If you want to know why actresses on hit shows tend to waste away, one reason is that no one leaves them alone long enough to finish eating.
That was the plight of Alfre Woodard, the latest of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” at a network party this summer.
Her co-stars, surrounded by thickets of reporters, couldn’t have snagged a passing crab cake if their lives depended on it, but Woodard, who’d found herself a seat in a slightly less loud corner of the West Hollywood club ABC had taken over the night, had at least hoped to take a stab at dinner, only to be stopped repeatedly as she patiently fielded questions about Betty Applewhite, the newest resident of Wisteria Lane.
Who according to Woodard is a former concert pianist with a handsome son (Mehcad Brooks), an apparently absent husband and a “jaw-dropper” of a secret.
Of course.
Woodard should probably stock up on vitamins and protein bars.
Because joining a certified media phenomenon like “Desperate Housewives,” which last season ranked just behind CBS’ “CSI” and Fox’s “American Idol” and returns to great expectations on Sunday, is one of those experiences that tend to leave actors a little breathless (and sometimes foodless).
Even if, like Woodard, they already have four Emmys – enough to share with Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross, who both lost to co-star Felicity Huffman last Sunday – and a body of work that speaks for itself.
Not that Woodard, who’ll also appear for a few episodes of NBC’s Friday-night series “Inconceivable,” wants to be pigeonholed as the star of “Miss Evers’ Boys” or “The Member of the Wedding.”
When the word “gravitas” reared its ugly head – what was I thinking? – she asked, “Did you see “Beauty Shop’ this spring?”
Woodard’s philosophy: “I go to the place where I won’t be bored. I just try to keep myself interested.”
When “Housewives” creator Marc Cherry came calling, looking to add her to his collection of Wisteria Lane women, Woodard confessed that she hadn’t seen the show.
“He gave me tons of DVDs so I fast-forwarded and I caught up and I called him back and said, “OK, I’m game,”‘ she said.
Some may read cultural significance into an African-American family moving on to America’s most famous suburban street, but Woodard’s not going there.
Asked if Betty, her character, would feel that she was moving into an all-white community, she said, “No more than I live in all-white Santa Monica. I mean, I live in a dominant culture.”
After noting that the neighborhood already has a Latino family, she added, “Wisteria Lane is a parallel universe. I don’t think people should look for politics in Wisteria Lane.
“I don’t think on Wisteria Lane, race is an issue for anybody. They haven’t mentioned it. I think there’s too much dysfunction to even get to race.”
Comments are no longer available on this story