Desperate Housewives: Season 1 [DVD] | ![Desperate Housewives: Season 1 [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EVHFGPG1L._SL160_.jpg) | Actors: Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £44.99
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Seller: Dannat Retail Sales
Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 2057
Format: Subtitled, PAL, Widescreen
Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region: 2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 6
Running Time: 997 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.5 x 1.8
EAN: 8717418056209
ASIN: B0009FZGTG
Release Date: October 10, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Audiences were captivated by the women of Wisteria Lane in the first season of iDesperate Housewives/i, the breakout hit from ABC that almost single-handedly lifted the network from its ratings doldrums and brought back the classic TV soap, remixed now with satire, comedy, and mystery. An affectionate yet darkly tinged send-up of suburbia that skirted iTwin Peaks/i territory as much as that of iKnots Landing/i, iDesperate Housewives/i opened with a bang--literally--as perfect-seeming housewife Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong) went through her picture-perfect day before putting a handgun to her temple and pulling the trigger. Mary Alice's sudden suicide leaves her four closest friends, all housewives of a sort, with a surfeit of grief, a re-examination of their own lives, and a mystery to solve. It also proves to be a catalyst for a seamy study of what goes on inside the finely appointed homes of Wisteria Lane--the tales of which Mary Alice narrates from beyond the grave with a sardonic tone dipped in both honey and arsenic.p There's Martha Stewart-perfect Bree (Marcia Cross), who rules her household with an iron fist in a tailor-made garden glove and seems to have it all, until she finds out her husband (Steven Culp) is cheating on her--and has a serious fetish habit to boot. Sultry Gaby (Eva Longoria), the youngest of the set, is a bored trophy wife whose predilection for shopping and clothes are the perfect decoy for her affair with the hunky teenage gardener (Jesse Metcalfe). Former career woman Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is the most stereotypical housewife, raising four (or was it five?) kids and frustrated at using her cutthroat business skills for suburban politics. And daffy Susan (Teri Hatcher), the divorcee looking for love, sees her prospects brighten with the arrival of hunky plumber Mike (James Denton), who has some desperate secrets of his own. And did we mention the neighborhood hussy (Nicollette Sheridan), the snotty busybody (Christine Estabrook), and Mary Alice's increasingly agitated son (Cody Kasch)?p It was a fast and wild mix of plot and characters that gave iDesperate Housewives/i the zing that made it a number one hit, as it never got too bogged down in any dilemma before moving on to the next. And though it was neither as hard-hitting nor salacious as it was trumpeted to be, the show nevertheless breathed fresh, funny air into comedy television, for even though it hewed to the hour-long soap format, the content was far more dark comedy than sudsy drama. There were fun bright spots to be had, but the story behind Mary Alice's death--which included drugs, murder, blackmail, secret identities, and vengeance in equal amounts--hovered over all the characters, tingeing the farce with the specter of danger. The show's other source of strength is in its peerless ensemble cast, headed by four perfect leading ladies, all Emmy-worthy. Hatcher received the (deserved) lion's share of praise (and a Golden Globe), but her co-stars--especially the underrated Longoria--matched her scene for scene. And though the mystery of Mary Alice's death was ultimately solved (no iTwin Peaks/i teasing here), it was just the beginning of the troubles on Wisteria Lane, where no life went unexamined for too long. i--Mark Englehart, Amazon.com/i
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 44
 Quirky and very, very funny January 10, 2006
dragondrums (Ingleby Barwick, United Kingdom)
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
Desperate Housewives was a huge hit and rightly so. It is the story of several housewives living in Wisteria Lane, an expensive American suburban street. The main characters are Susan, Lynette, Gabrielle and Bree.brSusan (Teri Hatcher) is the ditsy divorced mother with one daughter and a fancy for her hunky new neighbour. Lynette was a high flying career woman but is now tied to the home and her unruly brood of 4 children. She could cope with anything at work but has problems coping with domesticity. Gabrielle is the Latin beauty, married to Carlos who is rich enough to provide everything she could want. However it#8217;s not enough and she is having an affair with her very young gardener. Bree is perfection personified, immaculately turned out and with a house like something from ideal homes. However her husband and children cannot live up to her ideals or live with this perfection. The narrator of the whole series is Mary Alice, a friend of all the women who, in the first episode, commits suicide. The central thread of the tale is why she was driven to this and what dark secrets are hidden in the lives of the characters.brAlthough there is a central theme, each episode does have a #8216;stand alone#8217; story for the occasional viewer, but to really enjoy it at its best the series should be watched in its entirety and from the beginning. Twists and turns, murder and mayhem, love and friendship are all to be found in a series that is by turn both wickedly funny and poignant. This is TV at its best; not to be missed.
