Channel 4 - Desperate Housewives

~~~Desperate Housewives~~~
I find myself writing this review mainly because last week my mum told me she had never actually watched an episode. By now I thought everyone must have at least seen one episode?

Set in the white picket fence suburbia of Wisteria Lane, series 1 of Desperate Housewives was first aired on Channel 4 in 2004.

The show has quickly developed into a long running series with number 6 currently running on channel 4 at 10pm on a Wednesday evening.

The opening episode of series 1 was quite important because it set the tone and atmosphere for the show which has proven in my eyes to be a winning format.

The show is narrated by one of the shows original wives and she sort of plays out the thinking behind her friends actions.

What attracted me to the show was the fact that the women look beautiful and immaculately dressed with handsome husbands and perfect houses however lurking behind their pristine lives on the lane is an array of dirty dark secrets!

~Synopsis:
After the death of a close friend Mary Alice Young, four strong-minded women take on life and all its offerings in sometimes very funny and darkly humorous ways.

But as one secret unfolds more mystery surrounds the lives of the women in suburbia with complicated love lives and juicy problems.

It seems perfection at first glance can be so deceiving ...

~The wives (as at the start of series 1):
At first I thought Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) was going to be a long forgotten character after her death, until she continued to watch over the women dishing out a dose of personal judgement on their questionable decisions. Ironically she was plagued my her own secrets that the wives later discovered in series 1.

Left to ponder over their friends death was her four best friends Susan, Gabby, Lynette and Bree. Each quite different on the surface but underneath the all share the same desire to stay happy and protect what they have at all costs.

Susan (Teri Hatcher) is my favourite as the scatty the children's artist who struggles to find love as a single mum to teenager Julie (Andrea Bowen), I personally think its hilarious when she gets into more than her fair of amusing scrapes.

With a Carl (Richard Burgi) as a rat of an ex-husband it's easy to see why Susan is attracted to the gorgeous and aloof new neighbour Mike (James Denton).

However across the street is man eater Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) who had Mike in her sights as soon as he stepped foot on the lane. As a professional business women working as an estate agent is not the only thing she is good at, second in line is tempting any man she wants. But her most enjoyable is annoying the hell out of Susan.

On hand to give some parental advice and a shoulder to cry on is Lynette (Felicity Huffman), mother to an ever growing brood and wife to reliable Tom (Doug Savant), who struggles with her demanding kids after putting her successful advertising career on hold for the love of her family.

Ex-beauty queen and possibly the most high maintenance of the group is Gabby (Eva Longoria) who revels being centre of attention in her designer clothes that often get thrown to the floor by her toyboy lover and gardener John (Jesse Metcalfe). Luckily for her she gets away with what she wants behind the back of her workaholic husband Carlos (Ricardo Chavira).

The most picture perfect of them all is Bree (Marcia Cross) and her husband Rex (Steven Culp), a neat freak with an immaculate home, the perfect hostess, glowing credentials from her charity work and two teens Andrew (Shaun Pyfrom) and Danielle (Joy Lauren) in tow she makes everything look so effortless.

~My opinion:
Do you think they sound perfect? Well think again, each episode is rife with lots of dirty secrets being cajoled out of their closets.

Usually with each series there is one main sub plot which always seems to be generated from a new mysterious neighbour that moves to the lane. I personally think its amusing that like a pack of mother hens the women always descend on the strangers hidden behind a basket of muffins or a casserole dish

However the juicy story ensues as the wives try to get to know the neighbour (or stick their nose in as my fella calls it) they uncover that something is not quite right which leads to some spectacular storylines with deceit, betrayal and crimes of passion.

Luckily for us the wives are far from perfect and they suffer as well with their own dirty laundry being aired in public for all to see.

In my opinion the show has a good mix of drama and comedy which really sets the show apart from anything else I have watched. On the the surface the lane looks very similar to Stepford Wives with everyone having their place and knowing how they should act but underneath their real personalities are bubbling to get out!

Everyone involved is a pleasure to watch and over the year the characters have come and go but the series has managed to keep my attention with the colourful characters and the situations they get involved in.

The characters are very loveable but I think its amusing how my opinion changed as the series developed. The things the women see are a bit far fetched I mean who would really stay on a street like this?

However don't let this put you off, Desperate Housewives is very entertaining and I love it. My fella however stopped watching after series 1 and he could not put up with a show with gossiping women, so your fella's may not appreciate it as much as you do!

Ultimately its a series about friendship and families but with an added indulgence of wickedness that makes it entertaining.

Im really not going to give the game away by explaining everything they go through, instead I recommend you grab yourself a copy or check out the on demand section on Virgin tv.

~~~Summary~~~
Catch up or miss out. 5/5