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.
From .co.uk
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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 hand 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
as--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, .com