"DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Teri Hatcher as SUSAN MAYER Felicity Huffman as LYNETTE SCAVO Marcia Cross as BREE VAN DE CAMP Eva Longoria as GABRIELLE SOLIS Nicolette Sheridan as EDIE BRITT Rated TV-14 Studio: ABC Studios Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Marc Cherry’s wildly popular series about the shenanigans of suburban housewives makes it into its fifth season. We’re now five years in the future (though the storylines don’t necessarily reflect this). Edit Britt (Nicolette Sheridan) has returned to Wisteria Lane with her husband (Neal McDonough) with a dangerous past. Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) has packed on the pounds with Carlos now blind. Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Mike have divorced, while the Scavos are struggling to keep their pizzeria business alive.
WHAT I LIKED
When “Desperate Housewives” began five years ago, I found it to be a refreshingly naughty show. It was fun, but the series just didn’t have the characters to keep that going. Part of the appeal when it began was the wretched nature of the characters, ranging form the nosy and goofy Susan to the downright elitist Gabrielle.
There’s plenty of glam in this fifth season, and of course we have a new bad guy living on Wisteria Lane. The story behind Edie’s husband is a bit tired and predictable, but it offers a certain degree of interest for the television watcher who enjoys this current version of prime time “Peyton Place.”
My favorite part of the show continues to be the smaller characters rather than the main housewives themselves. Kathryn Joosten as Mrs. McClusky – and a cool cameo by Lily Tomlin as her sister Roberta – offers the highlights of the series for me.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
If you ask me, “Desperate Housewives” jumped the shark when it tried to give a realistic, heartfelt adoption story to the Solises. The original appeal to the characters is that they are wicked characters in a picture-perfect life. However, showrunner Marc Cherry can’t stand letting wickedness fall upon them too much, as evidenced by the deus ex machina cancer cure for Lynette Scavo in the previous season.
I’m tired of the characters. They really seemed to have run their course. The on-again-off-again relationship between Susan and Mike has been played out almost as much as the one between Derek Shepherd and Meredith Grey on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Cherry continues to insert stories that have an interesting twist but run out of steam in just a few shows.
The five year jump (which is actually six and a half years if you count the 18-month flash-forward after Gabrielle’s mayoral wedding) isn’t held up with the writing. At times, the show wants to be relevant by addressing the current economic crisis, so I imagine there’s a bad economy in Fairview sometime in 2014.
Neal McDonough is a terrible actor, and he’s in his element in this series, chewing through the scenery like a fat guy at a buffet... or one of Gabrielle’s kids. In an attempt to play against type, they make Gabrielle look dumpy, and she’s supposed to be a relateable mother, but she’s raising brats that bully her and everyone around her.
The only mother who is worse is Lynette, who continues to be portrayed as the “normal” one. But she’s a real bitch, emasculating her husband and committing crimes for her kids. We see recycled storylines, including Lynette suspecting her husband of an affair, and Susan getting jealous over someone else canoodling with Mike.
America disagrees with me about “Desperate Housewives,” as it continues to be a hit, so that bodes well for the cast and crew. However, I wonder how long Marc Cherry can keep this up without having the entire show collapse around him.
DVD FEATURES
The fifth season DVD comes with a decent assortment of special features. The seventh disc includes bloopers and deleted scenes throughout the season. As he did in previous seasons, Marc Cherry picks his favorite scenes and provides a relatively cogent commentary to them.
Two episodes include an audio commentary, and there are three featurettes included. “What More Do I Need?” follows a typical episode from script to screen. “I Know Things Now: Desperate Housewives Celebrates 100” gives a behind-the-scenes look at the 100th episode featuring guest star Beau Bridges. Finally, “So Very Teri” is yet another featurette gushing on how likeable and game Teri Hatcher is (although you wouldn’t believe it from the tabloid rumors about her).
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
The same people who loved seasons one through four.
