MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO, THE: 2005 WILLIAM S. PALEY TELEVISION FESTIVAL: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Museum of Television & Radio's William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. Held this year at the Directors Guild of America Theatre Complex, the festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television and is dedicated to television's creative community. This evening honors "Desperate Housewives," a comedic soap opera about the denizens of Wisteria Lane, a suburban neighborhood with a seedy underbelly that is thrust to the forefront after the suicide of one titular housewife.
Host Barbara Dixon (vice-president and director, of the Museum in Los Angeles) offers opening remarks and introduces actor/writer Carrie Fisher. Fisher welcomes the entire cast and creative team of the show, including executive producer/writer/creator Marc Cherry. Cherry presents the episode, "Anything You Can Do," which is then screened in its entirety. (For synopsis and credits, see T:85200.)
Panelists include the show's creator Marc Cherry, executive producers Michael Edelstein and Tom Spezialy, producer/director Larry Shaw, and cast members Marcia Cross (Bree Van de Kamp), Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo), Eva Longoria (Gabrielle Solis), Nicollette Sheridan (Edie Britt), Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young), James Denton (Mike Delfino), Steven Culp (Rex Van de Kamp), Mark Moses (Paul Young), and Doug Savant (Tom Scavo). (Teri Hatcher, who plays Susan Mayer, was scheduled to appear but was unable to attend.)
After the screening, Fisher moderates a conversation with the panelists: Cherry discusses the origin of the show, how he sold it to ABC, his artistic influences which include his mom, Woody Allen, and Alan Ball, and how working on "Golden Girls" prepared him for "Desperate Housewives." Next, Longoria details how working on "The Young and the Restless" prepared her for the show, and Sheridan talks about how she likes to portray a "naughty" character.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics: how the show is able to continually surprise; the writing staff; dealing with the network; balancing multiple story lines into a forty-two-minute show; S&M scenes; how Strong portrays the deceased Mary Alice; and how scripts keep leaking to the internet before the shows air.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas and Helen Hotze Haas Foundations.
Details
- NETWORK: Paley
- DATE: March 8, 2005 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:47:12
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:85687
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: N/A
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Barbara Dixon … Host
- Carrie Fisher … Moderator
- Marc Cherry … Panelist
- Marcia Cross … Panelist
- Steven Culp … Panelist
- Michael Edelstein … Panelist
- Felicity Huffman … Panelist
- Eva Longoria … Panelist
- Mark Moses … Panelist
- Doug Savant … Panelist
- Larry Shaw … Panelist
- Nicollette Sheridan … Panelist
- Tom Spezialy … Panelist
- Brenda Strong … Panelist
- Woody Allen
- Alan Ball
- Teri Hatcher