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Title:
Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season
Region:
One
Genre:
Primetime Soap Opera/Dark Comedy
Episodes
Disc One: “Pilot”, “Ah But Underneath”, “Pretty Little Picture”,
Who’s That Woman”
Episodes
Disc Two: “Come In, Stranger”, “Running To Stand Still”, “Anything You
Can Do”, “Guilty”
Episodes
Disc Three: “Suspicious Minds”, “Come Back To Me”, “Move On”,
“Every Day A Little Death”
Episodes
Disc Four: “Your Fault”, “Love Is In The Air”, “Impossible”, “The
Ladies Who Lunch”
Episodes
Disc Five: “There Won’t Be Trumpets”, “Children Will Listen”, “Live
Alone And Like It”, “Fear No More”
Episodes
Disc Six: “Sunday In The Park With George”, “Goodbye For Now”, “One
Wonderful Day”
Stars:
Teri Hatcher, Andrea Bowen, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria,
Nicollette Sheridan, Brenda Strong, James Denton, Cody Kasch, Jesse Metcalfe,
Ricardo Antonio, Mark Moses, Richard Roundtree, Doug Savant, and Alfre Woodard
Created
By: Marc Cherry
Executive
Producer: Marc Cherry
Feature
length: Approximately 44 minutes Per Episode
Extras:
Unrated Extended Episodes, Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary, Behind The
Scenes Featurette, A Stroll Down Wisteria Lane With Creator Mar Cherry
Featurette, Episode Length Audio Commentary With Series Creator Marc Cherry,
Select Scene Comments With The Housewives, Costume and Production Design
Featurette, Secrets Of Wisteria Lane, Oprah Winfrey Is The New Neighbor Short,
Blooper Reel
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions
Packaging:
Six-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Plastic Slipcase
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Television Broadcast: 2004-2005/DVD Release: 2005
Home
Video Distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
TV
Rating: TV-14
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Last
year ABC had the two biggest dramatic hits to air on non-cable/satellite free
broadcast television. Those shows were “Lost” and “Desperate
Housewives.” I watched all of the season one episodes of “Lost” as they
aired including some of the repeat broadcasts so I was pretty into that show,
but I never watched “Desperate Housewives.” I heard the buzz, but I just
wasn’t interested. Now with Buena Vista Home Entertainment releasing the
complete first season on DVD with a six-disc box set, I was able to see why the
show became so popular. Essentially the series is a primetime soap opera mixed
with a bit of dark comedy complete with beautiful people living in beautiful
homes with what seems to be an almost uncanny amount of free time to tackle
rambunctious kids, have elicit side affairs, spy and gossip about each other,
and somehow the grass is always green, the sun is always bright and the skies
are always blue while the nights always seem just cool enough to dress
comfortably. In short, this is a fantasy world, but if everything in this world
were always perfect then no one could relate to it and it would be boring so
like our own lives, the people of Wisteria Lane have character flaws, dirty
laundry, and dark secrets. Of course what some people consider a dark secret in
the real world is just too ordinary for primetime television so “Desperate
Housewives” presents the season with a mystery related to the suicide of a
seemingly perfect suburban role model of a mother. It is through this tragedy
that the viewers slowly unpeel the layers about the various characters and their
connection to the season’s central mystery.
Each
episode is beautifully narrated by Brenda Strong, who portrays in select
flashbacks, the woman who’s suicide rocks the other suburban housewives and
divorcées. Collectively we have Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), a single mother
with eyes on the handsome new man that’s just rented a house on her street.
Her competition lies with Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), a four-time divorcee
with a reputation for romantic conquests. However she is not the only person who
uses sex as a weapon to gain control over men. Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) is
a formal model/trophy wife who carries out an illicit affair with the young
college age adult who trims her lawn. Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) is a
former career woman with four unmanageable kids and a husband frequently away on
business trips. Last, but not least is Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross), the
penultimate picture of the ideal suburban housewife. She leads a life a quiet
obsession and repression. Through these five women we are invited to visit
Wisteria Lane and the greater world that surrounds it.
“Desperate
Housewives” works well because it somehow feels real. I think we all have
moments of quiet desperation that manifests outwardly through our behavior, but
the show is always quick to remind us that this is drama, not reality and thus
we can accept seemingly larger than ordinary life events that both engage and
entertain us without ever getting too heavy. This is perfect water cooler at the
office conversation material and even men can get into it without feeling too
much embarrassment that they’ve substituted that sports or action show for the
“Melrose Place” of the 2000s. That
noted, Doug Savant, who played the homosexual tenant on “Melrose Place” has
a recurring role on the show besides Marcia Cross, who played “Kimberly” in
that 1990s primetime soap opera. As a matter of fact I have got to give Marcia
Cross some credit for being such a good sport. Not only has she managed to star
as a borderline character in two hit primetime network soap operas, but she is
not afraid to channel her energy into her “Desperate Housewives” character
and run with it.
