Brenda Strong's Well-Manicured Voiceover Narration of 'Desperate Housewives'

** Spoiler alert -If you’ve never seen it, Desperate Housewives is a prime-time television series that premiered in 2004 and ran for eight seasons. The series follows a group of housewives living on Wisteria Lane and the events that occur in their lives. As simple as the premise may seem, it’s all about misdirection, dramatic half-truths, and unseemly pretenses. The show is known for its distinctive narrative style, told from the hidden perspective of Mary-Alice Young, played by Brenda Strong. Mary Alice provides a voice-over commentary throughout the series, offering a unique perspective on the events of the show and the lives of the other characters.**

In the first episode of the series, Mary-Alice's dramatic suicide sets the stage for all the events that would unfold throughout the show. From the great beyond, Mary-Alice becomes the narrator for everything on Wisteria Lane, providing a unique and insightful perspective into the characters' lives. Her death serves as the inaugural mystery of the series, and her narration sheds light on the events and relationships that unfolded on seemingly perfect Wisteria Lane. Mary-Alice's role as the narrator adds a layer of mystery and intrigue to the series, making her narrations not only beloved by fans but integral to the structure of Desperate Housewives.

Throughout the show's eight seasons, Desperate Housewives tackles various social and cultural issues, including motherhood, marriage, infidelity, sexuality, and mental health. The show is highly acclaimed for its witty writing, strong character development, and ability to take on serious issues with humor and style. Similarly, its use of narration is a key component of the show's success and helps to establish its unique style and tone. 

Mary-Alice isn’t just the narrator but the lens that gives scope to the story. The theatrics, the pageantry, the double meanings, and the secrets - the point of Mary-Alice’s narration isn’t to tell us her own story or even chip away at the facades of the core cast. It’s to shift attention away from her own narrative. She’s actively there, pointing us toward the mystery yet already knowing every secret. Mary-Alice chooses to tease the audience and keep them in the dark just enough to stay engaged and be curious to discover what’s happening in Desperate Housewives for themselves. Whether her narrations are present or not, everything we see is projected through her perspective. We see and hear what Mary-Alice sees and hears and we are where she is. 

Like any of the housewives on Wisteria Lane, Mary-Alice has a flare for dramatic pretenses. She wants us to follow her down the rabbit hole, hear her stories, and see her newly enlightened perspective. One reason could be that she genuinely desires to explain the not-so-subtle inner workings of everyone’s private lives and show the audience who these characters are behind closed doors. 

She becomes the ultimate source for gossip, but we viewers are her only outlet to share that information. She comments on how sensations like touch and smell fade after we die, but the things we see only become more apparent, and it’s almost like a nod to her own virtually omniscient commentary. 

When Mary-Alice tells the audience she left behind everything she was, it’s not quite the entire truth, and she only uses her narration to imply it.  When Mary-Alice tells us that she gave up everything that made her human or weighed her down, it’s a bit of a misdirection. 

Mary-Alice says she’s renounced feelings and bias, but she hasn’t left behind quite as much as she suggests. She confesses that she chose to keep her memory. However, the irony is that our memory makes up everything we are. Mary-Alice talks about her friends and family - her secrets and her neighbors.

Mary-Alice’s voiceover is a cleverly worded deception that spins her narrations as an impartial witness instead of a narrator who likes to withhold secrets and direct the flow of the story. Even though Mary-Alice left behind her body, she’s still exactly who she was. Perhaps even more so, given her newfound omniscience. 

In the same way, we see Bree using housework and chores as a coping mechanism for the things she has trouble facing in her life - Mary-Alice is no different. She briefly alludes to details about her own life here and there but deliberately shines a spotlight on everyone else’s drama. 

She narrates her suicide like it's no big deal, sets up the plot, and foreshadows the lack of boundaries people have with each other. She talks about gossip, how people behave, and how one person interacts with the next. She uses her narration to cut through her friends' and neighbors' artificial cookie-cutter lives - never shying away from gritty truths, so long as they’re not hers. Mary-Alice doesn't just present things as they are - instead, she lovingly throws her friends and family under the bus to buy herself some time before revealing more of her own secrets. Everything about the story, plot, characters - and narration - is as carefully manicured as the housewives themselves.

Desperate Housewives was a powerhouse of a show that received positive reviews from audiences and critics and raked in a whopping 71 awards and 273 nominations throughout its runtime. The show was also consistently one of the top ten most-watched television shows in the United States and remains one of the most popular drama mystery series to this day. 

While Brenda Strong only received two Primetime Emmy nominations for her narrations in Desperate Housewives, the rest of the cast (and the series itself) did reasonably well in recognition for their performances. Felicity Huffman won a Primetime Emmy Award for her role as Lynette Scavo, and Kathryn Joosten won one for her role as Karen McCluskey. Likewise, Teri Hatcher was awarded a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy nomination for her role as Susan Mayer. In contrast, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria received nominations for both Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, respectively, for their portrayals of Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis. 

Kim Handysides is an award-winning voice artist, and coach. Among her 20K+ narrations you have heard her on Discovery, Netflix, and the major networks, in iMax, the White House and the Smithsonian.