Desperate Housewives

[WVRed]

I just watched it for the first time tonight. I kinda feel like a sheep for doing it right after the MNF fiasco, but ive been meaning to watch it for some time.

Its definitely one of the more interesting shows on television. Its almost like crossing a Lifetime movie with Melrose Place. Not to mention both Marcia Cross and Doug Savant play on there.

Sure did leave a good cliffhanger too

Anybody else seen it and have thoughts on it?

[Reds4Life]

I watch it for one reason.

[RosieRed]

I've watched it since it started. It's definitely entertaining, if nothing else.

[Unassisted]

Well-written, crisp dialogue. I like it a lot.

[dman]

Teri Hatcher does it for me.

[pedro]

it's some high quality trash. i like it.

[TeamCasey]

I normally don't care for evening serials, but this one's pretty funny.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by dman

Teri Hatcher does it for me.

They're real, and they are magnificent! :mhcky21:

Has anyone ever seen a housewife that good looking who was desperate?

FOR WHAT?

[MuEconRedLeg]

Desperate Housewives,

Not a fan.

Teri Hatcher,

Makes just about anything worthwhile! oh yeah

[CougarQuest]

This show should scare the bejesus out of every male. :MandJ:

I love this show.

[RBA]

Rest easy, TV sinners, 'values' voters like to watch

November 22, 2004

By Bill Carter New York Times

The results of the presidential election of 2004 are still being parsed for what they say about the electorate's supposed closer embrace of traditional cultural values. But for the network television executives charged with finding programs that speak to tastes across the nation, one lesson is clear.

The supposed cultural divide is more like a cultural mind meld.

In a series of interviews, representatives of the four big broadcast networks as well as Hollywood production studios said the returns on display in the nightly television ratings bore little relation to the message apparently sent by a significant percentage of voters.The television choices of viewers, whether in Los Angeles or Salt Lake City, New York or Birmingham, Ala., are remarkably similar. And that means the election will have little impact on which shows they decide to put on television, these executive say.

It is possible that some secondary characters on new television shows will exhibit strong religious beliefs, and an occasional plotline may examine the effects of faith on some characters' lives. But television shows are far more likely to keep pumping from the deep well of murder, mayhem and sexual transgression than seek diversion along the straight and narrow path.

"It's entertainment vs. politics," said Steve McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment. He dismissed the notion that program creators might be developing ideas specifically to chase voters who claimed moral values as an important issue in this election. "I have not heard an idea of that kind," McPherson said, "none whatsoever.''

As much as network entertainment executives believe in taking note of trends, the rating figures from Nielsen Media Research remain their bible.

"They tell you more about creative values than anything that's in the political zeitgeist," said Dana Walden, the president of one of the largest production studios, Twentieth Century Fox Television, which produces shows like "The Simpsons'' and "NYPD Blue.'' "It's those values that are striking a chord with the American people,'' Walden said.

So if it is true that the public's electoral choices are a cry for more morally driven programming, the network executives ask, why are so many people, even in the markets surrounding the Bush bastions Atlanta and Salt Lake City watching a sex-drenched television drama?

"Desperate Housewives" on ABC is the big new hit of the television season, ranked second overall in the country, behind only "CSI'' on CBS. This satire of suburbia and modern relationships features, among other morally challenged characters, a married woman in her 30s having an affair with a high-school-age gardener, and has prompted several advertisers, including Lowe's, to pull their advertisements.

In the greater Atlanta market, reaching more than 2 million households, "Desperate Housewives'' is the top-rated show. Nearly 58 percent of the voters in the those counties voted for President Bush.

And in the Salt Lake City market, which takes in the whole state of Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming, "Desperate Housewives" is fourth, after two editions of "CSI" and NBC's "ER;" Bush rolled up 72.6 percent of the vote there.

"We say one thing and do another," said Kevin Reilly, the president of NBC Entertainment. "People compartmentalize about their lives and their entertainment choices."

Regional differences, of course, do exist in the country's entertainment choices. Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" and Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" both took in staggering profits, but the busiest theaters for "Fahrenheit" were in cities that could not be more Democratic territory, like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while "The Passion" performed best in Republican states like Texas, Ohio and Florida.

But moviegoing requires active and out-of-home decision-making, and has a price attached, unlike broadcast television. Watching television has always been a passive activity, with people selecting their entertainment in the privacy of their homes.

