With all the problems we have in the world the least of them should be a TV show, but the real life Desperate Housewives are on a media crusade. At the time I’m writing this (December 04, 2004), Desperate Housewives is the #1 show in the ratings. I also understand that the show is doing just as well in the Red states as it does in the Blue states. I can’t help to think that if this show weren’t doing so well, people would leave it alone to die like so many other new shows that debut every fall.
This fall CBS debuted Clubhouse a show that was well acted, well written and full of family values. It only lasted a few weeks. ABC took a big risk putting this show on the air, and the risk paid off. Desperate Housewives is new and different. I for one find it refreshing to see talented actors and writers working, rather than seeing a guy eating goat testicles for our entertainment.
One of the big complaints I keep hearing is that the show mocks motherhood. This sounds very familiar to former Vice-President Dan Quayle saying that Murphy Brown having a child out of wedlock mocks Fatherhood. That incident also took place in an election year. Coincidence? If anything the show mocks the suburban ideal along with movies, very much like this summer’s The Stepford Wives.
People enjoy seeing someone throw a pie in the face of suburbia. After many people grew up with TV telling them that shows like Leave it to Beaver presents an American ideal making many American kids feel less then normal if their home life did not match up the TV families of the day.
After all isn’t the main issue with D.H. the corruption of our children? Well first, the show has a TV PG rating. You have a TV rating system and the "V" chip. Use it. Second, to the issue of morals, D.H. shows the characters repercussions for their actions, just not in the course of one episode.
Article comments
1 - MrTV
"At the time I’m writing this, Desperate Housewives is the #1 show in the ratings."
Correction:
DH is the #4 show in nielsen ratings this season. It's not even the top scripted show, which belongs to CSI (#2).
#1 and #3 are American Idol.
http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,272|||season,00.html
I'd get my facts straight before calling any show #1 when it's clearly not. Perhaps the #1 show on ABC, but that's it.
2 - Steve S
MrTV, you left out the part where he said he was writing it in Dec. of 2004. He actually said it in the sentence you quoted, but you removed it. I don't think American Idol was on at the time.
3 - Fumi Agubwababwe
I tinks it is arla load av tink.
4 - Tristan
And I'd LOVE to get in Kelly Bundy's pants .........
5 - NancyGail
Shatner has it right. I watch, but I'm more inclined to watch the show that follows.