Marc Cherry gives polite women ample reasons to behave badly, and we enjoy his harsh domestic comedy. His weakness is the next scandal: too often it interrupts a character whose unhappiness deserves more attention.
Fi1m perspective
In Desperate Housewives (2004), a quarrel between neighbours can become a contest over who deserves to be thought respectable. Marc Cherry lets the women behave appallingly without making their grievances disappear, and we recommend his suburban soap despite its overexcited plotting. We laughed at the catfights because the cast made those petty resentments uncomfortably recognisable. Each woman takes the insult seriously, however ridiculous the ensuing behaviour, and the performers give Cherry's harsh comedy someone worth caring about.
The Golden Girls (1985) came first, though Cherry worked as a writer-producer on it from 1990 to 1992. Susan Harris's sitcom gave four comic actors room to be sharp, selfish and affectionate, so there was plenty to learn before he created a programme of his own. We recommend it more strongly, for the timing and the density of the jokes, with a reservation about the conversations that become lessons. His early sitcom work also included a writing partnership with Jamie Wooten. With Desperate Housewives, the jokes became part of a longer-running mixture of domestic drama and mystery.
The freedom he gives his women is the chief pleasure: they can be angry, demanding and badly behaved without the programme losing interest in them. Cherry understands that maintaining respectability is hard work and that an insult can expose how little protection it offers. But he sometimes settles for another bout of sexual intrigue or competitive nastiness when their unhappiness deserves closer attention. We learn more about the effort of keeping up appearances than about why these particular women keep making themselves miserable. The cast makes the anger understandable; the writing does not always take it far enough.
After eight seasons of Desperate Housewives, Devious Maids (2013) shifted the attention to Latina domestic workers and their employers' secrets. Why Women Kill (2019) examined women's responses to infidelity across three decades. Across these programmes he keeps returning to secrets and the expectations placed on women, subjects that suit his appetite for domestic trouble. Start with Desperate Housewives, provided a neighbour behaving disgracefully is enough to keep you watching through another complication.
Biography
Marc Cherry is an American television writer and producer. He was born on 23 March 1962 in Long Beach, California. He graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a degree in theatre and began his career as a personal assistant to actress Dixie Carter before joining the writing staff of the sitcom The Golden Girls for its final two seasons in 1990–1992.
Cherry later co-created several short-lived series, including The 5 Mrs. Buchanans (1994) and The Crew (1995). He created the dramedy Desperate Housewives (2004–2012), which ran for eight seasons on ABC. He subsequently created Devious Maids (2013–2016) for Lifetime and Why Women Kill (2019–2021) for CBS All Access.
