Are the Desperate Housewives Too Desperate?

Now, I have to preface this article by saying that I know nothing about Desperate Houeswives. I've never seen one full minute of the show, I don't know who's sleeping with who's gardener. I hear things in the air about this show but I know nothing. I know nothing of their desperation and I want to keep it that way.

It's the one facet of pop culture obsession that I have no opinion on. The one "water cooler" conversation I am happy to be clueless about. The one hit show that EVERYBODY watches, but I am immune to.

By all accounts, I have no business writing about anything related to this show...but I'm going to because this is just so ridiculous. A Desperate Housewives perfume? Come on.

There's a good reason that you've never smelt X-Files cologne, or never ate a Sienfeld bar, or never drank a Cheers Beer (although that sounds like a reasonable creation). Because, aside from DVDs and clothing merchandise, there really isn't any other marketing schemes that make sense- or, at the very least, don't totally insult the consumer's intelligence.

However that's not going to stop ABC from capitilizing on the 23 million fans that tune in each week. That is alot of dollar signs to TV executives that are willing to hawk anything and everything to the masses. They already offer a "Dirt Laundry" games based on the show. The rest of the world is not immune either. Announcements were made recently declaring the creation of four new shows in Spanish and Portuguese based on the American original, which is already a hit in Australia, Italy, the UK and Singapore- just to name a few.

The company behind the new scent is not a stranger to crossover frangrance success. They were repsonsible for developing and marketing the Celine Dion and Olsen Twins perfumes. This. however, will be the first based on a television show.

I'm not sure why this story bugs me so much. Maybe it's because I spend enough of my time trying to avoid the Desperate Housewives at all cost, without even watching the show. It's hard. My friends watch it and they constantly talk about it around me. I've heard about Wisteria Lane, I know the actors. I've never known so much about a show that I have not seen once.

Do I really have to smell it too?

I hope it smells good.