‘Housewives’ desperate for ratings

ABC program “Desperate Housewives” is known for being sensational and over
the top, but some members of the Filipino community think it has gone too far.

On the show’s Sept. 30 season premiere, Teri Hatcher’s character, Susan, didn’t
believe the news that she might be undergoing menopause. She asked her gynecologist
(played by the wonderful Nathan Fillion) if she could see his diplomas “just
to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines.”

By Oct. 4, more than 30,000 people signed an online petition seeking an apology
from NBC. The petition, which is being widely circulated among the Filipino
community, has since garnered more than 116,000 signatures. As of press time,
ABC is still considering editing the episode to exclude the line. The network also
issued a statement saying it had “no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect
of the medical community in the Philippines.”

To be honest, watching “Desperate Housewives” isn’t terribly high on my to-do
list. It actually wouldn’t be on my to-do list at all if Nathan “Captain Tightpants”
Fillion wasn’t guest starring. So why am I spending so much time on “Housewives”
in today’s column?

Well, it just so happens that one, I’m Filipina, and two, both of my parents got
their medical degrees in the Philippines. Even given these circumstances, I think
some people are taking this too seriously.

Anyone remember “Housewives” creator Marc Cherry’s cameo on “Arrested
Development”? George Michael and his religious girlfriend protest “Housewives”
outside Cherry’s house. Cherry sticks his head out the window and yells, “It’s a
satire!”

Campy as the show might be, I have to agree with him. Besides, shows like
“Will and Grace” and “Family Guy” make Filipino jokes all the time. Nobody
started an online petition or demanded an apology from the network. I’m pretty
sure they just laughed.

I discussed this briefly in a nightly instant message with a good friend of mine
whose parents’ medical degrees also are from the Philippines. She put things far
more eloquently than I can:

“This is television, people. The show is called ‘Desperate Housewives’. Maybe
the people who should be offended are the people they are mocking – housewives!
Obviously, it shows that spending all of their time cooped up in their magical
la-la-land of Wisteria Lane automatically makes them ignorant to the fact that,
oh, a large chunk of medical personnel come from the Philippines, among other
things. Maybe they should be apologizing to housewives across America for making
them look so stupid.”

If that’s not enough, we can simply file Susan’s comment under “stupid things
said by women undergoing menopause.”