Alfre Woodard's taste of life in the Wisteria lane - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

vashti1999 · 09-25-2005, 08:14 PM

New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com

A taste of life in the Wisteria lane
By ELLEN GRAY
Saturday, September 24th, 2005

When "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry came calling, looking to add Alfre Woodard to his collection of Wisteria Lane women, the actress confessed that she hadn't seen the show.
No worries.

Woodard knows from desperate housewives, or at least the occasional desperation of motherhood.

"Just because I really am a housewife and a mom, I don't get to watch television," said Woodard, who, like fellow "Wives" cast member Felicity Huffman, has two children.

"Literally, you know," she added. "When your children are in school, and then they do all that stuff at the end of school, and you get home with them at 6:30, they've got homework, you feed them, you do their homework with them, then you have one hour to yourself from 10:30 to 11:30, you go to sleep after that, you've got to get up for work in the morning."

"I don't get to watch anything ... so I got told [about "Desperate Housewives"] by all my relatives, my nieces and nephews who're between 25 and 40. ... They all swear by it, and they watch it with friends every week. So I knew it had a grip on people that I thought were smart and interesting and funny, so that made me curious when Marc called," Woodard said.

"He gave me tons of DVDs, so I fast-forwarded and I caught up and I called him back and said, 'Okay, I'm game.'"

Woodard, a four-time Emmy winner, will also appear for a few episodes of NBC's Friday-night series "Inconceivable."

"I go to the place where I won't be bored," she said. "I just try to keep myself interested."

Some may read cultural significance into an African-American family moving on to America's most famous suburban street, but Woodard's not going there.

Asked if Betty, her character, would feel that she was moving into an all-white community, she said, "No more than I live in all-white Santa Monica. I mean, I live in a dominant culture."

After noting that the neighborhood already has a Latino family, she added, "Wisteria Lane is a parallel universe. I don't think people should look for politics in Wisteria Lane.

"I don't think on Wisteria Lane race is an issue for anybody. They haven't mentioned it. I think there's too much dysfunction to even get to race."

Knight Ridder Newspapers

vashti1999 · 09-25-2005, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barwars

Welcome addition to the cast, too bad she isn't considered a "regular" housewife. I like her character a lot.

Watching her on the season 1 finale had me looking forward to seeing her more this season. I figured she'd be a good fit for this show.

09-25-2005, 08:14 PM	#1
vashti1999 NY METS - #1 Forum Fanatic Join Date: Oct 14, 2003 Location: The world's greatest city - New York City Posts: 11,404	Alfre Woodard's taste of life in the Wisteria lane New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com A taste of life in the Wisteria lane By ELLEN GRAY Saturday, September 24th, 2005 When "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry came calling, looking to add Alfre Woodard to his collection of Wisteria Lane women, the actress confessed that she hadn't seen the show. No worries. Woodard knows from desperate housewives, or at least the occasional desperation of motherhood. "Just because I really am a housewife and a mom, I don't get to watch television," said Woodard, who, like fellow "Wives" cast member Felicity Huffman, has two children. "Literally, you know," she added. "When your children are in school, and then they do all that stuff at the end of school, and you get home with them at 6:30, they've got homework, you feed them, you do their homework with them, then you have one hour to yourself from 10:30 to 11:30, you go to sleep after that, you've got to get up for work in the morning." "I don't get to watch anything ... so I got told [about "Desperate Housewives"] by all my relatives, my nieces and nephews who're between 25 and 40. ... They all swear by it, and they watch it with friends every week. So I knew it had a grip on people that I thought were smart and interesting and funny, so that made me curious when Marc called," Woodard said. "He gave me tons of DVDs, so I fast-forwarded and I caught up and I called him back and said, 'Okay, I'm game.'" Woodard, a four-time Emmy winner, will also appear for a few episodes of NBC's Friday-night series "Inconceivable." "I go to the place where I won't be bored," she said. "I just try to keep myself interested." Some may read cultural significance into an African-American family moving on to America's most famous suburban street, but Woodard's not going there. Asked if Betty, her character, would feel that she was moving into an all-white community, she said, "No more than I live in all-white Santa Monica. I mean, I live in a dominant culture." After noting that the neighborhood already has a Latino family, she added, "Wisteria Lane is a parallel universe. I don't think people should look for politics in Wisteria Lane. "I don't think on Wisteria Lane race is an issue for anybody. They haven't mentioned it. I think there's too much dysfunction to even get to race." Knight Ridder Newspapers
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