TV Review: Desperate Housewives Season Four Premiere
After critics praised the first season of mystery-laced soap dramedy Desperate Housewives, Marc Cherry and his five darlings of prime time were on top of the world. Teri Hatcher won the Golden Globe and the SAG award, Felicity Huffman won the Emmy, the show itself was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series, and the ratings were through the roof. It was everyone’s guilty pleasure. But when season two began, even though the premiere’s ratings had outdone all the previous episodes, the show began to go downhill. The one-liners weren’t as sharp, the story lines were more predictable, and the central mystery was a dud. By the end of the season the show had begun hemorrhaging viewers and critics complained Desperate Housewives had lost its edge.
In season three Cherry attempted to regain some of the spark of season one, and for quite a while, he succeeded. “Bang”, an episode in which Laurie Metcalfe, playing a scorned wife whose husband was cheating on her, held up a grocery store, was the best episode the show had seen in quite some time. It even managed to get Felicity Huffman yet another Emmy nomination. But when Marcia Cross had to go on immediate bed rest due to her pregnancy, everything fell to pieces.
Everything seemed force and disjointed, and even though they beefed up Edie Britt’s role in the show, nothing really filled the void left when the resident anal retentive, red-headed NRA member left Wisteria Lane. The show suffered for the rest of the season until the finale when Bree re-appeared, wielding a fake pregnant belly to hide her teenage daughter’s pregnancy. But even then, audiences didn’t quite take. The finale averaged a lukewarm 18 million viewers, the lowest finale of the show’s three seasons.
So many fans of the show, myself included, were quite skeptical when it came time for the fourth season to premiere. But luckily, I found myself quite pleased with what Marc Cherry and his team of writers came up with — particularly the new mystery involving beloved actors Dana Delany (China Beach) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly). Katherine Mayfair has moved back to Wisteria Lane with her daughter Dylan, except this time with a new husband, Adam, who is a gynecologist. Katherine lived on Wisteria Lane back before any of the current ladies lived there except for Susan and Mary Alice. Dylan and Susan’s daughter Julie used to be best friends when they were little girls, but oddly Dylan doesn’t remember Julie or any of the other people they knew years ago.
Katherine is somewhat similar to Bree, which is ironic considering Dana Delany was the first choice to play Bree Van De Kamp, but turned it down three times, which is when the role was given to Marcia Cross. From even the first few minutes the ladies sit down and have lemonade with Mrs. Mayfair it’s obvious she and Mrs. Hodge are going to butt heads. Bree is the absolute best with feuds. And Marcia Cross with her soap background plays them wonderfully.
Lynette is now going through chemotherapy and is trying to balance her sickness with all her regular duties as a wife and mother, even if her mom tries to convince her she needs to tell everyone so they won’t expect so much of her. But Mrs. Scavo doesn’t want the pity. One of her funnier scenes is where she’s forcing herself to sit through Parker’s school play even with him having only a few lines, despite her feeling extremely nauseous. Not wanting to get up and leave, she pukes into what she thinks is her mother’s purse, only to find out it’s the purse of a snappy fellow third grade mom who’s been on Lynette’s case about doing her part in the PTA.
Gabrielle is not happy because after realizing she is still in love with Carlos, the two of them vow to run off together. Until of course, something really interesting happens (which I won’t divulge for those of you who haven’t seen the episode yet) that blows their plans to smithereens.
Susan goes for a routine visit to the gynecologist, only to discover her normal doctor isn’t available, and her old friend’s new husband is filling in. As Adam Mayfair examines Susan’s vajayjay (as Dr. Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy would say) he says, “It’s nice to finally put a face to a name.” Naturally, Susan is mortified, and it turns from bad to worse once Dr. Mayfair gives her some more unexpected bad news about the state of her health.
Some of the best moments of the premiere were given to Bree Hodge, who with the help of her husband is vehemently working to keep up the charade that she is pregnant. As she and Orson are out shopping, an elderly woman comes up to Bree and wants to touch her pregnant belly, and Bree nearly breaks the poor woman’s arm trying to keep her secret under wraps. Then later, doing Katherine Mayfair’s barbeque, Bree accidentally gets stabbed in the stomach with a jumbo fork, then when she finally notices goes, “Oh… my baby”, as if she had forgotten.
In the finale to the third season, we see Edie Britt hang herself after Carlos decides to break up with her. But many have speculated as to whether she died or not. In the season premiere, the first thing addressed is what exactly happened to Edie, and it’s truly in Housewives fashion.
The season premiere definitely wasn’t anything mind-blowing, and it’s too early to say the show has returned to form, but the forecast in Wisteria Lane looks sunny so far. I’m anxious to see if audiences gave them a chance and decided to tune in last night. Hopefully Marc Cherry and his team of writers won’t let us down and will get back to the dark dramedy we all have come to know and love.
So it’s official. Meryl Streep and 20th Century Fox have 
Many critics and even people within the show itself (Felicity Huffman, James Denton, Mehcad Brooks) admitted that the first season of ABC’s darling dramedy Desperate Housewives suffered a dip in the creative department during it’s second season–particularly at the beginning. Most say it had a lot to do with the weakness of its central mystery (which is why I’m boggled as to how Woodard landed an Emmy nom, but that’s another story)–others say it wasn’t as funny and that the storylines became too Melrose Place.
