'Desperate Housewives' says goodbye after improbable success
Primetime soap broke various rules, turned into huge phenomenon
The women of Wisteria Lane — Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross — back in the pilot of "Desperate Housewives."
Credit: ABC
It's tempting to look at ABC's "Desperate Housewives," which comes to the end of its eight-season run tomorrow night at 9, and suggest that a show like that would have trouble getting on television today. But the fact is, "Desperate Housewives" had just as much trouble getting on the air back in 2004. It was not only one of TV's biggest successes of the '00s, but one of the medium's most improbable.
In 2004, the primetime soap opera was more or less dead. So, it seemed, were the careers of several of the show's stars, who had been popular in the '80s (Nicollette Sheridan on "Knots Landing") and/or '90s (Teri Hatcher on "Lois & Clark," Marcia Cross on "Melrose Place") but were now at an age the increasingly youth-obsessed TV business had little use for.
Even deader? The career of the show's creator, Marc Cherry. He had been a top writer and producer on "The Golden Girls," then created or co-created three sitcoms that nobody watched with names like "The 5 Mrs. Buchanans" and "Some of My Best Friends." He was having trouble getting anyone to take his calls, much less hear his pitch for a hybrid of soap, sitcom and murder mystery. (The idea for the show came from a conversation with his mother while they were discussing the case of Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her 5 children, and Mrs. Cherry said, unabashed, "I've been there.")
So Cherry went outside the system and did something largely unheard of at the time for someone who had achived as much as he had:
He worked for free.
He wrote the "Desperate Housewives" script not as part of any network's development cycle, but entirely on spec. He pitched it all around town, and was rejected by nearly everyone. It wound up being bought by ABC, where the executives remained nervous about many aspects of the show, not least of which was that provocative title. (Their preference was "The Secret Lives of Housewives.") But the title stuck, and critics loved the "Housewives" pilot, just as they did the pilot for another new ABC show that fall called "Lost" — and were convinced that both would be too unconventional to last more than six episodes (possibly combined).
But ABC, in another unorthodox move, put nearly all of its marketing resources behind those two shows (rather than sharing the promo wealth among lesser lights like "Life As We Know It" and "Complete Savages"), and it worked. In its first season, "Desperate Housewives" averaged nearly 24 million viewers a week.
Four months after the show's huge debut, Cherry and his stars came to the TV critics mid-season press tour to celebrate their instant success. Cherry recalled a conversation he had had with Felicity Huffman (who would go on to beat co-stars Hatcher and Cross for the comedy actress Emmy that season) about their pre-"Housewives" careers:
"We were talking about how you go through your career and people are not answering the phone," he said, "and even they might say hurtful things to your agent. And then when success comes along, you have that choice: Do I just smile and I´m gracious, or do I go, 'Yeah, you (expletive deleteds)!' And I´m trying my darndest to just be gracious about the whole thing. But, yes, there is some semblance of 'I told you,' and there is a part of me going, 'I hope some of these folks are feeling sorry that they picked on poor Marc Cherry.'"
Cherry was feeling pleased with himself, and he had every right to be, not only because the show nobody wanted was so successful, but because it was, at the beginning, so good. I have little use for primetime soaps, but I faithfully watched every episode of "Housewives" for two seasons — the first because Cherry and company so successfully balanced romantic intrigue, mystery and comedy, and the second because the first had built up enough goodwill that I felt I owed the show a chance to pull out of its sophomore slump.
"Desperate Housewives" wasn't quite like any other show on television, and shows like that tend to creatively burn hotter and faster than more familiar concepts. The initial mystery arc — the unexplained suicide of narrator Mary Alice Young — had felt built into the foundation of Wisteria Lane. Some of the later ones worked better than others, but none ever felt quite as natural. And the show kept building up the soapy stakes until even Cherry didn't know what to do with any of the characters after four seasons, leading to a reboot of the series that took everyone five years into the future where he could start from scratch with all new stories.
(The time-jump had the side effect of making these anomalous-ly mature central female characters even older.)
