Hollywood Reporter: 'Housewives' a comedy? Don't make me laugh!

[gOoSe]

'Housewives' a comedy? Don't make me laugh!

By Ray Richmond
I'll admit there are certain things that have grown popular over my vehement objection. Take television sets/DVD players in cars. Sure, it's OK if you position it strictly for the back seat in a minivan. But if you put it on the dashboard ... I mean, what am I missing here? Is this not akin to attaching blinders to the driver? Puh-leeze!

Here is another one that stumps me: entering "Desperate Housewives" for Golden Globe Awards consideration in the comedy categories. Sorry, but this show is not a comedy, unless the term "comedy" has expanded to embrace the serious as well as the lighthearted.


Does "Housewives" have certain comedic elements? Sure. Yet even these are subtle and meant more as occasional camp-retro diversions. If the enterprise is designed entirely as a goof, that particular notion has eluded me.

I mean, is comedy now so dead on TV that hourlong dramas can enter themselves as anything they damn well please? Heck, "Desperate Housewives" has an opening theme song, so why not enter it as a musical? This show doesn't even qualify as a pure "dramedy" as "Ally McBeal" once did and HBO's "Entourage" does now.

Here is a show that features one woman who recently split from her husband and now finds her conscience-challenged son hiding from a hit-and-run charge. Another housewife is cheating on her husband with the gardener, while a third -- stressed to the max and close to a nervous breakdown -- is hooked on her kid's meds for attention deficit disorder.

Maybe it's me, but none of these story lines inspire belly laughter. I haven't missed an episode yet, so I'm speaking here from experience. Is this show entertaining? Absolutely. Does it make me laugh? Sometimes.

But if "Housewives" is a comedy, then so too might be "The Sopranos." And "Six Feet Under." And "Nip/Tuck." It makes roughly as much sense. This is an important point because it really calls the whole nomination philosophy and qualification standard into question.

The problem, of course, is that the strategy of the "Housewives" producers worked. They cynically figured they could label themselves a comedy -- and have a better shot at winning -- by simple dint of the entry forms. And they were rewarded. In the Golden Globe noms announced Monday, the ABC hour landed five honors, including for top TV series (musical or comedy) and for actresses Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Nicollette Sheridan.

Because of the hybrid nature of shows like "Housewives," "Nip/Tuck" and FX's firefighter drama "Rescue Me," the traditional labels have grown as antiquated as has the sitcom form itself.

Maybe what I'm really trying to stress is, it's time to alter the whole categorization structure when it comes to TV shows. We need a Best Television Series -- Non-Traditional grouping for nominees that would take into account shows that see themselves as none of the above. That would also open the door to such worthy and long-overlooked shows as the WB's "Gilmore Girls."

The apples-and-oranges lumping forged by the "Housewives" noms also figures to continue in the DGA Awards and WGA Awards, which will likewise be considering the show as a comedy. This leads us to ask: Just what the heck is a comedy, anyway? It now masquerades as drama.

What seems clear enough is that on TV, comedy isn't dead. It has simply become unrecognizable as true comedy. It's more about irony than humor, about cringing as much as chuckling. Meanwhile, laughter -- once required -- is merely optional.

well, he's sorta right, there's only 1 true comedy in those nominations i believe.

[spunkygirl]

It is to me a comedy/drama

That guy needs to get the burr out from under his butt

Was Sex and the City a comedy? I always thought of it as both a comedy/drama, so both shows can fall under either category