One night I came across Season 5 reruns and I had nothing better to do and that was it. I was hooked. The show is admittedly one of the most entertaining and original shows ever.
I used to think suburbia is boring. Oh, of course the houses look great. And of course it would be lovely to live on a street where you are close friends with your neighbors who are roughly the same age…But it would be boring. Being away from the city? Having a car as the only way of transportation? Having children around? Being married?? Being a housewife??? Oh well…of course these situations do exist. It is just that the women’s lives are never boring. And there is always so much cheating/lying/back-stabbing/plotting going on. Oh, I don’t mean these friends are doing those to each other. Oh no. But what happens with the other neighbors is always a riot!
Just on the top of my head- (from the first season alone):
* In the first episode the narrator (Mary Alice Young) kills herself. As she narrates and gives us clues, we put the pieces together and try to understand why she would do that. She had a loving son, a loving marriage and had great friends.
Meet the gang:
SUSAN (AND MIKE)
Hatcher’s Susan has a massive crush on the dreamy plumber/ the new neighbor Mike. He is like a breath of fresh air to Susan’s romantic life-after all Susan is the divorced mother of a teenage girl. Her husband has cheated and left her for another woman. But of course as hot as Mike is, things are complicated. He seems to be giving her mixed signals and we the viewer see what Susan does not. Mike has a lot of cash lying around, a gun in his belt, and plans& notes on the whole neighborhood. He is a man on a mission and it doesn’t seem like a very innocent one…
*Gabby (Eva Longoria):
Gabby is cheating on her husband with her teenage gardener (Jesse Metcalfe).
* Lynette (Felicity Huffman)
She has 4 kids. She despises being a housewife as she used to be a top advertising exec. before she became a full-time mom.
*Bree ( Marcia Cross)
She is always groomed and made up. She is always prepared and meticulous and “perfect”. She is the perfect host and her family is so bothered by this.
*Edie (Nicolette Sheridan)
She is hot and is not the least bit shy about it. Edie may be hot and festive, but she is not exactly a female loved by her peers. She is just too out there…
Well if you haven’t seen the show yet, you might think this is not complicated at all. Trust me, what you just read is the overly simplified version. The comedy, intrigue and the romance are well-balanced. The thing about these women are that they are not that desperate. Hell, they are not exactly just housewives either. Before Lynette quit, she was much more successful than her husband who is also in advertising. She is desperate because she has realized is that dealing with 4 small children is a lot harder than running a company. Susan illustrates children’s books. Edie is in real estate, Gabby is an ex runway model. Well, Bree is only a housewife but then she is so obsessed with it you can say it is a career for her: she does all her own cooking, cleaning,gardening,making her own clothes,fixing everything…
Gabby is only fooling around because her seemingly rich and romantic husband is just rich, inconsiderate and a workaholic. With her past career and good looks, it isn’t that hard to imagine she has the hormones and motives to match her gardener’s… Bree might seem like the mother and wife from hell but her son will be enough to make a lot of women not wanna have kids. Lynette has the tendency to hate her husband at times since he doesn’t seem to get what a difficult job she has at home and of course because he has made her pregnant 4 times. And the little baby is the least of her troubles. Susan has no idea about the past of the love of her life and she is a generally clueless person/mother/woman. Edie is…well,you have seen the picture. And while all of their lives are interesting and complicated, the darkest secrets might be about to come from their recently deceased friend; Mary Alice…
Now that season 6 started, I am onto the new season. Of course I had seen half of season 5 and I just finished watching seasons 1& 2. Even with this weird order I’m following the show, I love every second of it. I hope they have many more seasons and keep having mysterious new neighbors with dark secrets and a dangerous agenda…Oh and of course, kudos to Marc Cherry to creating the show. And hats off to the casting people!
Also on Teri Hatcher
* Book Review: Burnt Toast by Teri Hatcher:
* Tribute to young-looking stars: Teri Hatcher, Gerard Butler and more