Sunday, October 23, 2005

YOU'RE WATCHING DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, ON ABC, SO STICK AROUND: I have had my first happy dance of the 2005-06 television season. And to my surprise, it came from Desperate Housewives. Even last year, before the backlash began, I never totally understood what all the ruckus was about. It's a fun show with a great cast, but really -- all the hoo-hah about the level of self-aware wit and cynicism never really resonated with me. It's a primetime soap. An over-the-top, sometimes laugh-out-loud-funny soap, but so's the O.C., you know? And yet the O.C. wasn't out there pitching itself as the frontrunner for best comedy.

Oh, but now it's all changed. It's so all changed for me.

Last season, my hero and giver of perhaps the gratist best-actress Emmy speech evir, Felicity Huffman, portrayed Lynette Scavo, who had left her fiercely successful advertising career to become a put-upon stay-at-home mother of four while her husband (the "hey, I'm not gay, no matter how Darren Star cast me a million years ago!" Doug Savant) brought home the bacon and knocked her up at every available provocation. This season, Lynette's husband has decided to become a stay-at-home dad and let Lynette become chief bacon purveyor. So she's back in the workforce, with an uptight boss (Joely Fisher) who views Lynette's offspring as reasons #1, 2, 3, and 4 why mothers shouldn't work outside the home. That's the background.

Tonight, Lynette became Joely's wingman. Every night for a week, Joely cajoled Lynette into coming out drinking with her and pimping for her. Why? Because Lynette was married with kids, and therefore not a threat. After five nights of this, with no end in sight, Lynette came up with a plan. She went into the bathroom, got herself all smoky, did shots with a gaggle of admiring men, and danced on the bar while Joely quietly fumed in a corner on the banquette.

But I haven't told you the important part. The soundtrack for this entire scene? My Boogie Shoes.

Please, everyone, join me for a happy dance.

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