Desperate Housewives - Season 3
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Big Magilla
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Yeah, but is she really dead? I'd be shocked that they would kill off a major star, especially considering Danielle is pregnant with her nephew's child. I'm thinking somebody will save her life in next season's opener -- this is the same Cliff Barnes suicide cliffhanger.flipp525 wrote:Holy shit! Edie hung herself! I have to say that I did not see that coming at all.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
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99-1100896887
This episode really will have "legs": well-written, interwoven stories, a death, Laurie Metcalfe. It had it all. She is sure to get an Emmy nomination for this, and there will be others for this one episode.
Now: What in God's name has Laurie done with her mouth?
Thanks, Penelope, for pointing out both "Gary" and "Fisher"-- I recognized them, but we couldn't place them for sure.
I agree re Andrew, but soon his character will be 18( if he is not already), and then there will be a MAN-friend, and another thing for Bree to cope with!
Now: What in God's name has Laurie done with her mouth?
Thanks, Penelope, for pointing out both "Gary" and "Fisher"-- I recognized them, but we couldn't place them for sure.
I agree re Andrew, but soon his character will be 18( if he is not already), and then there will be a MAN-friend, and another thing for Bree to cope with!
And did you notice two of Jackie's ex-boyfriends in the episode? Brian Kerwin, who played Jackie's bf Gary in the 1990 season, played Metcalf's cheating husband; and Matt Roth, who played Jackie's bf Fisher in the 1992/93 season (and is married to Metcalf in real life), is the new neighbor who threw the can.
It was certainly the best episode since the first season. I knew Nora's murder was coming, but the suddeness of it totally shocked me, and the acting was so strong that I actually had a tear streaming down my face.
Now, if only Andrew can get a new boyfriend....
It was certainly the best episode since the first season. I knew Nora's murder was coming, but the suddeness of it totally shocked me, and the acting was so strong that I actually had a tear streaming down my face.
Now, if only Andrew can get a new boyfriend....
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
I have to say that last night's episode was probably one of the best since the first season. Laurie Metcalfe and Felicity Huffman both hit it way out of the ballpark and the death of Nora's character, while somewhat a relief as annoying as she was, was also harsh, quick, and disturbingly real. You know it's November sweeps when they start killing people off. For now, I most definitely see a Guest Emmy nod in Metcalfe's future.
It was a great cap to the day for me (no pun intended) because I watched Roseanne's new stand-up special on HBO, "Blonde and Bitchin'" in the afternoon (after Dupont/Georgetown condo hunting!) and then finished up the night watching Aunt Jackie become completely unhinged in a supermarket shooting people. I suppose I should've popped in Rachel, Rachel to see a little lesbian-onic Estelle Parsons to round things out.
It was a great cap to the day for me (no pun intended) because I watched Roseanne's new stand-up special on HBO, "Blonde and Bitchin'" in the afternoon (after Dupont/Georgetown condo hunting!) and then finished up the night watching Aunt Jackie become completely unhinged in a supermarket shooting people. I suppose I should've popped in Rachel, Rachel to see a little lesbian-onic Estelle Parsons to round things out.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Yes, but is Orson really the killer? We didn't see the wife being killed....flipp525 wrote:What I don't get is the "new buried body" reference in the NY Daily News article. I thought it was pretty obvious that it was Orson's first wife whose body we saw in the closing sequence.
The show is growing tired, and this season opener wasn't quite the grabber it shoulda been, imho. I mean, how many times are they going to recycle the plot of Bree getting involved with a man who is (or may be) a murderer? I think they should keep her single--for me, Bree's best scenes have involved her children, Andrew and Danielle, and neither were around last night.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
I don't think he "begs to differ" so much as he illuminates the already past due shelf life of the whole franchise, no matter how reinvigorated this new season might seem to be. He does concede to the fact that there has been vast improvement which is what everyone was hoping for with last night's season premiere.
What I don't get is the "new buried body" reference in the NY Daily News article. I thought it was pretty obvious that it was Orson's first wife whose body we saw in the closing sequence.
What I don't get is the "new buried body" reference in the NY Daily News article. I thought it was pretty obvious that it was Orson's first wife whose body we saw in the closing sequence.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Tim Goodman, of the San Francisco Chronicle, begs to differ:
"Desperate Housewives," on the other hand, grew so wearisome last year that it was the poster series for (well-deserved) critical blowback. The writing was off; the tone was way off. Wisteria Lane is soapier and more stupid than ever. It was like creator Marc Cherry had made this one-season wonder of suburban satire and old-fashioned dramatic froth and was then tuckered out for Season 2. (The truth is, "Desperate Housewives" in Season 1 was hyper satirical, a wink-wink adoption of soap opera mores while spoofing the genre. That's impossible to uphold, as the woes of Season 2 so clearly illustrated.)
And yet, with Cherry scolded from his darling being dismissed so utterly, he returns this year to recapture the magic. Even in the first episode, it's clear that "Desperate Housewives" is a vastly improved series from a year ago. The passing is better; the tone is more focused. It's funnier and more focused.
But it's also still "Desperate Housewives," and there's that malodorous whiff of the whole thing being past its sell-by date -- of this series being from a time that has now passed. Watching the main characters in frantic motion again this year doesn't bring joy, just annoyance. For though they may have improved from a year ago, the characters are still the over-the-top caricatures of the last 44 episodes and it all seems so redundantly feckless now.
"Desperate Housewives" has improved its performance but not changed its ways.
