Desperate Housewives: The Complete Third Season – The Dirty Laundry Edition – DVD Review

Archive

Available at Amazon.com

Creator:
Marc Cherry

Cast:
Teri Hatcher ………. Susan Mayer
Marcia Cross ………. Bree Van De Kamp
Felicity Huffman ………. Lynette Scavo
Eva Longoria ………. Gabrielle Solis
James Denton ………. Mike Delfino
Doug Savant ………. Tom Scavo
Nicollette Sheridan ………. Edie Britt
Ricardo Chivara ………. Carlos Solis

After a lackluster sophomore season in which many critics were quick to pronounce the death of the franchise, the third season of Desperate Housewives seemed to finally reclaim some of the charm that made the series so popular when it first debuted.

By focusing on the typical love triangle, murder, marriage and deceit-laden storylines that the show initially became famous for, the series managed to regain old fans and interest some new ones as the third season wore on.

The primary storyline of the third season involves Bree (Marcia Cross) and her new husband Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan). Hodge’s shady past included an ex-wife who had disappeared and is presumed dead. While her Wisteria Lane friends continue to try and convince her of Hodge’s sketchy nature, in typical Bree-fashion the red-headed homemaker refuses to listen and the result is same Van De Kamp type dysfunction that made the show’s first season so interesting to watch.

Another important development in the third season is the dissolution of Susan’s (Teri Hatcher) relationship with Mike (James Denton). At the end of the second season, Mike fell into a coma after he was hit by a car (ironically enough by the aforementioned Orson Hodge). While Susan does her best to nurse her man back to health, she quickly falls under the spell of Ian Hainsworth (Dougray Scott) at the hospital and just as she accepts his hand in marriage, Mike predictably/magically wakes up to try and woo her again. The result is a great love triangle with two likable characters making the choice as difficult for viewers as it is for Susan.

The key shake-up in the Scavo household arrives when Tom (Doug Savant) tells Lynette (Felicity Huffman) that he needs to follow his dream and open a pizzeria. The result is quite comical as Lynette is forced to support her husband’s ludicrous idea and even ends up working in the restaurant herself. Whereas comedy was undoubtedly the primary reason behind the pizzeria, in typical Housewives fashion, there is a twist when Lynette begins to develop feelings for the chef. While the marriage was already on the rocks, given the adoption of Tom’s daughter Kayla, it is unclear whether the Scavo’s will be able to get past the latest twist in their love life.

Finally there is Gabby (Eva Longoria). After initially dealing with the fallout of her divorce from Carlos (Ricardo Chivara), she is the object of unrequited affection from Zach Young (yes, *that* Zach Young!) As the show progresses, Gabby eventually falls under the spell of Victor Lang (John Slattery), a local mayoral candidate and their relationship is the culmination of Gabby’s season 3 storyline. In the meantime, Carlos has a fling with Edie (Nicollette Sheridan), but realizes that he can’t escape the feelings that he still has for his ex-wife.

Episode Guide:

1. Listen to the Rain on the Roof
2. It Takes Two
3. A Weekend in the Country
4. Like It Was
5. Nice She Ain’t
6. Sweetheart, I Have to Confess
7. Bang
8. Children and Art
9. Beautiful Girls:
10. The Miracle Song
11. No Fits, No Fights, No Feuds
12. Not While I’m Around13. Come Play Wiz Me
14. I Remember That
15. The Little Things You Do Together
16. My Husband the Pig
17. Dress Big
18. Liaisons
19. God, That’s Good
20. Gossip
21. Into the Woods
22. What Would We Do Without You?
23. Getting Married Today

The Video:
The video is presented in widescreen color with an anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Picture quality is above average, with slight traces of grain noticeable at times.

The Audio:
The audio is presented in English 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound. A Spanish dub is also available in 2.0 Dolby digital surround sound. The audio is perfect on the set and an especially great feature is that subtitles are available in English, French and Spanish. Closed captioning is also an option making the audio a major perk of the set.

Special Features:
Just like the previous Desperate Housewives DVD releases, the extras alone make the third season worth buying. There are four brilliant featurettes, the best moments of the season, deleted scenes and bloopers.

The featurettes include:

On Set With Eva: Running for about five and a half minutes, this featurette offers interviews with the cast as they talk about working with Eva Longoria.

Here Comes The Bride: Running for about seven and a half minutes, various members of the cast along with the Housewives creator Marc Cherry comment on all of the weddings that took place in the show’s third season.

Amas de Casa Desesperadas: Running for about six minutes, this serves as a comparison between the American Desperate Housewives and the Latin show Amas de Casa Desesperadas. Creator Marc Cherry discusses the studio’s initial pitch to him to model the show after the Latin version and also features his commentary. A very unique bonus feature and one worth seeing.

Cherry Picked: Creator Marc Cherry’s Favorite Scenes: Running for about eight minutes, this feature serves as a compliment to Desperate Moments also included on the DVD, which asks the cast to select their favorite scenes. The obvious difference is that in this case, it is the creator’s chance to select his standouts.

There are eight deleted scenes in total and all include optional commentary from Marc Cherry.

The bloopers sequences runs for about two and a half minutes.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for
Desperate Housewives: The Complete Third Season
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE SHOW

7
THE VIDEO

6
THE AUDIO

10
THE EXTRAS

9
REPLAY VALUE

6
OVERALL
7.5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.