TV: Desperate Housewives

Hey, so, have I mentioned that I've given up on Desperate Housewives?

No? Okay then: I've given up on Desperate Housewives.

After a great freshman year, the show hit a sophomore slump, and hit it hard. Part of it is there's no overriding mystery carrying the viewer along, like Mary Alice's suicide last year. Part of it is showrunner Mark Cherry has stopped writing all the scripts, and the remainder of the writing staff is clearly not up to the task. Part of it is over-familiarity: Teri Hatcher falling down was cute the first dozen or so times, but now -- seen it! Part of it is the total lack of interest I have in the new characters -- don't care about Alfre Woodard, which is unfortunate, because she's such an excellent actress, and could have done wonders with better material, and I certainly don't care about Marcia Cross' pharmacist boyfriend/stalker.

(Quick digression: have you noticed that almost none of the women on the show are actually desperate housewives now? Teri Hatcher is divorced, Marcia Cross is a widow, Felicity Huffman works outside the home, Nicollette Sheridan was never married, and even Alfre Woodard has no husband (don't know if he's dead or just MIA). Only Eva Longoria is still technically a housewife. That's false advertising! It's only Desperate Housewife!)

So I've given up on the show. In fact, I apparently gave up on it a month ago, and didn't realize it. I kept letting new episodes accumulate on the TiVo, and just let them sit there; I felt no desire whatsoever to watch them. When I found I needed extra room on the disc recently, and saw I had four unwatched episodes clogging things up, I had to choose between a marathon viewing, or getting rid of them altogether. It didn't take long: I decided to cut my losses and delete them. I'm out!

This show took a harder fall from season one to season two than Joan of Arcadia. Unlike Joan, though, I don't think there's any fear Desperate Housewives will be cancelled. It's still doing gangbusters in the ratings. But if things don't get interesting soon, I wouldn't be surprised to see those numbers drop sharply before next summer. The audience won't stick with a fad gone so bad so quickly forever. At least, I think they won't -- I mean, ER is still on the air, after all.