"Desperate Housewives," on the other hand, grew so wearisome last year that it was the poster series for (well-deserved) critical blowback. The writing was off; the tone was way off. Wisteria Lane is soapier and more stupid than ever. It was like creator Marc Cherry had made this one-season wonder of suburban satire and old-fashioned dramatic froth and was then tuckered out for Season 2. (The truth is, "Desperate Housewives" in Season 1 was hyper satirical, a wink-wink adoption of soap opera mores while spoofing the genre. That's impossible to uphold, as the woes of Season 2 so clearly illustrated.)
And yet, with Cherry scolded from his darling being dismissed so utterly, he returns this year to recapture the magic. Even in the first episode, it's clear that "Desperate Housewives" is a vastly improved series from a year ago. The passing is better; the tone is more focused. It's funnier and more focused.
But it's also still "Desperate Housewives," and there's that malodorous whiff of the whole thing being past its sell-by date -- of this series being from a time that has now passed. Watching the main characters in frantic motion again this year doesn't bring joy, just annoyance. For though they may have improved from a year ago, the characters are still the over-the-top caricatures of the last 44 episodes and it all seems so redundantly feckless now.
"Desperate Housewives" has improved its performance but not changed its ways.
New York Daily News -
Third time's a charm for 'Housewives'
Friday, September 22nd, 2006
Desperate Housewives. Sunday night at 9, ABC.
"Desperate Housewives" is back. Not only for the season, but creatively: It's not only returning, it's reinvigorated.
The third season of ABC's "Housewives" begins Sunday night at 9 with an assurance and a knowing playfulness that was missing most of last year, except for the late-season antics involving Eva Longoria's baby-hungry Gabrielle.
It even introduces a new buried-body mystery, a loud echo of the show's successful inaugural season - but if "Housewives" is going to plagiarize itself, that's the right thing to steal.
The action picks up six months after last season's cliffhanger, with good story lines for all the female principals. Gabrielle, for example, is having problems with her future child's live-in surrogate mother, Gwendoline Yeo's Xiao-Mei, who's very pregnant and very demanding.
Felicity Huffman's Lynette has problems with a mom, too: Nora (played by the hilarious Kiersten Warren), the clingy mother of Doug's love child. Teri Hatcher's Susan is tending to the hospitalized Mike (James Denton) while catching the eye of another man (Dougray Scott as Ian). Nicollette Sheridan's Edie is trying to sell a house on Wisteria Lane, a task that proves difficult because of her neighbors' odd activities.
And Marcia Cross, as Bree, continues to get closer to secretly creepy mystery man Orson (Kyle MacLachlan from "Sex and the City"), in the story line that becomes the central thread of the new season - a plot that makes room for guest stars Laurie Metcalf and Valerie Mahaffey as well.
Unlike the second season's opener, which started that illadvised business in the basement and kept the women largely separated, this year's kickoff script, by series creator Marc Cherry and Jeff Greenstein, does everything right.
Everywhere you turn, there are fabulous face-offs: Lynette versus Nora, Gabrielle versus Xiao-Mei, Susan versus herself, Edie versus everybody.
And when the normally frigid Bree gets moved to ecstasy by Orson's fussy rewashing of her already clean wineglasses, her reaction is the perfect payoff for two years of repressive character development.
Pass the word: If you've given up on "Desperate Housewives," it's time to return to the neighborhood.
Third time's a charm for 'Housewives'
Friday, September 22nd, 2006
Desperate Housewives. Sunday night at 9, ABC.
"Desperate Housewives" is back. Not only for the season, but creatively: It's not only returning, it's reinvigorated.
The third season of ABC's "Housewives" begins Sunday night at 9 with an assurance and a knowing playfulness that was missing most of last year, except for the late-season antics involving Eva Longoria's baby-hungry Gabrielle.
It even introduces a new buried-body mystery, a loud echo of the show's successful inaugural season - but if "Housewives" is going to plagiarize itself, that's the right thing to steal.
The action picks up six months after last season's cliffhanger, with good story lines for all the female principals. Gabrielle, for example, is having problems with her future child's live-in surrogate mother, Gwendoline Yeo's Xiao-Mei, who's very pregnant and very demanding.
Felicity Huffman's Lynette has problems with a mom, too: Nora (played by the hilarious Kiersten Warren), the clingy mother of Doug's love child. Teri Hatcher's Susan is tending to the hospitalized Mike (James Denton) while catching the eye of another man (Dougray Scott as Ian). Nicollette Sheridan's Edie is trying to sell a house on Wisteria Lane, a task that proves difficult because of her neighbors' odd activities.
And Marcia Cross, as Bree, continues to get closer to secretly creepy mystery man Orson (Kyle MacLachlan from "Sex and the City"), in the story line that becomes the central thread of the new season - a plot that makes room for guest stars Laurie Metcalf and Valerie Mahaffey as well.
Unlike the second season's opener, which started that illadvised business in the basement and kept the women largely separated, this year's kickoff script, by series creator Marc Cherry and Jeff Greenstein, does everything right.
Everywhere you turn, there are fabulous face-offs: Lynette versus Nora, Gabrielle versus Xiao-Mei, Susan versus herself, Edie versus everybody.
And when the normally frigid Bree gets moved to ecstasy by Orson's fussy rewashing of her already clean wineglasses, her reaction is the perfect payoff for two years of repressive character development.
Pass the word: If you've given up on "Desperate Housewives," it's time to return to the neighborhood.