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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Kate Pavao

The highly addictive, Emmy-winning DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES centers on the women of Wisteria Lane and their struggles to cope with suburban life. In the show's pilot episode, one of the main characters' friends committed suicide. Amid the standard soap opera plot elements (affairs, addictions, cover-ups), the repercussions of this central mystery are still playing out throughout the tree-lined neighborhood. The ongoing mystery has created a nice wrapper for the show, and the dead woman acts as narrator, adding a creative -- and creepy -- touch.

Is It Any Good?

4

Stars Teri Hatcher (Susan), Felicity Huffman (Lynette), Marcia Cross (Bree), and Eva Longoria (Gabrielle) give great comedic performances, and there are plenty of outrageous moments (klutzy Susan getting covered in cremated ashes, for example). Something positive can also be gleaned from the women's friendships with one another, and from the show's examination -- however extreme -- of the complicated lives women lead.

But it should be stressed that this is adult fare. In the first season alone, viewers were treated to Gabrielle's sexual relationship with a minor, Lynette's dependence on Ritalin, Bree's husband's S&M fetish, a naked nanny, a suicide, a hit-and-run with no consequences, and a grizzly strangulation. Things have only gotten more complicated -- and eyebrow-raising -- since.

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