That '04-'05 network TV season was one of the best I can ever remember in terms of new series development. It gave us "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," but also "House" (which says goodbye a week and a day later), "Grey's Anatomy" and "The Office" (both likely to be back next season, but possibly with a lot of cast turnover), plus the great but shorter-lived "Veronica Mars." While all of these shows had familiar elements in their DNA, on the whole each seemed not quite like anything to have aired before on American network television. There's a belief in the business that viewers just want more of the same, and while there's plenty of evidence of challenging, rule-breaking shows dying quickly, that was a year where a whole bunch of them managed to work at the same time. And "Desperate Housewives" was the most successful of them all at the start. It's not what it was in terms of audience or quality, but at the beginning, Marc Cherry was right and everyone else in the business was wrong.
Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMarc Cherry
May 12, 2012 at 9:18AM EST Reply to CommentIt's a satire!
matt heh
May 12, 2012 at 9:27AM ESTMorahan Preferably French, I like the way they think.
May 14, 2012 at 4:15PM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula
May 12, 2012 at 9:28AM EST Reply to CommentIT'S THAT SHOW THAT DISPLACED ALIAS FROM ITS RIGHTFUL TIMESLOT!
dylan Alias is a show about a spy.
May 12, 2012 at 10:27AM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula And it was awesome! Far better than this show!
May 12, 2012 at 9:08PM ESTsepinwall Also? Much lower-rated than this show.
May 13, 2012 at 7:42AM ESTcyclops999 But was ALIAS still better than DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES by the 04-05 season? ALIAS had amazing 1st and 2nd seasons, a 3rd season that was fun and twisty but nowhere near the level of the first 2, and then 4th and 5th seasons that fell off a cliff creatively. Might've been a good thing that less people got to see those final 2 seasons.
May 13, 2012 at 2:33PM ESTToddVDW @Cyclops Perhaps surprisingly, Alias' fourth season was by far its best rated, because it was on after Lost.
May 14, 2012 at 12:02AM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula Yes, Alan, I know Alias was much lower-rated. That doesn't mean I can't be bitter about them replacing it w/ a show w/ which I could never relate, and which basically transformed them into a network w/ which I couldn't relate...
May 14, 2012 at 1:47PM ESTthenightstalker
May 12, 2012 at 10:44AM EST Reply to CommentThe odd thing about Desperate Housewives was that its first season was so good, but then it kind of lost its way. They couldn't come up with a mystery that was engrossing as Mary Alices's suicide (the less the said about the Applewhites, the better.) Dana Delany's Katherine Mayfair was the best of the new additions to the cast, but she too went off the rails with that Mike-Susan nonsense. The murder coverup storyline this year is silly and boring. I think what they should have done in the final season is kill off an original housewife in the season premiere and over the cours of the season go back to see what really happenen. It would have been a nice callback to Mary Alice and given the viewers a more compelling storyline.
kevincurtinred Ya I actually like your idea. I stopped watching a few seasons ago but would probably have tuned in for the final season if that's what they had done.
May 12, 2012 at 11:10AM ESTsrpad
May 12, 2012 at 10:51AM EST Reply to CommentI will admit I watched this for almost all of its run. Finally gave up this season and probably shouldn't have lasted that long but I will check out the finale. Congrats Desperate Housewives.
pamelajaye
May 12, 2012 at 11:59AM EST Reply to CommentI never really watched it (which meas I watched a few eps somewhere and watched the pilot in reruns and then read wikipedia for the solution to the mystery) but of course they managed to squeeze Scott Bakula in, so now, while I am clueless about this murder (was it shown?) I do at least sort of know the characters. (and always, its closing voiceover is at the beginning of something I *am* watching. I just forget what.)
dmstorm22
May 12, 2012 at 12:09PM EST Reply to CommentI'll admit I've seen almost every episode. The time jump ruined the show. I applaud Cherry's idea to try it because DH needed some spark after four seasons that went from amazing (1st) to just good (4th) but lost in the time jump (other than the ages of the kids) was the heart of the show. It became just a prime-time soap with better acting.
In Season 1 it was, in my opinion, a great show. Good writing, great acting, good storylines, a strong multi-layered mystery that was unraveled patiently and smartly. It never reached that height again (The S3 mystery was close, but Marcia Cross's maternity leave forced the mystery to wrap up early and left some dead end of season episodes.)
