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Amazon.co.uk Review
Audiences were captivated by the women of Wisteria Lane in the first season of Desperate Housewives, the breakout hit from ABC that almost single-handedly lifted the network from its ratings doldrums and brought back the classic TV soap, remixed now with satire, comedy, and mystery. An affectionate yet darkly tinged send-up of suburbia that skirted Twin Peaks territory as much as that of Knots Landing, Desperate Housewives opened with a bang--literally--as perfect-seeming housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) went through her picture-perfect day before putting a handgun to her temple and pulling the trigger. Mary Alice's sudden suicide leaves her four closest friends, all housewives of a sort, with a surfeit of grief, a re-examination of their own lives, and a mystery to solve. It also proves to be a catalyst for a seamy study of what goes on inside the finely appointed homes of Wisteria Lane--the tales of which Mary Alice narrates from beyond the grave with a sardonic tone dipped in both honey and arsenic.
There's Martha Stewart-perfect Bree (Marcia Cross), who rules her household with an iron fist in a tailor-made garden glove and seems to have it all, until she finds out her husband (Steven Culp) is cheating on her-–and has a serious fetish habit to boot. Sultry Gaby (Eva Longoria), the youngest of the set, is a bored trophy wife whose predilection for shopping and clothes are the perfect decoy for her affair with the hunky teenage gardener (Jesse Metcalfe). Former career woman Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is the most stereotypical housewife, raising four (or was it five?) kids and frustrated at using her cutthroat business skills for suburban politics. And daffy Susan (Teri Hatcher), the divorcee looking for love, sees her prospects brighten with the arrival of hunky plumber Mike (James Denton), who has some desperate secrets of his own. And did we mention the neighborhood hussy (Nicollette Sheridan), the snotty busybody (Christine Estabrook), and Mary Alice's increasingly agitated son (Cody Kasch)?
It was a fast and wild mix of plot and characters that gave Desperate Housewives the zing that made it a number one hit, as it never got too bogged down in any dilemma before moving on to the next. And though it was neither as hard-hitting nor salacious as it was trumpeted to be, the show nevertheless breathed fresh, funny air into comedy television, for even though it hewed to the hour-long soap format, the content was far more dark comedy than sudsy drama. There were fun bright spots to be had, but the story behind Mary Alice's death--which included drugs, murder, blackmail, secret identities, and vengeance in equal amounts--hovered over all the characters, tingeing the farce with the specter of danger. The show's other source of strength is in its peerless ensemble cast, headed by four perfect leading ladies, all Emmy-worthy. Hatcher received the (deserved) lion's share of praise (and a Golden Globe), but her co-stars–-especially the underrated Longoria-–matched her scene for scene. And though the mystery of Mary Alice's death was ultimately solved (no Twin Peaks teasing here), it was just the beginning of the troubles on Wisteria Lane, where no life went unexamined for too long. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com
DVD Description
6 Disc collector's DVD set of the most talked about TV show of 2005. This boxset contains all 22 episodes of the hit series, with a total running time of 900 mins.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Desperate Housewives was a huge hit and rightly so. It is the story of several housewives living in Wisteria Lane, an expensive American suburban street. The main characters are Susan, Lynette, Gabrielle and Bree.
Susan (Teri Hatcher) is the ditsy divorced mother with one daughter and a fancy for her hunky new neighbour. Lynette was a high flying career woman but is now tied to the home and her unruly brood of 4 children. She could cope with anything at work but has problems coping with domesticity. Gabrielle is the Latin beauty, married to Carlos who is rich enough to provide everything she could want. However it’s not enough and she is having an affair with her very young gardener. Bree is perfection personified, immaculately turned out and with a house like something from ideal homes. However her husband and children cannot live up to her ideals or live with this perfection. The narrator of the whole series is Mary Alice, a friend of all the women who, in the first episode, commits suicide. The central thread of the tale is why she was driven to this and what dark secrets are hidden in the lives of the characters.
Although there is a central theme, each episode does have a ‘stand alone’ story for the occasional viewer, but to really enjoy it at its best the series should be watched in its entirety and from the beginning. Twists and turns, murder and mayhem, love and friendship are all to be found in a series that is by turn both wickedly funny and poignant. This is TV at its best; not to be missed.
Susan (Teri Hatcher) is the ditsy divorced mother with one daughter and a fancy for her hunky new neighbour. Lynette was a high flying career woman but is now tied to the home and her unruly brood of 4 children. She could cope with anything at work but has problems coping with domesticity. Gabrielle is the Latin beauty, married to Carlos who is rich enough to provide everything she could want. However it’s not enough and she is having an affair with her very young gardener. Bree is perfection personified, immaculately turned out and with a house like something from ideal homes. However her husband and children cannot live up to her ideals or live with this perfection. The narrator of the whole series is Mary Alice, a friend of all the women who, in the first episode, commits suicide. The central thread of the tale is why she was driven to this and what dark secrets are hidden in the lives of the characters.
