'Desperate Housewives' Tries for Mileage with a Plot that Would Wring Laughs from Suicide

ABC, Sunday, April 3, 2011, 9 PM (ET) "Desperate Housewives" had a new episode entitled "Everything's different, nothing's changed." The narrator's voice-over says, "We can never know the point at which our lives are about to change forever." Tonight's episode ties in with the last episode, in which Beth Young committed suicide in the hospital, (shooting herself in the head), as she gave her permission to become an organ donor.

The problem, of course, is Paul Young, who takes objection to turning life support off on his estranged wife Beth, despite the fact that she is brain dead with no chance of recovery. Paul mocks Susan in the hospital waiting area, noting that, in life, Susan did nothing to support Beth in the neighborhood. Susan, rather than arguing, goes home, seemingly resigned to the situation. However, Paul ultimately reconsiders.

The entire sub-plot with the suicide of Beth Young was depicted rather tastelessly. There is a neighborhood party planned by Vanessa Williams' character, Renee. Renee (Vanessa) is unwilling to cancel her party, despite the recent death of Beth Young. In one line, in fact, Renee (Vanessa) says, she's not canceling "just because some cuckoo bird tried to clean between her ears with a hand gun."

There were other lines like this, but suffice it to say that they were not funny in light of the topic: death by suicide. Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) even has a line (spoken to Vanessa Williams) where she suggests that they should cancel the party noting that, since Vanessa's character of Renee keeps saying she is going to have the party no matter what, "that makes me the compassionate one." Call me overly politically correct, if you wish, but, recently, when Gilbert Gottfried made a bad joke that played off the deaths of thousands in Japan, Geico fired him. This plot threat may not be a firing offense, but it was the focus of the entire episode, and it wasn't funny in light of the serious topic of suicide.

A subplot involves a job offer that Tom Scavo receives to become the CFO of another firm. Wife Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) views the offer quite positively, and cannot understand why Tom is hesitant to accept it. Tom keeps saying that he cannot leave Carlos, that he has too much integrity. Lynette responds "Integrity got a better offer from Glen and turned into prosperity."

Lynette even tries to coax Tom into the career move by using sex, pretending to be an airline stewardess and doing a bit of a strip tease. Tom tries to respond playfully in kind. Lynette shuts him up, saying, "You're not good at this, so let me do the talking."

The other minor plot thread of the night involved Bree's trip with her son to a meeting not unlike AA. Her son insists on being called "Elvis" and criticizes his mother during the brief meeting.

The suicide plot and its aftermath was not really "funny." I was once at a George Carlin performance at Navy Pier in Chicago when Carlin did a bit on suicide and people walked out. I didn't walk out or turn off the "Desperate Housewives" episode, but I thought the attempt to make humor out of tragedy (i.e., the suicide subplot) was ill advised.