Post by Forever Xena on Nov 21, 2006 4:46:10 GMT -6
Producers add spice to 'Housewives'
By BILL HARRIS -- Toronto Sun
Eva Longoria stars as the feisty Gabrielle in Desperate Housewives.
It used to be that if a TV series needed an infusion of excitement, bingo, one of the cast members would have a baby.
I Love Lucy. Family Ties. Friends. It was a desperate idea that spanned generations.
But perhaps fittingly for current times, babies have been replaced by guns, guns, guns!
Two weeks ago on Desperate Housewives -- which airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on ABC and CTV -- there was some pretty serious gunplay down at the local grocery store (spoiler alert if you haven't yet seen the past two episodes!).
One character was killed, while Lynette (Felicity Huffman) would have been gunned down too, if not for the timely intervention of a new neighbour (Lynette took a bullet in the shoulder).
It all ended with crazed-gunwoman Carolyn (played by Laurie Metcalf, who you may best remember as the sister on Roseanne) getting gunned down herself by one of the other hostages. "Americans are all such good shots," said one only-half-kidding observer who was watching the show with me.
Anyway, this led us to ponder the current state of Desperate Housewives, which is trying to find an enduring tone in the wake of its intense but brief status as a cultural phenomenon.
The thing is, over the past two weeks of Desperate Housewives, we have been reminded of just how snappy the dialogue is.
No one is suggesting the dialogue is in any way realistic, of course. Everyday people do not speak to each other the way the characters on Desperate Housewives do. If you want realistic dialogue, check out Chris Haddock's new series Intelligence on CBC.
Desperate Housewives does have a way with comically biting words, though.
There was this exchange from the episode two weeks ago:
Carolyn: "There's never a reason for hitting a woman."
Bree (Marcia Cross): "I used to think that, too ... then I met you."
Also from two weeks ago, Tom (Doug Savant) and Lynette were discussing the possibility of suing for full custody of Tom's daughter from a previous marriage:
Tom: "I never thought you'd want a fifth kid."
Lynette: "I don't ... but I didn't want the first four, and they're starting to grow on me."
Last week, there were some funny moments when an aging Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) decided to try to get back into professional modelling, now that her marriage has fallen apart. So she flew to New York to meet with her former agent Marcella, played by Debra Monk.
Marcella (to Gabrielle): "Single again ... isn't that ironic, since I'm the one you called ... oh, how did you put it? ... a career-obsessed lesbo who would die alone and be eaten by her cats."
Also last week, there was the intriguing introduction of Gloria (Dixie Carter), the problematic mother of Bree's love-interest Orson (Kyle MacLachlan). When Bree suggested that Gloria should move in with herself and Orson, it didn't sit too well.
Orson: "My mother's not moving in here till she fits in a jar on the mantle."
That's pretty funny stuff, and we actually are interested to see where the plot goes with the delightfully demented Gloria. Other continuing storylines in tonight's episode include Gaby's foray into training young beauty queens and Lynette's fascination with the mysterious chap who saved her life.
You know, before Desperate Housewives became a cliche, it was just a pretty good show.
It's still both.
By BILL HARRIS -- Toronto Sun
Eva Longoria stars as the feisty Gabrielle in Desperate Housewives.
It used to be that if a TV series needed an infusion of excitement, bingo, one of the cast members would have a baby.
I Love Lucy. Family Ties. Friends. It was a desperate idea that spanned generations.
But perhaps fittingly for current times, babies have been replaced by guns, guns, guns!
Two weeks ago on Desperate Housewives -- which airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on ABC and CTV -- there was some pretty serious gunplay down at the local grocery store (spoiler alert if you haven't yet seen the past two episodes!).
One character was killed, while Lynette (Felicity Huffman) would have been gunned down too, if not for the timely intervention of a new neighbour (Lynette took a bullet in the shoulder).
It all ended with crazed-gunwoman Carolyn (played by Laurie Metcalf, who you may best remember as the sister on Roseanne) getting gunned down herself by one of the other hostages. "Americans are all such good shots," said one only-half-kidding observer who was watching the show with me.
Anyway, this led us to ponder the current state of Desperate Housewives, which is trying to find an enduring tone in the wake of its intense but brief status as a cultural phenomenon.
The thing is, over the past two weeks of Desperate Housewives, we have been reminded of just how snappy the dialogue is.
No one is suggesting the dialogue is in any way realistic, of course. Everyday people do not speak to each other the way the characters on Desperate Housewives do. If you want realistic dialogue, check out Chris Haddock's new series Intelligence on CBC.
Desperate Housewives does have a way with comically biting words, though.
There was this exchange from the episode two weeks ago:
Carolyn: "There's never a reason for hitting a woman."
Bree (Marcia Cross): "I used to think that, too ... then I met you."
Also from two weeks ago, Tom (Doug Savant) and Lynette were discussing the possibility of suing for full custody of Tom's daughter from a previous marriage:
Tom: "I never thought you'd want a fifth kid."
Lynette: "I don't ... but I didn't want the first four, and they're starting to grow on me."
Last week, there were some funny moments when an aging Gabrielle (Eva Longoria) decided to try to get back into professional modelling, now that her marriage has fallen apart. So she flew to New York to meet with her former agent Marcella, played by Debra Monk.
Marcella (to Gabrielle): "Single again ... isn't that ironic, since I'm the one you called ... oh, how did you put it? ... a career-obsessed lesbo who would die alone and be eaten by her cats."
Also last week, there was the intriguing introduction of Gloria (Dixie Carter), the problematic mother of Bree's love-interest Orson (Kyle MacLachlan). When Bree suggested that Gloria should move in with herself and Orson, it didn't sit too well.
Orson: "My mother's not moving in here till she fits in a jar on the mantle."
That's pretty funny stuff, and we actually are interested to see where the plot goes with the delightfully demented Gloria. Other continuing storylines in tonight's episode include Gaby's foray into training young beauty queens and Lynette's fascination with the mysterious chap who saved her life.
You know, before Desperate Housewives became a cliche, it was just a pretty good show.
It's still both.