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| by Bridget Petrella with additional writing by John Mundazio | ||
| ABC's ‘Desperate Housewives Season 4’— A Storm of Perfection | ||
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Bridget
Petrella is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of UPBEAT Entertainment
News Online. At this point in her life, she's seriously contemplating a
complete and unbridled abandonment of typical network television...
opting instead for Silver Surfer comic books, novels with wordy titles,
Retro TV Land, HBO and Showtime's Original Programming schedule and
of course... Nick at Night. |
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ABC
Studios has recently released one of its biggest DVD titles of the
year, the Desperate Housewives: Sizzling Secrets Edition, Season 4. This
season is one of Desperate Housewives’ most talked about and anticipated
seasons, and the DVD set certainly delivers a great storyline. Desperate
Housewives has aired for four seasons on ABC, and has been one of
television’s most successful TV series. The show has won several Emmy,
Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards to date. Several of the
characters from the past seasons of Desperate Housewives are back,
including Susan, Lynette, Bree, Gabrielle, and others. One of the big
additions to this season’s cast was the character of Katherine Mayfair,
played by Dana Delany. Her storyline and background are interesting, and
I believe the writers did a fantastic job integrating her into the plot.
After returning to Wisteria Lane after many years, she immediately gets
off to a rocky start in her relationship with Bree and many others. One
of the interesting parts of the season is how Bree and Katherine develop
in their relationship. Katherine also decides to run for a seat on the
homeowners' association, and the outcome of this event also affects her
relationship with her neighbors. One of the great things that season
four delivers is a nice mix of new and old storylines. This combination
allows for the viewer to experience happiness, sadness, and humor as the
clever plot unfolds. One of the biggest examples of this is Lynette’s
bout with cancer. Being a normally serious topic, the writers find a way
to integrate some humor and irony into the story, without sacrificing
the dramatic aspects of the idea. This season’s “big event” happens when
a tornado hits the neighborhood. The tornado kills some of the
characters, essentially shaking up the entire storyline. The drama
around Wisteria Lane is always at a new high, and this part of the
series is no different. Not every episode gets a commentary, but a
respectable six out of 17 episodes do, and one of them even gets two
different tracks.
Series
creator Marc Cherry, executive producer Bob Daily and the consulting
producer Jeff Greenstein comment on the first episode, "Now You Know,"
where Edie pretends to hang herself. They reveal some rather interesting
behind-the-scenes factoids, like the bizarre fact that Standards and
Practices did not allow them to show her with the noose around her neck,
which is why the whole scene was artfully shot with various close-ups.
The other commentaries are all "Couples Commentaries," with the couples
of Wisteria Lane each talking about an episode. "Now I Know, Don't Be
Scared" has commentary by Marcia Cross ("Bree") and Kyle MacLachlan
("Orson"), "Distant Past" has commentary by Delaney ("Katherine") and
Fillion ("Adam"), and "Something's Coming" has commentary by Eva
Longoria Parker ("Gabrielle") and Ricardo Antonio Chavira ("Carlos").
Also, "Welcome to Kanagawa" has commentary by Felicity Huffman
("Lynette") and Doug Savant ("Tom"), and "Mother Said" has two
commentary tracks, one by Teri Hatcher ("Susan") and James Denton
("Mike") and one by Nicolette Sheridan ("Edie"), Marc Cherry and
director David Warren. For such a big cast, getting to hear from pretty
much the entire ensemble, plus the creator and director, is pretty
great, even if it's only for one episode each. Our favorite part of this
set? The fact that Gale Harold is introduced for 10 seconds at the very
end of the season... 
Cherry
Picked: Creator Marc Cherry's Favorite Scenes— this is pretty much
self-explanatory, as Cherry chooses scenes that spotlight each of the
Housewives (except Edie, strangely) and explains why he loves the
actresses so much. Most of them are just really funny, slapstick-y
scenes, like Bree getting stabbed in her fake belly with a barbecue fork
and Susan getting a gynecological exam, but there are also a couple of
serious scenes, like Lynette getting her cancer diagnosis and Katherine
having her first face-to-face with Wayne. There's a little bit of
interesting information, like the fact that Bree was originally supposed
to just fall on her belly, and the fact that the exam scene was the
first scene Teri Hatcher had with Nathan Fillion after meeting him. Awk-ward!
Alternate Ending— Marc Cherry shows the original scene he ended the
season with, which has the women talking about their new "Five Years
Later" lives in a walk down Wisteria Lane, but only really takes us into
Susan's home life. Apparently, ABC president Steve McPherson was
disappointed in the ending and told Cherry there should be more to tease
the next season, so Cherry got the gang back together to film four new
scenes that went into everyone's home... a week before the episode aired
on television! As stressful as that must have been on everybody, it was
totally necessary— the original ending is really pretty dull.
(Ironically, they seem to have had the same problem with last season's
cliffhanger, according to the episode 1 commentary. As it was originally
written, Bree's fake belly was the big shocker, and Edie hanging herself
was a network-mandated, back-to-the-drawing board solution.)
Deleted
Scenes— While there are about a dozen deleted scenes, most of them
are just short, funny moments that were cut for time, although some of
them were also cut for not being funny enough. The original lead-in to
the episode "You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover" shows Bree and Orson
coming up with an elaborate story for why their baby doesn't look like
them, even though nobody seems to notice— it was filmed before an
entirely new, shorter teaser was written. Bloopers— yeah, there's a
blooper reel. What can I say about Teri Hatcher mispronouncing things
that hasn't been said before? It's adorable? Overall, I have to say that
Desperate Housewives: Sizzling Secrets Edition Season Four is a
phenomenal investment, especially if you are a big fan of the entire
Desperate Housewives series! The show's writing is second to none; the
comedic timing is pure perfection and the acting is so convincing that
characters can turn on a dime. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of
this DVD set for yourself. UB
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