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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
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky and very, very funny,
By
This review is from: Desperate Housewives: Season 1 [DVD] (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.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Audio - Subtitles,
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This review is from: Desperate Housewives - Seasons 1-6 - Complete [DVD] (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
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surpasses the hype,
By
This review is from: Desperate Housewives: Season 1 [DVD] (DVD)
A smash hit, if a risky step by ABC to produce the programme, 'Desperate Housewives' takes all the stereotypes (or should that be male fantasies and nightmares) of picket-fenced US suburbia - the man-eater, the dizzy single parent, the career woman making a job of bringing up her kids, the unfaithful trophy, and the Stepford wife with attitude. Oh yes, and then there's the dead narrator? This is a harder spin on 'American Beauty', an ironic, not to mention cynical glimpse behind the Martha Stewart façades of post-yuppie domesticity. It's funny, it's dark, it's electrifying.Each episode provides a stand-alone drama, beating out a theme, pulsing to the rhythm of some moral … stated at the outset, restated at the conclusion, but with a sharp twist of irony. This is not the neighbourliness of Capra, George Bailey, and "Wonderful Life". There are good neighbours. And there are bad. It's a competitive world living in the suburbs - whatever else happens, you have to maintain the façade, you have to appear to be perfect, or at least have a credible explanation if you're not. This is a wonderful series. It carries along the mystery of its narrator's death. Others will die. Murder can be brutal. It can also be quite functional. It can have charm. And one by one each perfect household comes unpicked, exposes a flaw like a run in a pair of stockings - once you've noticed it, you can't take your eyes of it. And while you're distracted with one plot strand, writer Marc Cherry works his sleight of hand and conjures up another twist. The cast is wonderful. With perhaps only Teri Hatcher as a 'star' name, albeit she'd dropped out of sight for a few years, Cherry assembled an ensemble cast who generate some great chemistry onscreen and who amplify one another's talents and energies. There's scarcely a weak performance in sight. Direction and editing are excellent - the juxtaposition of scenes and shots, the ironic counterpoint of humour and mystery, the rapid cutting from one household to the next, and the overall quality of the production keeps your attention rapt. But the script's the thing. It is beautifully crafted. The DVD extras accompanying season one give you some excellent insights into the writing process. You get a look at the making of the series, you get brief interviews with actors. You get some very interesting commentaries. And much more. It's a fascinating series. The DVD's, like the writing and the concept, are beautifully packaged. Excellent value, a series you can watch again and again. And again.
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