Everybody has been saying ...
Question: Everybody has been saying that
Desperate Housewives is in a slump. I'm not sure if that's an opinion I truly agree with, or merely one I've acquired from others who have been saying so pretty much since the day after the second-season premiere aired. Whatever the case, I have to say there is one part of the show that I have come to loathe: George. In the first season he was a creepy character who proved to be an interesting wrinkle in Bree and Rex's marriage. This season, with Rex out of the picture, George has taken on a bigger role in Bree's life as well as the life of the show, and I, for one, can't say it has been for the better. We have gotten to see just what level of crazy he is, and to what lengths he will go to get what he wants. I mean, not only did he manipulate Bree into having sex with him when she obviously wasn't ready, but now he's killed her therapist and proposed to her just seven weeks after her husband's death (which he, of course, caused)! To me he is a highly unredeemable and unlikable character whom I don't love to hate, but merely hate. What do you think?
Answer: First off, the
Housewives slump. Last week's (Nov. 13) episode, the first this season with series creator
Marc Cherry as the author, was a near-return to form: entertaining, amusing, eventful, a bit suspenseful, with some actual meaningful housewife interaction, especially where Bree and Gabrielle were concerned. I know Cherry says the writing of all episodes are overseen by him, but this was a marked improvement. As for George: I agree, he is completely icky (and not in a good way), but I'm reasonably sure he'll be getting his comeuppance eventually. I have always enjoyed
Roger Bart onstage (as Tony-winning Snoopy in the
Charlie Brown revival, in
The Producers and elsewhere) but this sexually ambiguous and smarmy psychopath isn't a great fit. I too will be happy when Bree moves on. What
Housewives (and Bree, for that matter) is lacking these days is some hot new beefcake on the block.
Alfre Woodard's son (romancing Bree's daughter now?) is a good starting point.
