'Desperate Housewives' twister hits and misses

Nobody has a knack for overhyping its own shows quite like ABC. From the network that brings you "the most dramatic rose ceremony EVER'' for seemingly every finale of "The Bachelor'' and something called a " 'Grey's Anatomy' EVENT,'' came Sunday night's mid-season finale of "Desperate Housewives.'' Or, as it was billed: "The. Best. Episode. Of The Year.''

Let's discuss.

After the whole debacle of the Alfre Woodard's-secrets-in-the-basement storyline last year, there's no denying that the gang on Wisteria Lane definitely has its groove back in Season 4.

Love Dana Delaney as the new neighbor. Those first scenes of the season between her Katherine and Marcia Cross' Bree? Prickly good fun.

Love that Lynette's cancer storyline has put some heart in a show that sometimes gets too carried away by its own camp (Carlos and Gabrielle).

Even love that Mike, who started out the series as "DH's'' plumber version of McDreamy, has turned into a drug-addicted, fly-off-the-handle, accidentally-push-his-pregnant-wife-down-the-stairs mess.

The big buzz of last night's episode was the twister that forced characters who don't like each other to hole up together to ride it out. The build-up to the destruction had its moments, including an excellent spit-in-the-face courtesy of Katherine, an asthma-inducing cat and name-calling that ran the gamut from "skank'' to "cold, hard ----.''

Oh, and did we mention the hype promised one of the characters loses a husband? After taking a piece of bloody white picket fence to the chest (a bit over the top even for "DH'') just as he was about to whack Carlos, we can assume that's Victor. But most any viewer had that figured out long before the winds started to kick up. Golden TV Rule No. 1: Non-regulars of any cast are always the odds-on favorites to bite the dust.

As wonderfully uncomfortable and conflicted as the visit to the ER by Susan and Mike was, it was some of the only drama of the night that felt real. Except for the final 60 seconds, when Lynette's blood-curdling scream gave way to a shot that panned out to the massive destruction around her. It was impressive.

Not as impressive as the episode when Laurie Metcalf went on the shooting rampage in the grocery store, but twisted enough to ensure that "DH'' is back on the list of appointment TV. There's just one problem: "DH'' has apparently only one other episode in the can with no scheduled running date, which means that, thanks to the writers' strike, last night's show could end up being the last of the season. In other words, no spring cliffhanger "that EVERYONE will be talking about.''

-- Kendra Meinert, kmeinert@greenbaypressgazette.com