Although there is a central theme, each episode does have a ‘stand alone’ story for the occasional viewer, but to really enjoy it at its best the series should be watched in its entirety and from the beginning. Twists and turns, murder and mayhem, love and friendship are all to be found in a series that is by turn both wickedly funny and poignant. This is TV at its best; not to be missed.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Each season comes in a separate plastic box, the same tahta re sold separately I guess, with 5-7 discs each.
Details:
Seasons 1 and 2
Audio 5.1: English
Sub: English HI
Widescreen Format 1.78:1
Season 3
Audio 5.1: English, Italian, Spanish
Sub: English HI, English, Italian, SpanishSwedish, Norwegina, DanishFinnish, Icelandic, Dutch
Widescreen Format 1.78:1
Seasons 3-6
Audio 5.1: English, Italian, Spanish
Sub: English HI, English, Italian, SpanishSwedish, Norwegina, DanishFinnish, Icelandic, Portughese, Dutch
Widescreen Format 1.78:1
Details:
Seasons 1 and 2
Audio 5.1: English
Sub: English HI
Widescreen Format 1.78:1
Season 3
Audio 5.1: English, Italian, Spanish
Sub: English HI, English, Italian, SpanishSwedish, Norwegina, DanishFinnish, Icelandic, Dutch
Widescreen Format 1.78:1
Seasons 3-6
Audio 5.1: English, Italian, Spanish
Sub: English HI, English, Italian, SpanishSwedish, Norwegina, DanishFinnish, Icelandic, Portughese, Dutch
Widescreen Format 1.78:1
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The first thing to say about this DVD boxed set is that it is beautifully packaged and presented. The special features are a notch above what's generally out there, being both extensive and interesting. I think my favourites are the audio commentaries on the scenes specially chosen by the actresses themselves and the blooper reels (Teri getting confused between best and breasts never fails to have me laughing and Eva definitely seems to be the 'corpser' of the set). And the audio commentaries by Marc Cherry on selected episodes are interesting and entertaining - which is a rarity among the AC genre.
If you were particularly churlish you could perhaps quibble with the fact that 'deleted scenes' invariably actually mean one scene and the 'extended episodes' are only extended by one scene (on rare occasion two) - but that would be extreme nitpicking I feel. Overall the features are impressive and certainly add to the enjoyment of the overall set.
I have two small grumbles. The first is the inconsistency of subtitling on the disks. Some disks have no subtitles. Some have English subtitles included. Some have subtitles in other languages, but not in English. This was a little frustrating at times.
Secondly, the somewhat long introduction to each disk - a parody of the opening credits, using the actresses. The first time it went past it seemed overlong. By the time I'd reached disk five it was tedious and frustrating to have to wait for it to end before getting to the episodes.
But those are very small annoyances. Generally the set has been put together with obvious care for detail and imagination. And that's greatly appreciated by this buyer.
When it comes right down to it though, the real stars of this set are the episodes themselves and with their superb performances, the sparkling scripts, wonderfully real characters you will care about and intriguing plotlines, you can't fail to consider this the star of your DVD collection and one that you'll revisit and enjoy time and again.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Superb!
I'm an avid Desperate Housewife fan but didn't start watching it until the second series so thought a re-cap was wise. Read more
Published 8 days ago by chilleout
Brilliant!
One of the best shows I have watched in a long time, completely gripping, I watched the whole box set in only a few days as I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ms. A. Scott
Love them
These are a great set of dvds and I have just purchased the second series which I know will be as good.
Published 1 month ago by sarah jane
wrong box
i purchased season 1 of dh in october 2011 and when it arrived i was disappointed as i was sure i had ordered sex and the city, but on checking i had purchased the wrong one! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. S. Taberner
A Must For all Desperate Housewives Fans!
I had watched the last couple of series' of Desperate Housewives and really got into it, so I thought I would start from the beginning, and I really wasn't disappointed!
Published 1 month ago by Hannah
Fab to see it all again
I am really enjoying watching them again.. i thought they would have changed a lot.. but no they are still the same. Dont look much older either!!! Read more
Published 3 months ago by MacGifferbag
WHERE IS IT!
I have been waiting for this product since the beggining of january. This is a disgrace! It was for a birthday but now thats ruined because it has already been!
Published 3 months ago by segillanders
100 % happy
On time, and this box of dvd was much cheaper than buying from the shop or even on other web shops, great thank you
Published 4 months ago by Clare Scrivner
Like new.
Like new, I'm very happy with my purchase, all dvd's are in perfect state, also the envelope, very good. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Liria
Desperate Housewives
I have spent many a day just chilling on the sofa with my new best friends. Love, love, love, LOVE IT!
Published 9 months ago by Kr4zyL4dy
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