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'Housewives' is desperate, but all is not lost

By CHASE SQUIRES
Published October 16, 2005

When the television season ended in May, broadcasters left fans of the growing palette of successful serials dangling, forcing them to wait through a long, hot summer for answers.

Can Desperate Housewives sustain the pace? Can Lost make up for a season finale that left many feeling shortchanged? Who is the Carver?

It seemed like September would never come.

With a few episodes already stacked up in the DVR, clues are adding up:

Desperate Housewives: Last year's star freshman delivered clever twists and a mixture of mayhem, mystery and merriment.

This year, well, something's off. It's like watching a juggler spin too many plates. It remains the second most popular show in America for ABC, tops in the ballyhooed 18 to 49 demographic, but DH looks to be in desperate need of a sedative.

Off on the wrong foot with zany, slapstick antics, Housewives is revealing too much, too fast and crossing viewers up with comedy veering away from the subtle smirk that was the show's hallmark. Viewers hardly got to know new neighbor Betty Applewhite (played by Alfre Woodard) before they were not only told there was a man chained up in her basement, but actually shown the man. In the old days (last year) writers might have held back a bit, let fans wonder about those strange noises from the cellar.

Still, there's hope. Bree (Marcia Cross) is showing a more sympathetic, likable side, and the investigation into the death of her husband, Rex (Steven Culp), holds promise. But creator Marc Cherry may not be able to control the frantic pace without overwhelming viewers with a combination of too much, too silly, and too "you've gotta be kidding me." Remember Twin Peaks and the dancing dwarves? Grade: C.

Lost: ABC needed to make amends - and network execs knew it - after last year's season finale answered nothing for loyal viewers, leaving more questions than revelations. This season, the show is off and running with a giant payoff in the season premiere and weekly reveals that seem to tip the story in a new direction with each episode while providing satisfying clues.

By the third installment, Island-fevered fans had seen a brave new world. The lid popped open, and any speculation that the castaways were dead and living in a spirit world or something went down the Hatch. Developing instead is a weird tale of science gone awry and a host of philosophical questions and social commentaries that make the story deeper by the episode.

It would have been easy this month for co-creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof to have the film projector in the Hatch break down before playing the orientation film, but they took the hard route and rolled that tape. Grade: A.

Nip/Tuck: Talk about cliffhangers, N/T left fans of the FX series hanging in a big way last season, with Dr. Christian Troy (Julian McMahon) paralyzed, helpless and about to get hacked up by a masked slasher known as the Carver.

The season premiere was a tad disappointing. C'mon, the Carver slashed everyone else's face, leaving them disfigured, but only nicked Christian's neck? How convenient. But then . . .

Viewers learn there is more scarring than the visible ones the surgeons can repair. The new season also explores the dark world of dysfunctional relationships, familial and sexual, with story lines that challenge perceptions of morality. The season is dark, and recent episodes have been bruising, without the comic relief from before. Grade: B.

The West Wing: In its seventh season (yes, it's been that long) WW looks to be winding down. And that's sort of a shame. "Sort of" because viewers this season don't know what they're going to get week to week. The season premiere was weak, basically a reminder there will be an election and President Jed Bartlett (Martin Sheen) is leaving the show.

But from that lame, confusing opener, West Wing bounced back with a fun episode this past week, featuring presidential candidates Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) trying to outflank each other. Promised for November sweeps: a live "debate" leading up to an election.

Is WW worth saving? Hard to say. Stockard Channing, who plays first lady Abigail Bartlett, said this summer she and Sheen expect to be gone before Christmas. And Richard Schiff, who plays the brooding Toby Ziegler, said he is unhappy with the writing and wants off, though he'll probably be kept around until next spring.

If this show is to win another term, new leaders have to emerge.

Moved this year from the grownup 9 p.m. Wednesday slot to 8 p.m. Sundays - where it's being whipped by Cold Case, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and The Simpsons - West Wing is ranked 50th by Nielsen, with about 8-million viewers a night. Grade: C.

On a related note, if there's room for only one president of TV Nation, it may be Geena Davis' turn. Her freshman White House drama on ABC, Commander in Chief, is the seventh most watched show this season, polling well with 16.6-million viewers a night.

[Last modified October 16, 2005, 01:31:12]