Surpasses the hype November 14, 2005
Budge Burgess (Kilmarnock, Scotland)
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
A smash hit, if a risky step by ABC to produce the programme, #x27;Desperate Housewives#x27; takes all the stereotypes (or should that be male fantasies and nightmares) of picket-fenced US suburbia - the man-eater, the dizzy single parent, the career woman making a job of bringing up her kids, the unfaithful trophy, and the Stepford wife with attitude. Oh yes, and then there#x27;s the dead narrator? This is a harder spin on #x27;American Beauty#x27;, an ironic, not to mention cynical glimpse behind the Martha Stewart fa#231;ades of post-yuppie domesticity. It#x27;s funny, it#x27;s dark, it#x27;s electrifying.pEach episode provides a stand-alone drama, beating out a theme, pulsing to the rhythm of some moral #8230; stated at the outset, restated at the conclusion, but with a sharp twist of irony. This is not the neighbourliness of Capra, George Bailey, and "Wonderful Life". There are good neighbours. And there are bad. It#x27;s a competitive world living in the suburbs - whatever else happens, you have to maintain the fa#231;ade, you have to appear to be perfect, or at least have a credible explanation if you#x27;re not.pThis is a wonderful series. It carries along the mystery of its narrator#x27;s death. Others will die. Murder can be brutal. It can also be quite functional. It can have charm. And one by one each perfect household comes unpicked, exposes a flaw like a run in a pair of stockings - once you#x27;ve noticed it, you can#x27;t take your eyes of it. And while you#x27;re distracted with one plot strand, writer Marc Cherry works his sleight of hand and conjures up another twist.pThe cast is wonderful. With perhaps only Teri Hatcher as a #x27;star#x27; name, albeit she#x27;d dropped out of sight for a few years, Cherry assembled an ensemble cast who generate some great chemistry onscreen and who amplify one another#x27;s talents and energies. There#x27;s scarcely a weak performance in sight. Direction and editing are excellent - the juxtaposition of scenes and shots, the ironic counterpoint of humour and mystery, the rapid cutting from one household to the next, and the overall quality of the production keeps your attention rapt.pBut the script#x27;s the thing. It is beautifully crafted. The DVD extras accompanying season one give you some excellent insights into the writing process. You get a look at the making of the series, you get brief interviews with actors. You get some very interesting commentaries. And much more. It#x27;s a fascinating series. The DVD#x27;s, like the writing and the concept, are beautifully packaged. Excellent value, a series you can watch again and again. And again.
Great package, wonderful show January 27, 2006
Ticked Off
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
The first thing to say about this DVD boxed set is that it is beautifully packaged and presented. The special features are a notch above what#x27;s generally out there, being both extensive and interesting. I think my favourites are the audio commentaries on the scenes specially chosen by the actresses themselves and the blooper reels (Teri getting confused between best and breasts never fails to have me laughing and Eva definitely seems to be the #x27;corpser#x27; of the set). And the audio commentaries by Marc Cherry on selected episodes are interesting and entertaining - which is a rarity among the AC genre.pIf you were particularly churlish you could perhaps quibble with the fact that #x27;deleted scenes#x27; invariably actually mean one scene and the #x27;extended episodes#x27; are only extended by one scene (on rare occasion two) - but that would be extreme nitpicking I feel. Overall the features are impressive and certainly add to the enjoyment of the overall set.pI have two small grumbles. The first is the inconsistency of subtitling on the disks. Some disks have no subtitles. Some have English subtitles included. Some have subtitles in other languages, but not in English. This was a little frustrating at times.pSecondly, the somewhat long introduction to each disk - a parody of the opening credits, using the actresses. The first time it went past it seemed overlong. By the time I#x27;d reached disk five it was tedious and frustrating to have to wait for it to end before getting to the episodes.pBut those are very small annoyances. Generally the set has been put together with obvious care for detail and imagination. And that#x27;s greatly appreciated by this buyer.pWhen it comes right down to it though, the real stars of this set are the episodes themselves and with their superb performances, the sparkling scripts, wonderfully real characters you will care about and intriguing plotlines, you can#x27;t fail to consider this the star of your DVD collection and one that you#x27;ll revisit and enjoy time and again.
Fantastic show and fantastic DVD extras! January 13, 2006
Miss (Coventry)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Desperate Housewives was without doubt one of the best new shows of 2005, rivalled only by Lost, which has an equal sharing of gorgeous actors and actresses, sharp dialogue and absorbing, if at times incredibly far-fetched storylines.pIn Desperate Housewives every actress and actor is amazing, being funny, believable and sympathetic, although the underrated Eva Longoria (Gabrielle), James Denton (Mike Delfino), and Jesse Metcalfe (John the gardener) are definite highlights on the eye-candy front!pThe DVD extras are also excellent, there are a huge amount of bonus features compared to the normal Dawson#x27;s Creek/Roswell/Buffy/Angel/Will Grace/Friends boxsets. You get the normal deleted scenes and commentaries, but also features on the costumes, characters, storylines, plots for season 2, actors and actresses, etc, and they are of a decent length rather than the annoying 3-minute #x27;featurettes#x27; that often abound on boxsets. I was, however, unable to figure out why some episodes can be viewed as #x27;extended episodes#x27; with one extra scene, whereas some episodes simply had deleted scenes accompanying them.pA word of warning though - many of the special features include spoilers for both season 1 and season 2, so it would have been better to put them all on the final disc rather than spreading them out on the different discs. My advice would be to watch all the episodes, then go back and watch the features.
Everybody Has A Little Dirty Laundry (Apart From Bree)! April 27, 2006
j.d (London,England)
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
The series kicks off with Mary Alice Young commiting suicide. The series centers her looking down on her friends, family and neighbours. Looking down on them all, she soon realises that her friends aren't as happy as she thought they were. Susan, a divorced single woman is desperate to be loved and trys to find love throughout the series. Bree, the "perfect one". Her husband wants a divorce and her kids hate her. Lynettte, a woman that has to put up with her loud hyper kids as her husband sets out to work each day. Gabrielle, a woman who wants her husband for his money and her gardner for the bedroom activities. Finally Edie, who doesn't really have a big part but the idea of her character is she's a slut that has been married quite a few times.
br /The Dvd itself is great with some good special features (my advice though is that you watch them after as they have some spoilers that could wreck it for ya if you don't know what's going to happen).
br /I give this a five as it's brilliant and so much better than the overrated Lost.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 44
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