Desperate Housewives
I have chosen to follow Desperate Housewives as it is one of my favourite TV dramas. It is both funny and interesting and each episode ends with an interesting message and leaves you curious to know what will happen next.

Brief Background
Created By: Marc Cherry
Produced By: ABC Studios and Cherry Productions

Desperate Housewives is an American comedy drama based on the lives of a circle of girlfriends who live on Wisteria Lane. Each of these young women portray very different characters and their lives full of different struggles within the home and the neighbourhood.

The drama does however present a contemporary take on ‘happily ever after’ as things are usually resolved during a series. TV drama however, as we know, does not always return to equilibrium by the end of ach episode, so it is the type of drama that needs to be followed as sometimes an episode may end with an arising problem.

The story is narrated to the audience by the dead neighbour, Mary Alice Young, who lets the audience in on all the secrets of the neighbourhood and therefore it naturally appeals to females filling them in on the gossip.

Cast
The ensemble cast consists of:
Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer-
- teacher’s assistant at her son’s school
- extremely clumsy
- a neighbourhood gossip

Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
- Usually busy being a housewife and raising her four children
- Often gets frustrated but quite the toughie
- Determined and hardworking

Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge
- a perfectionist and very obsessive
- She tries to be a perfect wife and mother but is not always successful
- She is known for her cooking cleaning, ironing, and gardening

Eva Longoria Parker as Gabrielle Solis
- Used to be a model
- She is upset about having lost her good looks and figure after having children
- She is however very protective over both daughters and has become more mature

Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young
- The mysterious narrator

Nicolette Sheridan Edie Williams
- the troublemaker in the neighbourhood
- had many relationships

Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair
- sarcastic personality but serious sometimes
- secretive
- she has only been accepted as one of the ‘housewives’ during season 5

Others
Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Carlos Solis
James Denton as Mike Delfino
Kyle MacLachlan as Orson Hodge

As we can see there is a very diverse cast and therefore the storylines too are varied making ‘Desperate Housewives’ a great drama to watch. It has definitely gained much popularity since being premiered in 2004, and in 2007, it was said to be the most popular show with an audience of approximately 115 to 119 million viewers worldwide!

The Hovis Advert – Representation
This Hovis ad follows an iconic thirteen-year-old boy with his loaf of bread through 12 decades of British history. The audience is able to identify the changing times through the ads use of references to different costumes, events, music, dialogue and props. Here is my summary of the different years and signifiers:

Begins in the late 1800s-
- Represents the Victorian times
- Boys costume- brown hat and jacket
- Area: somewhere up north and we can tell this from the way the baker says ‘Here you go lad’
- The baker is wear a white apron and a white puffy hat
- Wooden shelves in the background on which the bread is kept
- Horse and cart as a means of transport- no cars

1900s-
- He goes through a gate and his old-fashioned hat is off now
- We are aware that is now the early 1900s because of the Titanic poster
- The suffragette movement- evident from the banners saying ‘Votes for women’
- Women’s old-fashioned dresses and hats- well dressed- middle/upper class
- Men wearing top hats
- Posh houses in the background
- Action: rioting- a police trying to stop a protesting woman
- We can hear sounds of a crowd of people protesting

1910s-
- The boy enters the years of WW1
- Soldiers dressed in the old-fashioned uniforms
- Rifles
- Soldiers looking young- makes you proud of the British- ready to fight for our country
- People supporting them in the background
- The girls running in their white dresses and hats

1920/30s
- The boy passes an old-fashioned motor car
- Costume changes from brown trousers to grey shorts

1940s
- We then enter the years of WW2
- Bombed and burnt downs houses- very tragic and emotional time
- People moving out of their homes with their belongings –heartbreaking
-Clothes are dark colours reflecting their sorrow
- Sound bridge- we hear Winston Churchill ‘We shall fight in the fields and in the streets… We shall never surrender’ – again makes you proud of being British – courageous
- The old-fashioned radio
- Warplane flies over
- The music stops as if paying its respects to tragedies of the war and those that gave their lives for our country- solemn

1950s
- Music becomes more upbeat and jolly
- Celebrating the queen’s coronation
- Children dressed up in different costumes enjoying a party (boy dressed as a pirate)
- We can hear lots of laughter and chatter reflecting the happiness and joy in the air
- Streets decorated with British flags
- a CU of orange squash- party food and drink

1960s
- Complete change in music- electric guitars- upbeat- swing
- Costumes of the girls change-more modern mini skirts, red boots and the old-fashioned bob hairstyle
- Boy is now wearing a blue t-shirt
- Terraced houses in the background- typical British street
- a bunch of lads drive past in their car shouting ‘champion’- represents how Britain won the 1966 World Cup- signifies victory, excitement, feeling of national pride

1970s
- Boys clothes change again- chequered shirt, stripy jumper and brown jacket
- The 1973 Racial Act passed- represented through two Asians walking passed
- TV shop- shows TVs were becoming more popular- advancement in technology
- more modern yellow car drives passed

1980s
- Boys costume- now a blue jumper
- Miner’s Strike- we can tell from the banners and placards
- Crowd wearing more modern jumpers and jeans
- Police men opposite ready to take action
- ‘Ay lad ain’t it passed your bed time?’- Dialogue shows how he is still up north
- Music stops again to show the seriousness of the incident

2000
- Represents the millennium through the celebratory fireworks
- Music is increasing in volume and tempo- sounds festive and electrifying
- Boy is running- signifies his excitement
- His facial expression shows how he is overwhelmed

Finally, we reach the modern day…

- ‘Is that you love?’ says his mum- shows he has returned home with the loaf of bread
- The house has a very family environment
- Very ordinary modern kitchen- relatable- not too tidy
- The wooden furniture and plant could represent how Hovis uses natural ingredients to make bread that is suitable for the whole family
- The boy’s voice is much deeper when he replies ‘yeah’ as if he has grown and matured over time



I think that Hovis has represented the different times in British history fantastically paying such close detail to the different aspects of mi-en-scene, dialogue and music, so that the audience is able recognize the different events almost immediately, and therefore understand the message they are trying to convey. Overall, it is a very effective advert and I have learnt a lot about how to represent different times, classes, characters, professions and people in a different ways.

TV Drama

Working Definition-
TV drama is usually fictional and consists of many subgenres including soaps, crime drama, science fiction etc.

It consists of lots of different storylines within one extended and ongoing narrative. An hour long episode of the on-going narrative is shown each week. It includes a few main characters and presents the incidents in their lives based around an ordinary location (e.g. home, hospital, police-station etc).

The on-going narrative may stretch over a few series but does eventually come to an end. Unlike sitcoms however, equilibrium is not always restored at the end of each episode or series, as relations often change and characters are often killed off and replaced by new ones.