Finding Something to Complain About on Wisteria Lane

Part of: TV Nights

I'm a nitpicky person, I know that. I can single-handedly suck the fun out of any TV show — all it takes is a stroke (or 20) on the keyboard. So, with that in mind, let's look at last night's Desperate Housewives.

First the good. I think the show is kind of on the right track this season; they're settling down and settling in to rather non-dramatic storylines. Okay, that may not sound like a good thing, but it is. The first season of the show was fantastic, but subsequent seasons all seemed to need to try and do everything bigger and better than the first one. It was a lofty goal, but one the show never achieved. Consequently, the seasons were all a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, there was fun to be had, but never quite as much fun and there was always a sense to them that the producers thought the show should have been more than it was.

This season, I feel like the show has backed off the bigger and better. They've had some big moments (like the fire at the nightclub) and still have a big mystery (Edie's husband and his past), but they don't seem to be trying to top themselves. It's a tactic that works well for the show – just settle down, tell us the story and let us judge, don't get all breathless about the shenanigans, that doesn't inspire us to be breathless.

That's not to say that I'm entirely happy with what's going on, but my problems tend to be on the smaller side right now. They're things that bother me though, so I'm going to tell you all about them. You remember that scene last night where Susan went over to Katherine's to talk about Mike? As you may recall, there Katherine was, baking more macadamia nut cookies. Katherine had, prior to the scene's beginning, placed one batch of cookies onto a cooling rack. Row after row, the cookies were perfectly laid out. With the second batch of cookies, the ones we got to see her put out onto the cooling rack, she made a complete mess of them. She appeared to be taking her time and considering her actions, she was flustered by the conversation, but not enough to destroy her cookie concentration (nothing destroys the concentration of Martha Stewart-types when they're doing such a task). However, she just piled the cookies up into one big mess. There were no perfectly neat and organized rows, there was nothing about it that suggested anyone who had ever placed cookies onto a cooling rack before.

Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2

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Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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  • 1 - D

    Dec 01, 2008 at 7:56 pm

    That's kind of insane but hey at least you're enjoying the season.

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