Desparate Housewives

How come no one ever asked me to be on that show? Then again, I'm not desparate, just bored...

I like this show, but it is another example of the *I'm every-woman* phenomenon that only applies to white women on TV. Similar shows abound and a few become big hits, like "Friends" and "Sex in the City". How come sistas get no love on TV?

Now, to the show's credit, Eva Longoria is the resident brown girl, but isn't it just a little too convenient to have her in that role? Out of all the women, her hubby is in jail and she's the local hottie...

Can you say *stereo-type*???

No Asian women in that cul-de-sac (other than a maid) and no Spanglish-speaking latinas there either. Not even a black friend for one of the kids. Where in America is this ?

It sure ain't red-country Kansas, 'cause these women are living large and not a one of them works, except Eva (again, what is up with that). Terry Hatcher doesn't appear to have a job, yet she has a teenaged daughter. Felicity Huffman has four kids and is a stay-at-home mom. Marcia Cross is married to a doctor. I have no idea what Nicolette Sheridan does except have sex. And the dead narrator seemed to be too busy living in fear of her husband and son to have done much else but kill herself.

Unfortunately, no one would believe a black housewife. Black and brown women who don't work only reinforce other stereotypes about laziness and welfare dependency. We might believe an Asian housewife (might), but we certainly don't believe Eva as a housewife which is why they've made her get a job. Even if we accept the original premise that her hub is rich, he went to jail for something...

*insert your own interpretation here*

Face it, we are only used to seeing white women with complexities on TV. White women can be anything they want to be: doctors (see "ER" and "Chicago Hope"), chief of staff to the President of the US (see "West Wing"), solve and prosecute crimes (see any version of "CSI" or "Law and Order"), or they can choose to be mothers and wives (see any sitcom on CBS). The last complex black woman on TV was Claire Huxtable, and people griped that she wasn't real. When my spanglish improves I'll be able to discern if the Latino women on Univision have anything meaningful to offer, and Asian women are just not present at all.

TV has to do a better job of creating characters for actresses of color. It's a shame that Judge Hatchett and Oprah are the closest things to TV moms that we have. And it's not just more TV mothers that we want to see, we also want to see ourselves in more complex and multi-facted roles. Is it too much to ask for a show about a Latina women who sees dead people (instead of Patricia Arquette in "Medium")? Or for a show with a Middle Eastern woman who is not a terrorist? How about a sitcom starring an Asian fashion designer who moonlights as a crime fighter? (I'm just making this up as I go along here.)

As for Desparate Housewives, I'll keep watching because it is a decent show. But if I want to see more brown people, I guess I'll have to wait for Oprah's cameo.