'Housewives' changes pace with time warp
By Mike Hughes
Gannett News Service
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For "Desperate Housewives," 2008 is the everything year.
It's the year the show has been large and small, tragic and comic, traditional and quirky.
"Housewives" has survived a fake tornado and a real strike. Now it's ready to slow down, shrink down and have fun.
"I wanted to get back to where we were that very first season, where it's just the problems of some ordinary women ... small and relatable," said Marc Cherry, the show's creator and producer.
That's fine with his stars.
"I felt like it was a reset button," said Eva Longoria Parker.
Big events followed that tornado. There was the usual scheming, cheating and such - and then a surprise: In the final moments of the fourth season, "Housewives" suddenly leaped ahead five years.
Viewers have seen snippets of that new world. We know this much:
That would be Mike, who will pop in sometime next season.
Edie — frozen out lately by her former neighbors — will also return. "It will be hot," promised Nicollette Sheridan, who plays her.
A bigger surprise is that Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany) will still be there. That broke the "Desperate" pattern.
Each fall, the show brought in a new family with a secret. (This fall's key newcomer is played by Neal McDonough of "Boomtown.") Each spring, the family left.
Katherine, however, lingers. "It was impossible not to bring her back, after the response we got," said Bob Daily, who runs the show with Cherry.
That's been a key trait for "Housewives" and Cherry — the ability to change plans, change style, almost change careers. After writing "Golden Girls" and other comedies, Cherry was unemployed at 40.
"I was (rejected) at shows I despised," he said. "And I was kind of frustrated by that. ... I thought, 'I have a lot more in me than setups and punch lines.' "
Inspired by his eccentric mother, he created "Desperate Housewives" as a sort of soap opera with fringes of comedy and drama. The first year, it won six Emmys and was nominated for nine more.
"Season 2 was not a good season for us creatively," Cherry said, "and I was devastated."
That's when he shed his co-producers and added more comedy people.
"Now I have a big computer screen and we will sit together ... and (write) together," Cherry said. "And it's really kind of saved my life."
It has also sent his show on fresh comic-tragic detours.
