Sunday TV

tube on tap: Desperate Housewives (ABC) Ok, here's the next great guilty pleasure on TV. Wisteria Lane looks like just like any upscale American suburb. As the title connotes, its about housewives in this particular suburb. Let's see, we have Bree (Marcia Cross), a picture-perfect wife and mother, who almost kills her husband by serving him onions just after he tells her he wants a divorce; Lynette (Felicity Huffman), a career woman who gives it up to raise 4 kids and feels neglected by her traveling husband and feels insulted that he hit-and-runs on/off her all the time; Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), desperate enough to sneak off from her husband's party to mow the lawn to put him from firing her lover the gardener; Susan (Teri Hatcher), a single mother who needs a man in her life so bad that she accidentally sets fire to the neighborhood slut Edie's (Nicolette Sheridan) house because she thought she was poaching the newest single guy on the block; and Mary Alice (Brenda Strong), the most well-adjusted woman among the group, who on one sunny morning, blows her brains out after doing her chores. She narrates the story post-funeral and in flashbacks, and generally guides us through the daily lives of the friends she leaves behind. And with the discovery of mysterious details surrounding her death - this series is muy delicioso - and off to a hot start.

tube on tap: Boston Legal (ABC) David E. Kelley, for lack of ideas, or perhaps rolling with a (still) working one, continues with this new lawyer show from the ashes of The Practice. James Spader is the holdover from the old show, and is joined by William Shatner. Spader, fresh off his Emmy win, displays the same economical acting and dry-yet-sly wit that makes him fun to watch. The presence of lady lawyers, Monica Potter (yum), Lake Bell and Rhona Mitra, echo the Ally McBeal days. First episode establishes some ground on who the characters are, and throws 2 haymakers - Shatner's character, senior partner Denny Crane is having an affair with the wife of the firm's biggest clients, and a case for a young black girl's appeal to be considered in Annie includes a gratuitous court appearance by the Reverend Al Sharpton. Did I say gratuitous?