ZKS
11-24-2004, 07:38 PM
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041121/nysu015_1.html
NEWSWEEK COVER: Hot About 'Housewives'
Sunday November 21, 11:14 am ET
'Daytime is Far More Racy,' Says 'Housewives' Creator Marc Cherry
Upcoming Episodes Will Include Kitchen Strangling
NEW YORK, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In Newsweek's cover story "Hot About 'Housewives,'" Marc Cherry, creator of ABC's hit prime time soap opera "Desperate Housewives," responds to critics who think the show is too risque. "Yeah, I have some women wearing some skimpy stuff and a gardener that takes off his shirt, but I also know that I'm well within my rights to do so under the heading of soap opera," Cherry tells Newsweek in the November 29 edition (on newsstands Monday, November 22). "The stuff that goes on in daytime is far more racy."
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041121/NYSU007 )
Newsweek's cover story also reveals that "Desperate Housewives" takes a dark turn this week. We find out who sent that threatening note-"I know what you did. It makes me sick. I'm going to tell"-to Mary Alice, and why, report Senior Writer Marc Peyser and West Coast Editor David J. Jefferson. Also, a regular character gets strangled to death in his/her own kitchen. And the one woman viewers would never expect to become a new mother is contemplating getting pregnant.
"Housewives," which has been drawing almost 25 million viewers every week, hit the top five faster than any new drama since "ER" in 1994. Currently No. 2 (behind "CSI") in total viewers, after only seven episodes, the show is also the No. 3 show among men, amazing considering the subject matter. The fact that at least one housewife finds herself wearing only a bra and panties every week might have something to do with that (though Cherry's delicious writing has attracted a large gay following as well), Peyser writes. But star Eve Longoria (who plays Gabrielle), tells Jefferson, "I think men watch it because they see their wives. Somebody actually said to me, 'My wife has been all of those characters at one time. She's a crazy mother and I'm sure she's having an affair.'"
Considering how quickly "Housewives" has become a sensation, Peyser writes, you do have to wonder: what took so long? The audience is there-women make up 56 percent of TV viewers-yet there's really only one network drama, "Gilmore Girls," about women who aren't cops or lawyers. Part of the problem is that women are easy to take for granted. "People pay lip service to stay- at-home moms, but it's not really respected," says star Felicity Huffman, who plays Lynette. And the assumption has long been that men won't watch shows about women, while women are happy with a good story regardless of the cast.
"Desperate Housewives" is everything you've heard-racy, funny, smart and sexy. And the drama at the Newsweek photo shoot last week was almost as juicy as the show itself, Jefferson reports. When the photographer asked the cast to "vamp it up," Nicollette Sheridan (who plays Edie) immediately grabbed Huffman's right breast. And in between takes on the "Housewives" set, Teri Hatcher (who plays Susan) discusses the stories about the actresses' alleged plastic surgeries. "Does anybody honestly think I'd have my nose done before my boobs? For the record, I've had no surgery except a C-section," says Hatcher, who, like her character, is a single mom.
Newsweek's cover package on "Desperate Housewives" also includes a column by Senior Editor Jonathan Alter. In "A Shabby Fiesta of Hypocrisy," Alter addresses the controversy surrounding Sheridan's dropped-towel scene with Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens on ABC's "Monday Night Football" pregame show last week. This little fiesta of hypocrisy, cynicism and fear may tell us something about where the country is right now, and even about why John Kerry lost, Alter writes. He cites several examples of hypocrisy related to the episode, including Disney/ABC parading as a "family entertainment" company while peddling casual sex, then "apologizing" all the way to the bank; the NFL preposterously claiming it knew nothing about its own pregame show; so-called conservative interest groups insisting the government back off everywhere-except from the Barcalounger, where the TV viewer cannot be trusted to use his own remote; and the viewers themselves, decrying sex on TV even as they turn to it in droves.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6542185/site/newsweek / -- cover story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6542351/site/newsweek / -- Alter column
NEWSWEEK COVER: Hot About 'Housewives'
Sunday November 21, 11:14 am ET
'Daytime is Far More Racy,' Says 'Housewives' Creator Marc Cherry
Upcoming Episodes Will Include Kitchen Strangling
NEW YORK, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In Newsweek's cover story "Hot About 'Housewives,'" Marc Cherry, creator of ABC's hit prime time soap opera "Desperate Housewives," responds to critics who think the show is too risque. "Yeah, I have some women wearing some skimpy stuff and a gardener that takes off his shirt, but I also know that I'm well within my rights to do so under the heading of soap opera," Cherry tells Newsweek in the November 29 edition (on newsstands Monday, November 22). "The stuff that goes on in daytime is far more racy."
