Desperate Housewives Season 7

I stopped visiting Wisteria Lane—that cosy, bright, fictitious suburban utopia with dark corners—halfway through the third or fourth seasons. I thoroughly enjoyed the sharp, bumpy ride available in the first and second seasons but the whole thing kind of ‘ran outta gas’ for me. It was so nice to jump back into the playful semi-soap opera after the infamous years’ forward leap.

The silly unease is still there, as is the adorable awkwardness of the core women. From the get-go, we are delivered the clever addition of trashy icon Vanessa Williams (the antagonist in Ugly Betty). The much maligned and malignant Paul Young (Mark Moses) makes a comeback, along with a new, vapid wife Beth (Emily Bergl is just right).

The intrigue and campy humour is teased out in the manner regular viewers would know and love. This stability comes at the cost of surprises, but that’s hardly something to complain about. For me, stand-outs include Bree (Marcia Cross) and her search for love plus Susan (Teri Hatcher) and her kooky, morally-dubious quest to earn more money since she and her family had to downsize and live away from the well-off street that we all know so well.

If you have never seen the show before, I’d say go back at the start and work your way up. However, if you have fallen off the wagon like me, Season Seven seems as good as any to dive on back in. Definitely entertaining and mischievous, this six-disc collection will make a good gift to give or to keep. Fans will no doubt already own it.

Extras include ‘Desperate for Trivia’, ‘Growing Up On Wisteria Lane’ which is about the child actors on the show, some always-welcome bloopers and four deleted scenes. The sound is Dolby 5.1 and the image quality scrubs up really well for DVD, especially when upscaled.