Carlo

I have known for a long time that Desperate Housewives had become one of the hottest shows on television - entertainment television shows constantly talked about it; there was never a time when I was at the grocery store or at airports when magazine stands did not have one or two or all of the housewives on the covers of the major circulations; Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria had become household names; and my friend Karsten could never stop talking about the show, telling me how he and his boyfriend had made Sunday nights with the housewives their perfect way to cap the weekends.  It was only 2 weekends ago, however, when I finally decided to see what the craze was all about.  I had seen bits and pieces of the show but never really got into sitting through its entirety - I guess it was because I did not get the chance to see the show’s premiere and being the anal retentive (Bree is that you???) freak that I am, I was never a fan of getting into something that I did not start (or end for that matter) properly (I hate it when I am late for the movies, or Church, or meetings and conferences, etc.).  Anyway, as I was saying (this tendency of mine to have flight of ideas has got to stop!), I rented the entire first season of Desperate Housewives and finished everything over 2 weekends - yes, all 23 episodes done in 2 weekends (thank God for Pathology - which I will talk about in another blog - which affords me not only an exciting and challeging career but also a very controllable lifestyle and a very rewarding and relaxed life outside of medicine)!  After watching the first episode, I was hooked!  The story line is very intriguing - Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, CSI, and General Hospital all rolled into one.  The characters and their personalities are unique and can be funny and hateful and mysterious.  They can be weird and extreme sometimes but they remain in touch with reality and in fact remind me of some of my personal traits and those of a lot of the people I know, whether close friends or mere acquaintances.  I particularly love the introduction and conclusion narrated by Mary Alice Young at the beginning and end of each episode, respectively.  Her words are very insightful and in the introduction, hold you in great anticipation of what is in store for you in the coming hour, and in the conclusion, leave you pondering and asking about life and love.  For instance, there was one episode where she ended the show saying "Human beings are designed for many things, but loneliness is not one of them…"  This really is a great show and I am glad that Marc Cherry thought about it (anecdotally, while watching television one night with her desperate mother) and made it, specially now that Sex and the City and Queer as Folk are over.  I used to dread Sunday nights because they meant that Monday was just a few hours away and we all know how hard it is to get back to work after the weekends.  Now, things have changed - my Sunday nights have become fun and are now hopelessly devoted to watching Desperate Housewives! 

Did anybody else get the chance to see the finale of Six Feet Under?  The last 5 or so minutes of the show blew me away!  Claire, the youngest of the Fisher children, decides to go to New York despite the fact that - before she could even start - she had lost the photography job she was going there for.  She says goodbye to her mother Ruth, her brother David, David’s boyfriend Keith, and David and Keith’s 2 adopted sons.  She takes a picture of her family and then goes off in her blue Toyota Prius.  She then loads the music CD that her beau gave her as a farewell gift.  Sia’s "Breathe Me" starts to play and as Claire drives past the Los Angeles mountains and heads east, you are drawn to the screen as chilling and haunting snipets of the future of the Fisher family are shown.  One by one, the members of the family die.  Ruth died in her late 70’s of old age.  Keith was shot dead at a rather young age.  Then, David follows him, also dying of old age.  Later, Hector, the Hispanic co-owner of the Fisher funeral home, collapses while on a cruise ship.  Brenda, wife of the late Nate Fisher (who died earlier in the season of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm), dies of old age as well.  Finally, Claire, in her death bed, dies at the age of 102 - her cataract-laden eyes were focused and then the screen smoothly shifts to the young Claire’s blue eyes, still driving, now in a desert, miles away from Los Angeles.  The screen turns white and television history is once again made - Six Feet Under is over but it surely will leave an indelible mark in the minds and hearts of the millions of fans, myself included, who followed the Fisher family and their tragedies over the last 5 years.

In my mind, there was no better way Alan Ball (creator of the award-winning American Beauty) could have chosen to end the show.  It was brilliant!  The ending left me sad and reminded me of my mortality.  But it also made me realize how important and how good life is - how I should savor every single moment that I get to spend alive and breathing here on earth - to seize and live each day like it was my last…