** Spoiler alert -If you haven’t seen it, Desperate Housewives is a prime time television series that premiered in 2004 and ran for eight seasons. The series follows a group of housewives who live on Wisteria Lane and the events that occur in their lives. As simple as the premise seems, it’s all about misdirection, dramatic half-truths and unwarranted pretenses. The show is known for its distinctive narrative style, told from the hidden perspective of Mary-Alice Young, played by Brenda Strong. Mary Alice provides voice commentary throughout the series, offering a unique perspective on the events of the show and the lives of other characters.**
Welcome to Wisteria Lane – How Death Leads to the Birth of a Storyteller
In the first episode of the series, Mary-Alice’s dramatic suicide sets the stage for all the events that will unfold throughout the show. From the outside fantastic, Mary-Alice becomes the narrator for everything on Wisteria Lane, providing a unique and insightful perspective into the lives of the characters. Her death serves as the series’ inaugural mystery, and her narration sheds light on the events and relationships that take place on Wisteria Lane that seem perfect. Mary-Alice’s role as narrator adds a layer of mystery and intrigue to the series, making her storytelling not only a fan favorite but also integral to the structure of Desperate Housewives.
Over the course of the show’s eight seasons, Desperate Housewives tackled a variety of social and cultural issues, including motherhood, marriage, infidelity, sexuality and mental health. The show is widely known for its witty writing, strong character development, and ability to tackle serious issues with humor and style. Similarly, his use of storytelling was a key component of the show’s success and helped create a unique style and tone.
There’s So Much to See – The Narrator is the Eye of the Beholder onto Wisteria Lane
Mary-Alice is not only the narrator but the lens that gives scope to the story. Theatrics, pageants, double meanings and secrets – the point of Mary-Alice’s storytelling is not to tell us her own story or even to shrink the lead actor’s facade. It is to distract from his own narrative. He is active there, pointing us toward the mystery yet already knowing every secret. Mary-Alice chooses to tease viewers and keep them in the dark just enough to stay engaged and curious to find out for herself what happens on Desperate Housewives. Whether his narration is present or not, everything we see is projected through his perspective. We see and hear what Mary-Alice sees and hears and we are where she is.
Like any housewife on Wisteria Lane, Mary-Alice has a flare for dramatic pretense. He wants us to follow him down the rabbit hole, hear his stories, and see his newly enlightened perspective. One of the reasons may be because he really wants to explain the not-so-subtle inner workings of everyone’s personal lives and show the audience who these characters are behind closed doors.
He became the go-to source for gossip, but we the audience were his only outlet to share that information. He comments on how sensations like touch and smell fade after we die, but what we see only becomes clearer, and it’s almost like a nod to his almost omniscient comment.
Narrative is a Well-Managed Deception
When Mary-Alice tells the audience that she has left everything, that is not the whole truth, and she only uses her narration to imply it. When Mary-Alice tells us that she’s giving up everything that makes her human or weighs her down, it’s a bit of a misdirection.
Mary-Alice says she has left feelings and biases, but she did not leave as he suggested. He confesses that he chooses to preserve his memory. However, the irony is that our memory shapes everything. Mary-Alice talks about her friends and family – her secrets and her neighbors.
Mary-Alice’s voiceover is a clever trick of words that spins her narration as an impartial witness rather than a narrator who likes to hide secrets and direct the flow of the story. Even though Mary-Alice leaves her body, she is still the same as herself. Perhaps even more so, given his newfound omniscience.
Sounds of Family Secrets – Even Death Can’t Stop the Pretense on Wisteria Lane
In the same way, we see Bree using housework and work as a coping mechanism for the problems she faces in her life – Mary-Alice is no different. He briefly alludes to details about his own life here and there but deliberately glosses over the drama of others.
He narrates his suicide as if it were no big deal, sets up the plot, and hints at the lack of boundaries between each other. He talks about gossip, how people behave, and how one interacts with the next. He uses his storytelling to cut through the artificial cookie-cutter lives of his friends and neighbors – never shying away from the bitter truth, as long as the truth isn’t his. Mary-Alice doesn’t just present things as they are – instead, she lovingly throws her friends and family under the bus to bide her time before revealing more of her own secrets. Everything about the story, the plot, the characters – and the narration – is as meticulously cared for as the housewives themselves.
Awards and Recognition
Desperate Housewives is a show that received positive reviews from viewers and critics and won 71 awards and 273 nominations during its run. The show is also consistently one of the ten most-watched television shows in the United States and remains one of the most popular drama mystery series to this day.
Although Brenda Strong only received two Primetime Emmy nominations for her narration on Desperate Housewives, the rest of the cast (and the series itself) did quite well in recognition of their performances. Felicity Huffman won a Primetime Emmy Award for her role as Lynette Scavo, and Kathryn Joosten won one for her role as Karen McCluskey. Likewise, Teri Hatcher was awarded a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy nomination for her role as Susan Mayer. On the other hand, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria received nominations for both a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award, respectively, for their performances as Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis.
Kim Handysides is an award-winning voice artist and coach. Among his 20K+ narrations, you’ve heard him on Discovery, Netflix and the major networks, on iMax, the White House and the Smithsonian.
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