Housewives DVD leaves fans wanting more

Everyone has a little dirty laundry. And when it comes to the housewives of Wisteria Lane, nobody showcases it better. Since fall 2004, ABC's award winning series, Desperate Housewives, has continued to entertain both men and women viewers alike. The combination of five fervent women, along with compelling mysteries, juicy scandals and a little murder on the side, proved to be just the right mix when it came to crafting an addictive television series. Now the series has hit DVD racks with "Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fourth Season - Sizzling Secrets Edition" and fans will be able to catch up with their favorite gals whenever they want.

The fourth season saw the housewives dealing with a variety of dramatic situations. Happy homemaker Bree Hodge (Marcia Cross) faked a pregnancy. Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) battled cancer and klutzy Susan Delfino (Teri Hatcher) enjoyed her newfound blissful marriage. All the while sultry Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) and gorgeous Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria Parker) engaged in a battle for Carlo's affections. Oh, and if that wasn't enough to add to the water cooler gossip, Dana Delaney joined the cast as Katherine, a woman with secrets so dark, it had the entire neighborhood wondering. Just as the fourth season was beginning to take off, the screenwriters went on strike, reducing the original 23 episodes to a sequence of 17. Nevertheless the writing, acting and storylines were superb.

Unfortunately the DVD set isn't exactly on the same level.

Included in the "Sizzling Secrets Edition" are all 17 episodes as well as an array of bonus features including bloopers, deleted scenes and several featurettes. The best of the bunch is "Getting Desperate From Beginning to End" which goes behind the scenes of the infamous tornado episode and gives viewers an inside glimpse into what it takes to make a full fledged television show.

When it comes to the audio and video of the set, a single flaw can't be found. The video is the same as the first three DVD releases with a 1.78:1 widescreen format that is clearly different from the full screen aspect of the episodes' original airing. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, which proves to be very satisfactory for viewers who want to relive the excitement of their favorite housewives.

With perfect audio, faultless video and nice packaging, it is a shame that ABC Studios decided to change things around with the individual designs of each DVD. Instead of showcasing a specific housewife on each disc, the studio opted to choose a rather lame design of either a diamond ring, a champagne bottle or a plate of brownies. Another low point is that the opening montage on each disc has been cut and breaks up the continuation.

Other than those minor missteps, the DVD set is pretty decent. It isn't the best of the bunch but it's certainly a welcome addition and that should leave viewers 'desperate' for more.

Tough guy McDonough gets `Desperate'

Neal McDonough fans who miss seeing the former "Boomtown" star on television each week can celebrate: Neal has joined the cast of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" as Nicollette Sheridan's new love interest.

"It's like Disneyland, it's the happiest place on Earth," he said of the "Housewives" set. "Nicollette is terrific, she's great. It's just this great cast."

Neal had not done a steady television gig since the cancellation of NBC's "Medical Investigation" in 2005. Instead, he was busy making movies, including "Flags of Our Fathers," "88 Minutes" and "The Hitcher."

"I was traveling everywhere. I wanted to see my wife and kids," Neal said during a recent chat. "I was about to go off again and (`Desperate Housewives' creator, producer and writer) Marc Cherry called and said, `How'd you like to be the new guy?' It's just a lot of fun and it's nice to drive 3.5 miles to work, get home and kiss my wife."

Edie Britt (Sheridan) has been unlucky in love on "Housewives," but in Neal's character of Dave, she finally seems to have found the perfect man.

Or so she thinks.

"There's definitely a past to the guy that no one else knows about and he's hell-bent on revenge as the year goes on," Neal said. "The audience is gonna like this."

While Neal makes his debut on the show next month, fans can see him even sooner than that because his latest film, "Traitor," hits theaters Wednesday. It's an espionage thriller that also stars DonCheadle, Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels.

"To work with Don and Guy and Jeff, those guys are fantastic," he said. "It's a very smart, entertaining film. This is one of those smart thrillers where you will never guess what's going on. If you can guess, you are pretty amazing. It's just really layered and that's what I like about it. It was one of those characters that was just right for me."