As
far as TV on DVD sets, “Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season” is
easily one of the best I’ve had the pleasure to review this year, but there
are two small caveats I have to point out. While it is great to have all of the
extra value materials spread across the six-discs, there is an assumption that
if you buy this TV set then you must already be familiar with all the show’s
first season’s surprises, which simply is not the case. I have never watched
the show before reviewing the DVD set and I’m sure I’m not the only person
who will discover the series on DVD before they start tuning in. So be aware not
to watch any of the extra value materials until after you have viewed all 23
first season episodes because there are spoilers that could ruin the fun of
finding out the answers along with the characters. My other problem with the DVD
set is the interactive menus. By the time I got to the fifth disc I was sick of
opening animation and wished I could just get on with the show episodes. The
menus reflect the opening credits for the series and are easy to navigate, but
even the broadcast versions of the later episodes have a shorter animated intro.
All
23 season one episodes are presented in a beautiful practically flawless
anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) aspect ratio with English Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound that tends to use all of the channels to good advantage with the
exception of the subwoofer. English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired are encoded onto each dual layered DVD. The Captions can only be
enabled or disabled through the interactive menus. You cannot use your remote to
activate or deactivate them while watching the show in progress. Mr. Cherry
participates in optional episode length audio commentaries for the series
“Pilot”, “Anything You Can Do”, “Guilty”, Every Day A Little
Death”, “Impossible” (With Director Larry Shaw), “There Won’t Be
Trumpets”, “Sunday In The
Park With George”, and “Goodbye For Now.” In addition he provides short
less than a minute video introductions to extended versions of the episodes
entitled “Who’s That Woman” (45:29), “Anything You Can Do” (43:32),
“Every Day A Little Death” (45:13), “Impossible” (46:06), and “Sunday
In The Park With George” (45:49). Again Mr. Cherry seems to assume that the
consumers have already seen the entire series so even in his little
introductions where he discusses what has been added and why it did not air on
network TV, he reveals spoilers. Marc Cherry also provides optional audio
commentary for eight deleted scenes presented in a letterboxed (1.78:1) aspect
ratio with Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound. These deleted scenes are spread
across the six discs where appropriate for the corresponding episodes they were
taken from. Overall Mr. Cherry provides very articulate and insightful
commentary for the episode length commentaries as well as the deleted scenes. At
one point he even gives a quick pointer on writing for a network television
series, which is you write for the regulars because they drive the show. The
scene he provides this comment for illustrates his point perfectly. Taken into
consideration, the extended episodes and deleted scenes actually do enhance the
series as a whole giving the viewer additional background information as well as
possibilities for what might have been. In
addition Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, and Nicollette Sheridan
each provide audio comments from two scenes from their favorite episodes while
Teri Hatcher provides three optional audio comments for her favorite season one
scenes.
As
noted earlier, the extra value materials are spread out across the set and they
include “A Stroll Down Wisteria Lane” (11:37), which was recorded on the day
the first season finale was shot and gives a few tidbits of what one might
expect from season two. On the second DVD there is a featurette about the cross
cultural success of “Desperate Housewives” entitled Desperate Housewives
Around The World” (8:04) as well as a sample scene (1:25) showing the
characters dubbed in Castilian, Italian, French, Spanish, and German. Disc Three
features a production design and costuming featurette entitled “Dressing
Wisteria Lane” (12:33) while disc six features a hilarious short with Oprah
Winfrey (8:25) portraying the new neighbor, a blooper reel with 5.1 Surround
Sound (4:54), a look at how the creative process is explored between the series
writers in “Secrets Of Wisteria Lane” (10:44) and a behind the scenes
featurette too (25:24). I have to admit I am very impressed at how the first
season was crafted from a writing perspective to a point that I felt a sense of
resolution and satisfaction even with the season one cliffhanger.
Previews
for the upcoming second season premiere of “Desperate Housewives”, a Buena
Vista Home Entertainment TV on DVD spot, “Alias” season four on DVD,
“Scrubs”, “Lost”, ABC’s Daytime Soap Operas, and a theatrical trailer
for the Jodie Foster thriller “Flight Plan” are on disc one. Some of these
previews precede the opening interactive menu animations and all can be viewed
individually or through a “Play All” feature among the menu options on the
first disc and they wrap up the DVD extra value materials.
Within
the set Digipack gatefold packaging there is a six page season one episode guide
complete with a synopsis for each episode in the set, a $10 dollar rebate coupon
for consumers who purchase both the “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost”
season one DVD sets, a Nissan 350Z Roadster advertisement and a Buena Vista Home
Entertainment TV on DVD insert. The manner in which the photographic artwork is
spread out across the packaging is in keeping with the tone for the first season
complete with a white satin sheet like front for the plastic sleeve front
photography to merge visually with it.
“Desperate
Housewives: The Complete First Season” on DVD box set will debut at retailers
on and offline on Tuesday, September 20, 2005 courtesy of Buena Vista Home
Entertainment and for fans to revisit and new viewers to discover, this is truly
must see TV on DVD.
©
Copyright 2005 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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