Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fifth Season
Starring: Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria Parker, Ricardo ChaviraDirector: na
Studio: ABC Video
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Running Time: 1032 minutes
DVD Release: September 1st 2009
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DVD Review
A primetime soap with a truly contempoary take on the happily ever after, Desperate Housewives takes a darkly comedic look at suburbia where the secret lives of housewives aren't always what they seem. Desperate Housewives The Complete Fifth Season fast forwards five years where new mysteries bind true friendships with a balance of humor and drama, twists and surprises.
Bonus Features Include: A closer look 5 years later, Miss Piggy takes Wisteria Lane, dialogue between Marc Cherry and Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives evolution of a modern classic, Cherry picked, audio comentaries, bloopers, deleted scenes
User Reviews
I Can't Believe I Love This But I Do - Rating: 5/5
This must be well written, directed and acted I tell myself. Because if it isn't, I've turned into a complete moron. I wish I could say that I didn't avidly see this each and every week and wholly enjoy it. But I do. All five seasons and this one was no exception.
Premise: 5 mostly married women in affluent suburbia and their trials and tribulations as such. A sixth is dead, killed herself in her house at the start of season 1. She narrates the entire show and I really enjoy her narration. The series jumped ahead five years in season five and that ended up being a good move because pursuing the same problems from the prior four seasons may have been tedious. 5 years ahead there are so many new problems that you didn't need to concern yourself with what was done.
The strength of the show is in its writing and directing. There is not a wasted word or scene in each episode. Each episode manages to be both dramatic and darkly comic at the same time. This writing and directing is what keeps this show from descending into soap opera. If the skilled use of dark comedy was not used effectively throughout, this series would descend into mawkish melodrama. Because of this wit, style and writing, I don't really care what the recent crises are on the show, I care about seeing how they handle it as a piece of dark comic theater.
Don't worry about losing one of the housewives on this show, worry instead about the geniuses behind the camera who are creating this each week. They are the ones who make this work.
The Red NOT Edition - Rating: 1/5
The fifth season of Desperate Housewives was the worst one yet (possibly the worst show of the 2008-09 season). Here is a list of why it was terrible:
1)The 5 year jump---the writers went nowhere with this (except the fact
that M.J. is five)
2)The "mystery"---not a mystery! who didn't figure it out in the 2nd or
3rd episode?
3)Repetitive story lines---Parker sleeping with an older woman sounds a
lot like John and Gaby. Susan and Mike getting divorced and falling
back in love sounds a lot like Carlos and Gaby. Many other character
plots seem to have been seen by other characters as well.
4)The doctor---months after Dave killed his doctor, his secretary is
still calling him...how stupid is she? It isn't rocket science to
figure out someone's dead-she didn't even worry! This didn't make the
season bad, it was just stupid and got annoying.
5)The 100th episode---the first few episodes were supposedly supposed to
to prepare us for the 100th episode...which was nothing! it did not
make one impact on the show. We had never even heard of Eli.
6)The finale---Desperate Housewives always ends in a great cliffhanger
leaving us to feel suspense all summer. I haven't thought once about
this one. Who did Mike marry? Great cliffhanger...not!
That is why this season was terrible.
The DVD set, however, gets a star. It is (probably) in a great package like all Desperate Housewives sets. Also, it is loaded with more bonus features than usual (possibly for sale purposes due to how weak the season was).
In conclusion, season 5 had a moment or two (i can't think of one...maybe it didn't have moments) and the star i give is for this DVD set, not the season itself.
Amazing as always - Rating: 5/5
OMG! I can not wait to get this season on DVD. This is one of my favorite shows and I must say that it just keeps getting better with every year. I know it is not possible but oh how I would love if Desperate Houeswives would run FOREVER.
Life on Wisteria Lane 5 years in the future - Rating: 4/5
After a great Start of the Season (and by that I mean the first 13 Episodes), the Season got somewhat disappointing. But what went wrong? We still had surprising deaths, juicy storylines and the usual DH Humor. The lack of a decent mystery hurt this season a lot. Everything was predictable (from the first Episode), there was no guessing left. Dave was a great character and also beautifully portrayed my Neal McDonough and it started out as a promising mystery. But soon the writers went into the obvious direction and pretty much revealed the mystery by Episode 10. The rest of the Season was Daves plan for revenge.
But not all is bad. There were some memorable episodes this Season as well as the 100th Episode of the show. It's still a fun show, and compared to a lot out there after 5 years still holds it's place as TV's best. Hopefully Marc Cherry will come up with something more intriguing for the shows 6th Season airing this Fall.
The 7 Disc Set will include these Extras:
- Audio Commentaries
- Bloopers
- Deleted Scenes with optional Audiocomentary by Marc Cherry
- "Cherry Picked" (creator Marc Cherry's favorite moments)
- "Table Read" Featurette
- "Miss Piggy Takes Wisteria Lane" Featurette
- "Teri & Cherry" Featurette
- "Desperate Housewives: Evolution of a Modern Classic" Featurette
They seem to be packing a lot of Extras on the Set this time and it's nice to know that the audiocomentaries will be back (after they were missing in the Season 2 and 3 DVD sets).
I can't wait for it. I'm sure that the viewing experience on DVD with no brakes will be even better then on TV.
How is this season so low-rated? - Rating: 5/5
I'm having a difficult time understanding why this season is rated so much lower than all the rest. First of all, Desperate Housewives is one of the most consistently good shows on TV and every season is solid. However, season five is special in that it revamped and refreshed the series by beginning five years ahead of where season four left off. This technique provides the viewer with a slew of new storylines:
Susan: In season five, we find Susan and Mike divorced after a terrible incident tears them apart. Connected through their five year old son, Susan and Mike struggle with old feelings while beginning new relationships, Susan with her much younger house painter and Mike with Katherine Mayfair.
Lynette: Tom and Lynette continue to struggle raising their four children, specifically their teenaged twins Porter and Preston. On top of that, Tom finds himself in a midlife crisis and Lynette discovers the woes of returning to the world of advertising at age 50.
Bree: No longer a mere housewife, Bree is now an established cookbook author and businesswoman, owning her own catering company with Andrew and Katherine by her side. However, success comes with a price as she struggles to maintain her marriage to Orson, now a former convict.
Gabby: The beginning of season five finds Gabby as a harried mother of two young girls; now a house frow, she is far from the glamorous fashion model she once was. When Carlos regains his sight, Gabby and Carlos find themselves at a crossroads as they begin to simultaneously adopt and question their former lifestyle.
Edie: After being banished from Wisteria Lane five years prior, Edie returns with a new husband in tow. This husband is at the center of season five's mystery, as he has manipulated Edie into moving back to the lane so he can exact revenge on several main characters.
In all honesty, the only critique I have of this season is the mystery. In fact, I didn't find it to be all that mysterious, as I figured pretty much the entire thing out the night the premiere aired. It still remains, however, an interesting storyline to watch unfold.
There you have it. If you enjoyed seasons 1-4 of Housewives, you should definitely enjoy this. It's my second favorite season after season two, which interestingly enough was also unpopular among many fans. Negative reviews aside, this is an extremely solid season with captivating storylines and the same mix of comedy and drama we have come to expect from the show. To avoid spoilers for those of you who haven't seen the season yet, I'll just say that the finale gives us many things to look forward to in the fall, as each housewife's life takes an interesting turn.
Hope this helps,
Justin M. Green