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041121/NYSU007 )
Newsweek's cover story also reveals that "Desperate Housewives" takes a dark turn this week. We find out who sent that threatening note-"I know what you did. It makes me sick. I'm going to tell"-to Mary Alice, and why, report Senior Writer Marc Peyser and West Coast Editor David J. Jefferson. Also, a regular character gets strangled to death in his/her own kitchen. And the one woman viewers would never expect to become a new mother is contemplating getting pregnant.
"Housewives," which has been drawing almost 25 million viewers every week, hit the top five faster than any new drama since "ER" in 1994. Currently No. 2 (behind "CSI") in total viewers, after only seven episodes, the show is also the No. 3 show among men, amazing considering the subject matter. The fact that at least one housewife finds herself wearing only a bra and panties every week might have something to do with that (though Cherry's delicious writing has attracted a large gay following as well), Peyser writes. But star Eve Longoria (who plays Gabrielle), tells Jefferson, "I think men watch it because they see their wives. Somebody actually said to me, 'My wife has been all of those characters at one time. She's a crazy mother and I'm sure she's having an affair.'"
Considering how quickly "Housewives" has become a sensation, Peyser writes, you do have to wonder: what took so long? The audience is there-women make up 56 percent of TV viewers-yet there's really only one network drama, "Gilmore Girls," about women who aren't cops or lawyers. Part of the problem is that women are easy to take for granted. "People pay lip service to stay- at-home moms, but it's not really respected," says star Felicity Huffman, who plays Lynette. And the assumption has long been that men won't watch shows about women, while women are happy with a good story regardless of the cast.
"Desperate Housewives" is everything you've heard-racy, funny, smart and sexy. And the drama at the Newsweek photo shoot last week was almost as juicy as the show itself, Jefferson reports. When the photographer asked the cast to "vamp it up," Nicollette Sheridan (who plays Edie) immediately grabbed Huffman's right breast. And in between takes on the "Housewives" set, Teri Hatcher (who plays Susan) discusses the stories about the actresses' alleged plastic surgeries. "Does anybody honestly think I'd have my nose done before my boobs? For the record, I've had no surgery except a C-section," says Hatcher, who, like her character, is a single mom.
Newsweek's cover package on "Desperate Housewives" also includes a column by Senior Editor Jonathan Alter. In "A Shabby Fiesta of Hypocrisy," Alter addresses the controversy surrounding Sheridan's dropped-towel scene with Philadelphia Eagles star Terrell Owens on ABC's "Monday Night Football" pregame show last week. This little fiesta of hypocrisy, cynicism and fear may tell us something about where the country is right now, and even about why John Kerry lost, Alter writes. He cites several examples of hypocrisy related to the episode, including Disney/ABC parading as a "family entertainment" company while peddling casual sex, then "apologizing" all the way to the bank; the NFL preposterously claiming it knew nothing about its own pregame show; so-called conservative interest groups insisting the government back off everywhere-except from the Barcalounger, where the TV viewer cannot be trusted to use his own remote; and the viewers themselves, decrying sex on TV even as they turn to it in droves.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6542185/site/newsweek / -- cover story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6542351/site/newsweek / -- Alter column