Did anyone else notice that Army Wives is coming back?

In what amounts to the most hush hush of campaigns ever, Lifetime’s darling series, Army Wives, returns this Sunday night for its third season. Has anyone seen any ads for it?

I know that I haven’t seen many, save for the rare one on Lifetime during Monday night reruns of How I Met Your Mother. Is Lifetime trying to trim their budget? Because nothing spells lower ratings better than not alerting people that your show will be back.

Okay, enough.

Army Wives is back, and I’m excited. Not quite as into it as I was prior to the season two premiere, but still a lot more than before the series aired.

Back then, in 2007, splashy ads for the series appeared everywhere you looked. My wife and I were kind of “eh” about the whole thing, but back BB (before baby), we had the time to give anything a try, so we figured, “what the hell.” And how many of you, like us, were simply blown away?!?

You have Claudia Joy Holden (Kim Delaney), married to Michael (Brian McNamara), Brigadier General and supreme commander of the army base that they call home. With Michael set to be deployed overseas for a NATO command, I am a bit concerned that the show may lose its best characters, at least on a regular basis. While Michael is secondary, he’s a great component to a show that shouldn’t ignore the army to focus on the wives of its soldiers.

On the other hand, Claudia Joy is the rock of her family, her husband’s command, the show, and her little band of merry spouses. Other than her somewhat off-key spell mourning the loss of her oldest daughter, Amanda (Kim Allen), she’s been just awesome. And, for me, the one negative thing about getting rid of Allen was the promotion of daughter number two, Emmalin (Katelyn Pippy), now played by a more mouthy and annoying actress than before. Hopefully her running away will take.

Denise Sherwood (Catherine Bell) is making a mad dash for freedom, leaving her husband, Frank (Terry Serpico), and taking up with who knows who. I was a big fan of Denise’s independence, but I think she needs Frank as much as he needs her. I’m not sure if she’s running from, or to, something, but she needs to turn around and go back. Frank, with all his flaws, is one of the best guys on the show. A permanent separation from Denise could leave us without him, which would be terrible. But, I wouldn’t mind more focus on Denise and Claudia Joy; their bond is really beautiful.

I loved season one’s Roxy LeBlanc (Sally Pressman), but season two’s was too abrupt a departure from the character as crafted. I’m not advocating her being a mousy nothing, but she became something this past season that just didn’t ignite any interest in me. It also didn’t help that Trevor (Drew Fuller), her husband, is, for the most part, a boring person. Even his addiction to pain killers was done in a yawn sort of way. Roxy’s position and status in life hasn’t changed, and she’s still getting used to being an army wife. Let’s take a few steps back, and realize that she isn’t a booming industrialist just yet.

Pamela Moran (Brigid Brannagh) may just be my favorite character, so lets get the negative out of the way first. Chase (Jeremy Davidson), has been two people so far. In season one, he was what I would expect: aloof, distant, stubborn, absent. He’s some super-soldier with crazy missions and crazy responsibilities. In short, he was drawn to perfection. But, after a stint by Davidson on The Kill Point (awesome show, by the way), he returned to the army more loving, caring, and, even more head-scratch worthy, around. I know when a show’s trying to make its characters more fan-friendly, but, again, the change was abrupt and not organic, and it also is highly unlikely. I liked early Chase better.

But, I love Pamela. I think she’s a great picture of a strong, type-A person, who’s forced by the unique circumstances of being an army spouse, to curb her own ambitions. The fact that it wells up and bursts into a radio show is just perfect. I also enjoy her friendship with Roxy, despite my qualms about the latter. She’s just a great, great character, who doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be ready for her television audience. Great job!

For some reason, season two of Army Wives skewed more to the traditional definition of “wives,” instead of the full title, and we ended up with all of these pictures of the group that includes Joan Burton (Wendy Davis), instead of her husband, Roland (Sterling K. Brown). He’s the army “wife”! And, in season one, Roland fit in so perfectly with the four women above, that I was shocked, amazed, and very pleasantly surprised. But the ensuing year brought a lot of confusion, including getting Joan mixed up with his crew, in a way that Michael, Trevor, and Chase, are not.

Yes, Joan is the one who has to go through the family/work struggle that only a woman can define to perfection, but that doesn’t mean that she should then become one of the gang. Roland is the friend, the confidant, and the perfect match to these four women, and I think the writers may have lost their way on that a bit. Being a stay-at-home dad should have made it easier for them, but whatever.

There was a certain, indefinable charm, to Army Wives‘ first season, something involving a great ensemble cast leading interesting lives, with a wonderful group of support actors as both spouses, and other families on base. The second season became a bit too much like a soap opera, possibly for good reason, as Lifetime knows what their audience wants. But, the idea has always been to open up the demographic to include more and more people. There’s a reason that both I and my sister love this show; it appeals to so many different people, and as much as we are alike, we’re very different (she’s less than lukewarm on Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, and Jim Carrey. Preposterous!)

My sister and my wife both cried when Amanda died; I felt Trevor’s pain in sitting home with an injury while his unit was fighting in Iraq. They see Denise’s frustration at always being an extension of her husband; I understand why Frank needs to have things done a certain way, even if it can only be his own: he needs to not have to worry while leading men into battle. They mourned with Claudia Joy; I knew why Michael needed to get right back to work, and yet needed his wife’s support, too.

We all love Pamela, so we’re on the same page, though they prefer Chase 2.0, and I got more on-board with the original. I think my wife agrees with me about less Joan, and more Roland, while my sister, mother of two with a third on the way (YAY!), is right there beside Joan as she battles her maternal instincts and the pull of her career.

Like I said, something for everyone. Even with all of the season two gropes in the dark, I still think this Lifetime show, of all things, is some of the finest that television has to offer. For the most part, it’s just a pleasant, enjoyable show, that lets us watch a group of people going through some tough stuff — played out by some phenomenal actors.

Should we really be asking for more?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 05, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT