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I very often come across ‘Desperate Housewives’ while flipping through channels at night.  It’s not a show I make a point to watch or set the TiVo for.  When I do see it, I usually only watch for about five minutes, even if I have no idea what’s going on.  I chuckle and smirk and then move on.  So this year, when I received the fourth season DVD in the post, I thought about having to sit through 17 episodes of cutsey Wisteria Lane stuff that I hadn’t really dug since the middle of season two.  It is in this season where we tackle cancer, blindness, (two) pregnancies and the mysterious return of a neighbor who left rather suddenly many years ago (Dana Delany).  What I remembered about the show on my fourth marathon viewing, is that while the day-to-day stories are rather expected, the season-long narrative is always a juicy one.  And to meld the daily housewife minutia into a grand mystery…well, that’s quite the feat.  Marc Cherry is kind of a a genius at this stuff, and it’s made for one of the most consistent shows on television.  We know it’s good, it’s just a matter of submitting to the soap suds and letting them take us away.  And the cliffhanger to season five (which starts later this month) is pretty great.  Like ‘One Tree Hill’ last year, we are jumping forward five years, and it’s gonna be fun y’all.  ‘Desperate Housewives’ may very well earn a place on my appointment television list this season.