Army Wives (TV Series) (DVD)

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Remember all those "Support Our Troops" bumper stickers and signs that were a part of the Bush years? Apparently they were more in support of the former president, because they disappeared along with the yellow ribbons after Obama won the White House. Meanwhile, the U.S. still has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq and another 57,000 in Afghanistan. Spouses of those still serving have to wonder why all the "support" vanished. What happened to the love?

Well, for all its flaws--and they're considerable--the Lifetime TV series "Army Wives" has kept the memory of those service men and women in the public's consciousness--at least the public that tunes into this series. What's more, in a televised regular Lifetime feature they've also played Santa to targeted families by surprising them on-camera with the answer to their prayers. Several of these feel-good surprises are depicted in the bonus feature "Army Wives Gives back," and you get a warm feeling watching them.

The show is also supposed to give you a warm feeling, but if you've ever seen interviews with real military spouses, the people on this show seem a little more polished, a little more fashionista, a little more together, and, let's face it, a lot more glamorous. There are no average-looking people on this show, and that's the first hurdle you have to clear in order to enjoy "Army Wives." The people feel like actors, not real Army wives.

But despite some decent performances, the material and the treatment are so soap-bubbly clichéd and the lines are said with such doggone determined seriousness (which makes them sound even more clichéd) that you have a hard time forgetting about the dramatic structure and just enjoying the characters. That's the second hurdle. The people who won't be bothered by the melodrama will be the fans of daytime television who are used to the weepy and overly dramatic music accompanying every character everywhere, like a sappy version of the Peter Pan shadow.

While "Army Wives" doesn't exactly romanticize the military culture, it comes darned close, and it plays like a standard soap opera. If you like shows like "All My Children" you'll appreciate this series, which could just as well be called "All My Military Children." The headlining actress, Kim Delaney, is a veteran of "All My Children," the writing comes closer to the emotion-first clichéd dialogue of daytime television, and the near-constant background music is equally melodramatic. The main difference is in the production values and the blocking. One cliché of daytime TV is that the actors stand toe-to-toe and deliver LONG emotional monologues. They're at least broken up here, and the characters move around more naturally. Still, this isn't a tongue-in-cheek soaper like "Desperate Housewives." It's an unabashed, unashamed, play-by-the-book daytime soap opera refitted with an evening gown. And one tux.

Kim Delaney stars as Claudia Joy, the army wife people feel thinks she's better than everyone else because she won't have an affair while her spouse is spending a year at a time away from home. Then there's Denise, the timid and proper wife who wants to maintain appearances and keep the abuse she's been experiencing a secret--though this season she becomes a pariah because of her own indiscretions. Speaking of secrets, the big one in the pilot comes to us courtesy of Pamela (Brigid Brannagh), who struggles financially that she and her husband agree to have her be a surrogate mother--something she tries to keep from the rest of the camp. The most engaging character, though she's also a cliché, is Roxy (Sally Pressman), a barmaid with two children from two different guys who gets a proposal in Season 1 and by Season 3 is finding the bar that she owns isn't cutting it. The tux among evening gowns is worn by the long-suffering Roland (Sterling K. Brown), a psychiatrist whose military wife Joan (Wendy Davis) can be a handful. This season he goes everywhere with their child, for whom he's the chief cook and bottlewasher.

The third season finds Claudia Joy and her husband, Gen. Holden (Brian McNamara), dealing with the loss of one daughter (who died last season) and the rebellion of another (Katelyn Pippy as Emmalin Holden). In addition, this season the Holdens sponsor an orphaned Iraqi girl who has an effect on Emmalin. Though the show lost viewers every year, it still opened this season with 3.5 million viewers--enough to make it the top-rated premiere in its demographic. And that would mean women from age 18-49.

Eighteen episodes are contained on five single-sided discs.