is now frustrated by having to chase after children that look like they need help from "Super Nanny". Bree Van de Camp (Marcia Cross) sternly runs her family and makes sure that every aspect of her home is perfectly presentable. Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) is a former model and current trophy wife - married to Carlos (Ricardo Chavira), but fooling around with gardener (Jesse Metcalfe). Finally, Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) is a single mother raising daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen), and keeping her eyes on new plumber Mike Delfino (James Denton). There's also Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), who remains Susan's competition for Mike. Some characters are certainly more sympathetic than others, but "Desperate Housewives" hooks with a combination of great writing and just the right mixture of mystery, drama and dark humor. The performances are also marvelous, as Huffman leads the pack with a great effort as a frustrated housewife who can't deal with her children and would rather be back in the office that she left. Hatcher is also terrific, and Cross is superb as a perfectionist. Very good in supporting efforts are Denton, Longoria and Sheridan. The second season opens with the mystery of Mary Alice having been solved, but it's not long before a new set of secrets appear. Bree's husband Rex has passed away and his mother (Shirley Knight, great playing against Cross) soon arrives, suspicious about what really happened to her son. Lynette returns to the workplace as her husband becomes a stay-at-home mother. Gabrielle is pregnant and still visiting Carlos in jail. Mike arrives home in the first episode to find Susan being held hostage by Zach. Edie, much to the displeasure of Susan, finds a new romantic inteest in Susan's ex. There's also the matter of new neighbor Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), who is about as normal as can be...aside from the fact that noises are coming from her basement. The second season of "Desperate Housewives" got a mixed reaction from critics, but I felt it was largely an enjoyable set of episodes, if not as strong as the first round. The main concern was the subplot involving Woodard's character. Woodard is a remarkable actress, but the subplot about what's in her basement takes a while to really set-up, never gets too involving and doesn't put Woodard to good use. However, the main actresses generally seem more comfortable in their roles this season (Huffman is terrific once again, doing a superb job of playing a woman torn between work and home) and some of the plotlines have more of a spark than others. Overall, this second season doesn't reach the bar set by the first season, but I didn't think the series took too much of a dip this time around. 24. 2- 1 25 Sep 05 Next 25. 2- 2 2 Oct 05 You Could Drive a Person Crazy 26. 2- 3 9 Oct 05 You'll Never Get Away From Me 27. 2- 4 16 Oct 05 My Heart Belongs To Daddy 28. 2- 5 23 Oct 05 They Asked Me Why I Believe In You 29. 2- 6 6 Nov 05 I Wish I Could Forget You 30. 2- 7 13 Nov 05 Color and Light (a.k.a. I Must Be Dreaming) 31. 2- 8 20 Nov 05 The Sun Won't Set 32. 2- 9 27 Nov 05 That's Good, That's Bad 33. 2-10 4 Dec 05 Coming Home (a.k.a. I've Got You Under My Skin) 34. 2-11 8 Jan 06 One More Kiss 35. 2-12 15 Jan 06 We're Gonna Be All Right 36. 2-13 22 Jan 06 There's Something About a War 37. 2-14 12 Feb 06 Silly People 38. 2-15 19 Feb 06 Thank You So Much 39. 2-16 12 Mar 06 There Is No Other Way 40. 2-17 26 Mar 06 Could I Leave You? 41. 2-18 2 Apr 06 Everybody Says Don't 42. 2-19 16 Apr 06 Don't Look at Me 43. 2-20 30 Apr 06 It Wasn't Meant to Happen 44. 2-21 7 May 06 I Know Things Now 45. 2-22 14 May 06 No One Is Alone 46. 2-23 21 May 06 Remember (1) 47. 2-24 21 May 06 Remember (2) The DVD VIDEO: "Desperate Housewives" is presented by Buena Vista in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. The presentation quality isn't flawless, but the efforts here are generally terrific. Sharpness and detail aren't entirely consistent, but the great majority of the episodes look crisp and clear, with some scenes showing good small object detail. Some darker scenes showed some very slight artifacting, but it was hardly noticable. No edge enhancement, flaws with the elements used, shimmering or other conerns were present. Colors remained bright and well-saturated, with no smearing or other concerns. Overall, the episodes look great and improved over broadcast quality. SOUND: The show is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and actually delivers a bit better than one might expect from a TV series. Surrounds do offer some environmental sounds and music reinforcement. Audio is spread nicely across the front soundstage, and audio quality is terrific, with crisp dialogue and well-recorded music. EXTRAS: An interview with director Marc Cherry and his mother starts off the bonus disc. The 8-minute interview is rather amusing, as mother Cherry is happy to share some stories and Marc talks about what his mother inspired. "Directing Desperate Housewives" visits with the actresses and the show's director as they chat about the process of bringing an episode to the small screen. "Desperate Role Models" talks about housewives today versus housewives in the 50's. Not much to see here, moving on...to 2 deleted storylines involving Susan and Lynette and 11 deleted scenes, w/optional commentary from Cherry. There's also the "Juicy Bites" featurette, Cherry's favorite moments, a featurette on the show's fashion and finally, a hi-larious looking promo for the PC game (the 6th disc has a DVD-ROM demo for the game.) Final Thoughts: The second season of "Desperate Housewives" lacks the crackle of the first season, but the second season certainly still has its moment. The DVD provides very good video quality, fine audio and a very nice helping of supplements. Recommended. |