That truly was a great year for new shows, and it is easy to forget after all this time that in their respective premier seasons, Desperate Housewives might have been the best, or at least comparable.
Col Bat Guano
May 12, 2012 at 2:00PM EST Reply to CommentI watched the first two (maybe three?) seasons and grew tired of it. The initial season. like Grey's Anatomy, was great, but then it just grew too repetitive for me. I was actually surprised to see a promo for it earlier this season. I thought it had gone off the air about two years ago.
Prettok
May 12, 2012 at 4:06PM EST Reply to CommentI guess you're just talking about broadcast networks, but summer-fall 2004 also saw the debut of Battlestar Galactics, Deadwood, Rescue Me, CSI NY, and The Soup.
Prettok I almost had Entourage and Dog the Bounty Hunter on that list, but reconsidered.
May 12, 2012 at 4:10PM ESTMark Also, Venture Bros. premiered fall 2004 (better than everything you and Alan listed).
May 12, 2012 at 9:03PM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula You forgot Numb3rs. A midseason show, but if Grey's is eligible, so is Numb3rs.
May 12, 2012 at 9:31PM ESTCarlitos Also from 2004, "Jack & Bobby", a little remembered but really great show on The WB, half of whose cast reunited in some episodes of the fourth season of "Mad Men": John Slattery, Matt Long and Jessica Paré.
May 14, 2012 at 12:43AM ESTSo yeah, 2004 really was quite the banner year for television.
Carlitos I found the opening credits on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK1cIWbZvbQ
May 14, 2012 at 12:46AM ESTOh, nostalgia.
kevincurtinred Didn't The 4400 debut in 2004 as well? I loved that show. That was back before every USA show was identical.
May 15, 2012 at 1:36PM ESTChitheatergirl
May 12, 2012 at 4:43PM EST Reply to CommentA nighttime soap would have a hard time getting picked up these days? Revenge seems to be doing okay. True it's not a "comedy" like Desperate Housewives called itself, but it's definitely a nighttime soap.
Prettok Revenge and Ringer both seemed to be more telenovela inspired.
May 12, 2012 at 5:10PM ESTCol Bat Guano I laugh a lot when I watch Revenge. Is it not supposed to be funny?
May 13, 2012 at 12:19AM ESTJanieJones @ COL BAT
May 14, 2012 at 10:43AM ESTI laugh alot to when I watch Revenge. However, it's so cheesy, it's good. I don't know if I'll watch past the first season but I do get a kick out of it.
Col Bat Guano @JANIE The scene where the ninja revenge master showed up was the biggest laugh I had all year for any show. The cheese factor is over the top. I know it can't last, but I'll enjoy the rest of this year.
May 14, 2012 at 12:08PM ESTtxt
May 13, 2012 at 2:40AM EST Reply to Commentyeah, that '04-'05 season was really something...made me into the TV addict I am today. back in those days, the only shows i followed were Alias and Friends. nowadays, more than two dozens.
some of the shows started from that season i watched here and there after the initial seasons, but somehow i watched all of Desperate Housewives. i don't love the show, and i don't hate it either (well, maybe the stupidity of Susan Mayer). i like having soaps that don't require my utmost attention in the background when i'm on the computer. still, every year i swore i wouldn't be back, but every year i came back anyhow for some reason. perhaps i liked the show more than i'm willing to admit. while i won't miss the show like i did other shows, i do appreciate its place in TV history.
Harry
May 13, 2012 at 11:29PM EST Reply to CommentSo they stayed on longer, and "solved" more mysteries than LOST. Wow !!
More seriously, I have watched all of LOST, and I have watched all of DH (except the finale) ... they are both very different programs, and it is credit to the "ensemble" that they stuck around so long. Of course there were highs and there were lows, but DH never disappointed as much as the last season of LOST. Would not miss it, but did not mind it. 3 cheers !
odessasteps
May 14, 2012 at 12:12AM EST Reply to CommentI still mildly disagree with Alan's contention that people didn't know who Felicity Huffman was when the show debuted.
The average TV viewer might not even remember her from Sportsnight, but she was always part of the Mamet ensemble, being in a oouple of the movies, notably the vastly underrated Spanish Prisoner. (and had been married to Bill Macy for a while at when DH started)