Get Desperate!

Well as my blogging comes to an end I hope you all know by now how I feel about the hit television show “Desperate Housewives”. If you don’t, let me refresh your memory. It is the best show on television today! For this blog I went out to see what people thought about the show when it first came out, what people think about “dramedies” and what people overall think about the show now that it is in its fifth season.

One of the First Reviews:

Chaw, Walter. "DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ." 24 October 2005 1. Web.27 Apr 2009. .

Walter Chaw writes in one of the first reviews of the show that it “understands the attraction/repulsion dynamic of venerable bodice-ripping soapers and boils them down to their base elements of women, houses, relationships, and desperation.” Chaw does, however; say that after the first few episodes the series fell off its track.

Do people really like “dramedies”?

Vande Berg, Leah. "DRAMEDY." 1. Web.28 Apr 2009. .

Yes!

Leah Vande Berg writes in an article, that critics, overall, love dramedies. She says critics are impressed by the way television has advanced in the sense that two genres are put together to form great television shows.

What is the overall perception of the show now?

West, Kelly. "Desperate Housewives - Fifth Season Premiere." 28 Sept. 2008 1. Web.28 Apr 2009. .

People love it!

Kelly West writes that she loves the fact when season four ended, season five began five years later. She compliments Marc Cherry’s bold move to do that with the show. She writes that she hopes it will refresh the show.

So as you can see there isn’t really much negative criticism regarding the show. From the beginning of the show people have liked the show in general but wanted the gusto to stay with the show all season. People love the bold move to jump ahead five years in the housewives’ lives. And now that the show has lasted for five seasons, survived the writer’s strike and won several awards, people still enjoy the show. I know I still do.

With a Cherry on Top!

So, if you have been following my blogs you already know that “Desperate Housewives” is the best show on television. And I’m sure you are dying to know who the mastermind behind the show is. Well that talented man’s name is Marc Cherry, the creator of “Desperate Housewives”.

Marc Cherry was born on March 23 in Long Beach, California in 1962. He is a “self-proclaimed gay republican”. His mother’s name is Martha. His father’s name is Truman. As a child, he and his family lived in Hong Kong and Iran for a short period of time. He was once a contestant on the game show, “The $100,000 Pyramid”. He attended California State University in Fullerton, California and majored in theatre. He originally wanted to act in musicals. In 2005, he was nominated for two Emmy’s, one for “Outstanding Comedy Series” and one for “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series”. In 2005 and 2006 he won a Golden Globe for “Best Television Comedy Series”.

So where did Marc get the inspiration to create “Desperate Housewives”?

A conversation with his mother! Yes, he and his mother, Martha, sat down one day for just a casual conversation and out of that conversation; he got the inspiration to develop a show about the not so glamorous side of four upper middle class women’s lives in suburbia.

But, the show almost didn’t happen for Marc. HBO, FOX, CBS, NBC, Showtime and Lifetime all rejected the show at first. But Cherry hired himself a new agent and ABC gladly accepted the show.

Marc without a doubt got his big break when he created “Desperate Housewives”. The way he has kept the show’s storyline very interesting for five whole seasons now, really shows his talent. The fact that he is a dedicated writer/creator really shows through in each episode. I believe that if Marc Cherry wasn’t the writer/creator of the show, it wouldn’t be what it is today. I look forward to each episode because I know Marc’s talent will indeed come out during the show.

Here are some other shows Marc has written for:
“The Golden Girls”
“The Golden Palace”
“The Five Mrs. Buchanans”
“The Crew”
“Some of My Best Friends”

All About Structure

What is “good writing”?

Well, in my opinion, good writing is a piece of literature that has structure. One that you can tell the author had a process while writing it and actually followed it. It is not a piece of writing that jumps all over the place and confuses everyone that reads it. Of course it is grammatically correct and well written. Good writing paints a picture in your mind and makes you feel as though you are there in the novel with the character. It describes everything well and never leaves you missing a piece of the puzzle.

Good writing can be summed up using the writings of Nicholas Spark’s “The Notebook”.

This is my favorite novel. It has structure and it is very well written.

“He especially liked to look at the trees and their reflections in the river. North Carolina trees are beautiful in deep autumn: greens, yellows, reds, oranges, every shade between. Their dazzling colors grow with the sun, and for the hundredth time, Noah Calhoun wondered if the original owners of the house had spent their evenings thinking the same thing….The evening passed, staying warm, nice. Noah listened to the crickets and the rustling leaves, thinking that the sound of nature was more real and aroused more emotion than things like cars and planes. Natural things gave back more than they took, and their sounds always brought him back to the way man was supposed to be. There were times during war, especially after a major engagement, when he had often thought about these simple sounds. “It’ll keep you from going crazy,” his father had told him the day he’d shipped out. “It’s God’s music and it’ll take you home.” “

That is two paragraphs from the novel. I picked those two because when I read it I could visualize it perfectly. The paragraphs have an excellent description of the surroundings around the character, Noah. The paragraphs have good structure and I can see, in my mind, everything that Noah sees.

As for my writing, I always follow a process. I brainstorm my ideas and outline what I want each paragraph to be about. I do try to be as descriptive as possible, as I know that always makes a piece of writing more interesting.