So what would Neal consider to be a "just right" character?

"I generally play those hardened tough-as-nails type of guys, I think that's what I am," he said. "Lee Marvin, John Wayne kinds of guys, not a lot of BS about us. We like to get to the bottom of situations, not dance around issues. These are the kinds of characters I like."

In "Traitor," Neal plays FBI agent Max Archer, who he said "fights his way through to get answers."

Neal, 42, who was trained at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts and Sciences, was a busy theater actor but soon began landing guest spots on various television series, including "NYPD Blue," "Quantum Leap" and "Murder One." His first significant film role came in 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact," which was a dream-come-true for a lifelong fan of the franchise.

"I get a kick out of watching myself on screen," he admitted. "I'm so blessed to have the career and the life I have."

To read Greg Hernandez's Out In Hollywood blog, go to blogs.dailynews.com/outinhollywood

Desperate Housewives' Writer: We're Not Going to Do a 'Lost'

The fourth season finale of Desperate Housewives, which featured the infamous five-year jump to the future, saw Susan kissing someone not Mike, Bree finally turning into Martha Stewart, like everyone expected, Lynette's twins not growing up the way she liked them too, and Gabby turning out fat and very unglamorous. Despite the differing opinions on the effect of this little device, Desperate Housewives will move on with its fifth season this fall, and one of its writers and consulting producer said that, yes, viewers will get to see “some flashbacks,” but not too much.

"You'll see some flashbacks,” revealed Jeff Greenstein. “Occasionally there will be some things you've missed that we'll have to explain. There's going to be some things you've missed that we're not going to explain so quickly. [However,] we're not doing Lost. We're not slaves to flashbacks."

Despite the flak it received, Greenstein likes the flash-forward, as it added creative energy to the team since the characters sort of had a clean slate, and their “predicaments” were “reset.”

"We found that after four years in, we were looking to portray those predicaments once again. We didn't want to have to wait to show Gabrielle with children, or Bree in a thriving business, so we figured let's just jump ahead and do it. ... Let's see what Lynette is like with two 16-year-olds at home. That was something we didn't want to have to wait until season ten to start exploring."

In the same manner, the Desperate Housewives' five-year jump also did their actors well. For instance, the normally glamorous and sexy Eva Langoria needed to play someone who is feeling unattractive after having the two kids, and it proved to be a challenge for her.

"That's part of the joy of working on a television series: you get to write the big Russian novel. Over time you can unfold the story and find depths in a character that weren't there when the character was initially designed."

Desperate Housewives' stars teaming up for Emmys

The stars of "Desperate Housewives," snubbed by the Emmy nominators this time around, will get a moment in the ceremony's spotlight anyway.

Marcia Cross, Dana Delany, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria Parker and Nicollette Sheridan were on the first list of presenters announced Thursday by the TV academy. The actresses will join together to hand out a trophy at the Sept. 21 ceremony airing on ABC.

Nominations or no nominations, the houswives' ABC drama remains popular with viewers, and the Emmys could use a ratings boost: Last year's ceremony posted its second-smallest audience on record, just under 13 million.

Other pairings: Emmy nominees Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("The New Adventures of Old Christine") and Hugh Laurie ("House") will present separately, and Tina Fey ("30 Rock") and Amy Poehler ("Saturday Night Live") will team up. Fey and Poehler worked together on "SNL" and co-starred in the movie "Baby Mama."

"It's always fun to come up with unique pairings, cast reunions and surprising personalities as presenters on the Emmy show, and this year we've got a number of those," said Emmy executive producer Ken Ehrlich. "And the good news is, we've got plenty more to come."

Huffman won a best comedy series actress Emmy in 2005 and "Desperate Housewives" has received directing and other awards over the years. This year, guest actress nominations went to Polly Bergen and Kathryn Joosten and the show earned nods for costumes and hairstyling.