Desperate Housewives

Deliciously written ... this is the most compelling and original television series, and [Marc] Cherry our most gifted auteur, since The West Wing and Aaron Sorkin burst upon the scene five long years ago. [1 Oct 2004]

It is not enough to say that Desperate Housewives is the best new series of the fall. In a season of forgettable sitcoms, the hour show is the funniest newcomer. In a largely predictable lineup, it is a shrewd mystery with involving twists. In a medium that often shortchanges women, it is a grand showcase for accomplished actresses. [1 Oct 2004]

The smartest and most entertaining new series on the fall schedule. [3 Oct 2004]

A brilliantly conceived and relentlessly entertaining new drama. [1 Oct 2004]

Serving up the kind of dialogue that leads to tears and cackles, it may be the most joyfully scathing look at stifled lives network TV has ever seen. [1 Oct 2004]

Refreshingly original, bracingly adult and thoroughly delightful, Desperate Housewives is like the answer to a TV prayer you didn't know you'd made. You just know life was much duller before it arrived. [1 Oct 2004]

Funnier than all of the new sitcoms combined, featuring the strongest ensemble of dramatic actresses around and able to leap genre cliches in a single jump cut, 'Desperate Housewives' is the superwoman of the new fall season and is easily the most delightful and intriguing hour to come along on ABC in years. [1 Oct 2004]

What makes Desperate Housewives so intriguing -- and, in a broadcast universe that feels cookie-cutter homogenous, so different -- is the risks it takes. [3 Oct 2004]

The best new series of the season, it's a drama that deftly blends familiar elements of "The Stepford Wives" and "American Beauty" with a dash of "Twin Peaks," while still managing to feel strikingly new. [3 Oct 2004]

In visual style, witty language, borderline surrealism and overall mad attitude, "Desperate Housewives" stands on a mountaintop all its own, the best new drama of the season and perhaps the best new comedy, too. [3 Oct 2004]

"Desperate Housewives" is, quite simply, a very good time. [30 Sep 2004]

Desperate Housewives' style and dark, comic tone owe much to such groundbreaking cable productions as HBO's Six Feet Under. And, while the writing is no match for that of Alan Ball... several fine performances by an outstanding ensemble cast make Desperate Housewives one of the more wickedly entertaining network pilots of the fall. [3 Oct 2004]

Unique, fresh, and quite entertaining. [1 Oct 2004]

Part prime-time soap opera, part wicked social satire, this unpredictable newcomer has a blast poking around at the dark edges of a sunny and seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood. [3 Oct 2004]

The season's brightest, darkest new drama. [3 Oct 2004]

There are the sort of soapy goings-on you might expect, but it's done with style and -- most importantly -- wit. This is one very funny show. [1 Oct 2004]

A kinky streak of humor keeps Desperate Housewives from sliding into morose desolation. [3 Oct 2004]

The series tells hard, funny truths about marriage and parenting that often escape notice in other stories - truths which suggest that writer-creator-producer Marc Cherry and his collaborators have actually taken the time to understand the people they're satirizing. [2 Oct 2004]

As events unfold, they unfold with humour and, sometimes, extreme goofiness. This ain't a typical new TV drama of this season. There are no grim lawyers and cops muttering forensics babble. It's all about the women and their wit. With five juicy roles for women and all five leading ladies in top form, it's a lot of fun. [1 Oct 2004]

The new prime-time soap opera "Desperate Housewives" could be described as a guilty pleasure - but there's no reason for guilt. This show is an absolute pleasure - and the most entertaining new show of the fall season. [30 Sep 2004]

What makes "Desperate Housewives" so much fun is that as ridiculous as some of the scenarios are ... these scenes are also rooted in truth. Sure, the show offers a heightened reality, but it's not too far-fetched. [30 Sep 2004]

So cheeky, sexy and alive that you can't help enjoying it.

An inspired wedding of sharp comedic sensibilities with primetime soapiness ... The one cautionary flag is preventing the soapy elements from bubbling over the top, as they threaten to do on only a few occasions in the premiere. [27 Sep 2004]

"Desperate Housewives" is entertaining, but it turns the clock back to pre-Betty Friedan America, lampooning four bored, frustrated, white upper-middle-class ladies who lunch.

What is this, 1961? Who portrays women as non-productive mooches, hellbent on doing nothing besides living off their hard-working husbands and sleeping with the help? [30 Sep 2004]

It delivers mixed signals. Because the language is elevated, the production assured and the acting fine, it can feel that something important is happening. But perhaps there is less here than meets the eye; maybe it's just a tricked-up mystery show. It comes on like satire, but it's too scattershot, too inconsistent, too over the top to make any significant points.

There's something lazy about this show's refusal to choose a target. It's easy to feel feminist when you're deploring the plight of '50s-style birds in a gilded cage. But why do we need to invoke this simplified formula to be interested in exploring women's lives?