Desperate Housewives

Most of us who are fans of Alias have heard the news about its schedule next season. In its timeslot for the first part of the season, ABC will instead run Desperate Housewives, a decidedly unappealing title, but I figured it deserved a look.

I just saw the pilot, and I must say that although I'm a little intrigued, I'm definitely not sold. It primarily tells the story of 4 women in anonymous American suburbia, our very neighbors could be like this, I suppose. It hails the return of Marcia Cross (most recently seen on Everwood), Teri Hatcher, and one of the women from Sportsnight. The show is entirely narrated from an omniscient third-person who also happens to be one of the wives who commits suicide in the opening scene. The rest of the pilot was basically spent on setting up the women in their niches.

Teri is the divorcee whose husband cheated on her and left her with a clever teenage daughter, Marcia is the perfect housewife whose family can't stand it, Dana from Sportsnight is a high-powered careerwoman who gave it up for kids who are absolutely out of control, and then there's the ex-model who married for money and is now cheating on her husband amidst their loveless marriage (not sure what she's been in). Basically, nobody is happy, but everyone thinks everybody else is. Hmm.

Oh, and then there are the two presumably season-long storyarcs which are good for cliffhangers. The narrator has some sort of secret, as does her family (husband and son). And a bachelor who just moved in also appears to be harboring some intrigue.

My main gripe is that there is very little funny. Without the funny, I usually expect some action/suspense (Alias). This show provides neither, though the 'secrets' of the neighborhood do provide a little of the suspense, it's really not enough to keep me watching just to find out what those secrets are.

But hey, I was willing to give Tru Calling two tries, so why not this one, especially since we know that the ReplayTV will have that timeslot open.

- totoro