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Man, this holiday weekend away from work/life/everything has been, like, seeewwwwww hard for me. And yes, I meant to spell “so” like “sew” to get the full Valley girl accent with it…even though I’ve never been to the Valley. Or, really, California.
Aaaaaannnyway, so I’ve spent most of my day finally watching “Coraline”, which stars Teri Hatcher as the voice of Coraline’s mother (Coraline was played by a phenomenal Dakota Fanning) and watching the special features on the “Desperate Housewives” Season 5 DVD that I got as an early Chanukah present.
And now, I will review both for you. Go!
“Coraline”
This seemingly stop-motion computer animated movie is about a girl with too-busy-for-her parents, who finds an alternative world with everything she thinks she wants out of life. Well, except for the fact that her “other” parents have buttons for eyes and get progressively creepier and creepier until her mom/Teri is nothing but a bunch of creepy twitchy twigs. Teri was fanTAStic in this movie. The character even, oddly, looked like her (save for a much, much rounder lower half). The only thing about this movie is that it’s sorta misleading. Cartoons say “hey, show this to your 6-year-old niece,” right? …Yes, show it to her if you want her to have nightmares for months about creepy twitchy twiggy things.
Keep clicking to read about the Season 5 DVD special features!
“Desperate Housewives” Season 5 DVD special features
There was a lot on this DVD — bloopers, deleted scenes, Marc Cherry’s favorite scenes from the past season, a look back at the first 100 episodes, a behind-the-scenes look at a table reading and a special on Teri Hatcher.
A few notes:
- The bloopers are pretty funny, but nothing spectacular. My favorites are the ones where Bree/Marcia messed up — we get to see her relax a little and laugh, which isn’t super common. On the other hand, when Gaby/Eva or Susan/Teri mess up, their reactions are basically how their characters would respond.
- Deleted scenes always are deleted for a reason. These are no different, but fun to watch anyway.
- Marc Cherry’s favorite scenes really was the best part of the special features. You had half a dozen scenes — the BEST scenes — in succession, all available at once. Included were the scene where Gaby plays the “Let’s make Juanita run to catch up to the car while dressed in a princess dress so we can lose a little weight” game; the scene where Bree tried to show off her baking abilities by draping spun sugar over her croquembouche. And yes, I Googled how to spell croquembouche and will do all I can to use it in everyday conversation now; when the nightclub caught on fire as Mike/Krazy Dave/Tom’s band was playing; and oh man, the scene between Edie and Eli Scruggs during the 100th episode? When she basically tried to rape him? Remember that? Sooo, ahem, seeeewwww good.
- The behind-the-scenes table reading from Season 5, episode 7: “What More Do I Need?” was really interesting. All the actors, no makeup, in their normal clothes, essentially reading the script for the first time. When do we ever get to see that?
- There was a “So Very Teri” feature about Teri Hatcher’s ability to be a pretty woman who can do physical comedy — like Lucille Ball. I’m not super sure how much I love that comparison, or how much I love them pulling Teri out of a cast of women who are all beautiful women great at physical comedy.
- The look back at the 100 episodes was great. Each of the actors talked about the show’s place in history as the first-ever pure half comedy, half drama. I believe the best line of the whole feature was when Christine Estabrook — who played Martha Huber, remember her? — said that “Desperate Housewives” made caused you to take another look at the mother down the street, wondering what secrets she’s hiding. Toootally true, Martha. Totally true.
- Final note: In each of the interviews, the talking-head special features, Nicolette Sheridan was noticeably absent. I’ve never paid much attention (or cared?) to the rumors about her and the other castmates, but watching these scenes, it was tooootally apparent she was blatantly left out — either by her own choice or maybe Marc Cherry’s?
Whoa, I’ve just spent farrrr too much time typing an not enough time watching TV. I have to get back to my busy schedule!
Image: CTV