Desperate Throwdown!

Hokay, so. Last blog I posted all kinds of cool links to great media and lists of interesting stuff, but all the Mega-Mart regulars hopped on the back of the number 2 selection for the Best TV List, Desperate Housewives, and started kidney punching like there was no tomorrow. The remainder of this blog will be directed at the offending parties, but feel free to take it personally.

Note: I am not responsible for things said in "rant-mode," and you know that I have nothing but love.

Now first of all, lets lay it out there. You have made some uninformed judgments about a show that, frankly, scares the crap out of you.

When The O.C. came out we let ourselves be persuaded by favorable criticism to delve into the teen drama genre, though we were a bit too old. The writing was solid and fresh and elevated the show out of it's target age group and made it something the 18-35 group could munch on. I could write another essay about how this demographic change it what held the show up, stagnated it in season three and lead to it's death, but I'm lambasting you cats now, so maybe another day.

Now enter Desperate Housewives. The writing is stupendous and has elevated this show from what could have been an adults 30-55 daytime soap-opera to being the number one show for all adults 18-49. I think you can't handle the fact that people older than us watch it because that means you have to lump yourselves in with them. Sure, it's "OK" when you want to dip into a high school drama, then you can guiltily admit to your peers that you are youthful and into young culture and music. But may God strike you blind if your mom might watch the same show as you. Run for your ironically mulletted, skinny-pants-below-their-balls hipster friends and spark one to how lame the conformists who watch THAT monstrosity of adult programming must hypothetically be.

Just "F.Y.I" Desperate Housewives is one of the few shows I've watched that keeps me wondering, "What's going to happen next?" And I'm not talking about the manufactured, intentionally ambiguous, long stalling way Lost keeps you guessing either. Desperate Housewives weaves stories with satisfying, elaborate arcs and morally ambiguous characters. Do you want the spoiled rich girl to leave her husband and wealth for the just-barely-18 year old garden boy she's found a twinge of real love with? or stay with her loving, but controlling, and slightly emotionally abusive husband? There is no obvious winner there that you instantly root for and wait for the writers to weave you to. Instead I found myself considering the choice and how each side would play out as it unfolded, anticipating the moment the writers would pick a path and I'd see how well I had predicted or what detail I had failed to remember.

So, go do yourself a favor and rent the first season on DVD and sit and watch the first disc. And don't watch it in that way you say sorry to your sister after getting busted by your parents for stealing your own CDs back. Just clear your head, watch and enjoy.

I can't believe I made it to the end of this without making fun of the Counting Crows once. I even planned to do it, but I just didn't have enough time to work it in. Oh, and... You have been served!