Even on television there are modest discrepancies in the popularity of various shows. "Desperate Housewives" may make it into the top 10 in Birmingham, Ala., but in the eighth spot. And "Will and Grace," the NBC comedy with two gay main characters, ranks in the top 10 in New York but just 22nd nationally.

But any geographical differences are overwhelmed by the distinct viewership patterns among blacks and whites. A study conducted last year by the advertising-buying firm Initiative Media found that while "Friends" and "ER" were among the top-rated shows among whites, they were much less popular among blacks. And the highest-rated shows among blacks, like "One on One" and "Girlfriends," couldn't crack the top 100 of network shows.

The divide between what people accept as proper in public and what they choose to enjoy in their private lives is, unsurprisingly, nothing new in the history of the world or this country.

"When the Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock left behind writing, it was William Bradford's, and you can clearly see what they believed in and what their values were," said Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University, referring to the colony's first governor. "Then you look at the court records and you see all kinds of fornication, adultery and bestiality." Herbert J. Gans, a professor of sociology at Columbia University and the author of "Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste," said, "For some people it's a case of 'I am moral therefore I can watch the most immoral show."' That point was echoed by Gary Schneeberger, the senior manager of issues for Focus on the Family, an influential evangelical Protestant group that urged its supporters to vote based on values. "History has shown that even people who could be described as values voters are prone to sinful behavior and watching representations of sinful behavior," Schneeberger said. "Is it shocking that people would be enticed by it? It's not shocking, but it is tragic."

Schneeberger said he was encouraged by the criticism heaped on ABC last week for using a sexed-up opening for its "Monday Night Football" coverage, which included one of the stars of "Desperate Housewives" dropping a towel and jumping, apparently naked, into the arms of a football player. But even while ABC was apologizing for the segment, cable news and sports networks like ESPN (which is owned by ABC's parent, the Walt Disney Co.) were incessantly replaying the offending scene. It is a contradiction played out again and again in popular culture, where for all the backlash against everything from Murphy Brown's single motherhood to Janet Jackson's exposed breast, the boundaries of what's acceptable keep being pushed by the increasingly graphic shows on cable. like FX's "Nip/Tuck" and even offerings from the networks.

There have been successful series with religious overtones, like "Touched by an Angel."

But since that show went off CBS, the record is less impressive, said Leslie Moonves, the co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, which owns CBS and UPN. On the CBS show "Joan of Arcadia," God is a recurring character. But he is not pulling in the viewers, and that goes for almost all states.If moral and religious values were truly what people most wanted to see depicted on television, Moonves said, "I guess we'd be seeing 'Joan of Arcadia' doing better than 'CSI."'

Moonves said his network had no plans to tinker with its shows. "As soon as you think of something that makes you start putting other things in a show, you change the nature of the show," he said.

Reilly of NBC, however, said, "I do think we tend to give short shrift to certain areas of the country."

"One of the things we're playing with is having characters with strong religious beliefs included in some of our new shows," Reilly added. "This would not be the premise of the show, but we could have a character who simply has this strong point of view."

And over at Fox, Preston Beckman, the executive vice president for program planning, said he had some advice, however marginal, for producers pitching the networks. "Make sure that a lot of them are at least located in red states, " he said. "And give the characters a dog."


http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs....39/1002/NEWS01

[Chip R]

I think I watched the pilot - or at least part of it - and the last 2 or 3 shows. Very interesting show. I could see that kid was going to have an accident from a mile away once he called his buddy from his car and said he was going to bet drunk before facing his mom but I didn't see him hitting Whatshername's mother in law. Good plot twist. I like how they have Teri Hatcher playing the comic relief role.

[Roy Tucker]

Interesting to see what the coasts like vs. the inbetween

[missionhockey21]

Lost is my favorite new show of the year. It's great IMO.

I havent seen Desperate Houswives, not really interested to either. Not because I dont doubt it is a good show but because my DVR is filled up plenty of shows I record every week. Got Arrested Development to watch after my Calc class this evening.

[15fan]

I caught some of it a few weeks ago.

It's horrid.

(With the emphasis on the ***** part of horrid.)

I'm still trying to find the contact person at ABC who can give me back those 15 minutes of my life.

If this is an example of the best programming that the tv folks have to offer, then I'm really glad I don't have much time to sit around & watch the tube.