Question: I have seen Desperate Housewives compared to quite a few other past shows but never to the one that I think it most resembles: Picket Fences. What is your opinion about that comparison?
Answer: An interesting idea, but I still think Knots Landing is the closest to a true precursor of what Desperate Housewives seeks to parody. Picket Fences did have elements of soap opera and satire in its often-twisted depiction of the dark undercurrents of society and family life, but it seemed to me more a comment on Americana than of actual suburbia and, being a David E. Kelley show, tended to resolve most stories in the courtroom (RIP, Ray Walston). Desperate Housewives' look and tone is beholden to the classic soap format, and Picket Fences was much harder to pigeonhole ...
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