The Pilot The girls from Wisteria Lane started their odyssey on screens back in October 2004, by way of a pilot that deftly lured viewers into creator Marc Cherry's alternative take on American suburbia. In this series opener, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria strutted their stuff around the neighborhood amid the rattle and hum of put upon husbands, sleazy exes, family dysfunction and the little matter of a dead best pal and an unraveling murder mystery. An instant hit. What Did It Change? Around the time this aired Sex And The City had taken a bow and the only show on the box with an all female cast worthy of mention was Charmed, however, said cast of this fantasy/horror series were all rather young. Desperate Housewives, on the other hand, featured a cast of feisty, attractive ladies all of whom were the other side of thirty five. This may not sound like a bold move, but on the contrary it actually was because it invited and older audiences to spend time with a bunch of characters that were in places way too identikit to be real, but had enough human qualities to make them relatable. Legacy By Cherry's own admission, Desperate Housewives was pitched as being along the lines of Knots Landing with a Lynchian twist and in the show's mega successful wake a clutch of offbeat shows featuring an all female cast - Girls, Cougar Town, Gossip Girl - began taking residence.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.