Here’s a line of thought that I’m working on. “Desperate Housewives” is what happens when soap opera collides into Douglas Sirk: older actresses in over-the-top moments, set in lavish surroundings that are disquieting in their seeming perfection. Like Sirk’s films, “Desperate Housewives” speaks about the alienation of women and their categorisation into pre-assigned roles: the affair with John the gardener (Jesse Metcalfe) could have been straight from All That Heaven Allows, or Todd Haynes’ Sirk homage Far From Heaven. There’s melodrama, yes, but it’s far from camp.
Hmm. Needs some fleshing out.