ARMY WIVES (TV SERIES) - DVD review

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.

1) "The Best Laid Plans." Everyone finds out about Denise's affair with one of her patients. Meanwhile, the Holden's daughter runs away with her boyfriend to elope, rather than go with the family to Brussels, where the General was transferred. And Roxy tries to get her bar back.

2) "About Face." Still caring for her estranged husband, Denise tries to find out whether he's okay after a news report lists his unit in a fierce firefight. Meanwhile, Roland is having problems of his own, and the Wives try to offer support.

3) "Moving Out." Everyone seems to be dislocated or relocating this episode, with Pamela looking for a bigger place and Claudia Joy looking for a cheap place to live now that all her husband's pay goes toward his apartment in Brussels.

4) "Incoming." Trevor starts to feel the strain of their lack of money, while Roland weighs a job offer, Pamela shows off her new home, and Gen. Holden tries to patch things up with his daughter.

5) "Disengagement." Convinced that her bar was failing because she made it too "pretty," Roxy decides to rough it up a bit and reopen the Hump Bar. Meanwhile, Chase (Jeremy Davidson) is back from Iraq and having a hard time adjusting to Pamela and being stateside, and as he returns another one learns she's being deployed: Joan (Wendy Davis).

6) "Family Readiness." Joan's daughter s going to be christened and half the Wives seem involved in some way, while the Holden's become enamored with an Iraqi orphan and a new dog turns up at Fort Marshall.

7) "Onward Christian Soldier." The Holdens take in the Iraqi orphan while she awaits surgery. Meanwhile, Frank (Terry Serpico) returns and he and Denise try to patch things up.

8) "Post and Prejudice." It's war games time, with Joan facing off against Evan. Meanwhile, the Holdens are asked to sponsor Haneen.

9) "Coming Home." Roxy wonders if her son has a learning disability. Claudia Joy takes Haneen back to Iraq, and her husband tries to reconnect with Emmalin.

10) "M.I.A." Pamela's husband returns, and Joan panics on the eve of her deployment.

11) "Operation Tango." A senator's widow comes to the base and finds kindred spirits in Claudia Joy and Denise. Meanwhile, Roxy tries to get her son into private school.

12) "First Response." The writers must have suddenly realized they were slacking off on soap tropes. This episode features an auto accident AND some bad medical news.

13) "Duty to Inform." Trevor turns recruiter, Claudia Joy wrestles with her secret, and Pamela is afraid something happened to Chase.

14) "Need to Know Basis." Denise finds a new job, and Pamela continues to push for answers about Chase.

15) "As Time Goes By." It's Army Wives déjà vu as some of the Wives have a field trip to a nursing home, where they talk with WWII spouses.

16) "Shrapnel and Alibis." Everyone's stressed this episode, whether it's because of a death, a medical emergency, a deployment, or marital discord.

17) "Fire in the Hole." Viola fills in for a singer at the Hump Bar (and naturally wows them). And a general plans to come to Fort Marshall.

18) "Fields of Fire." So what's up with Fort Marshall? Everything boils and bubbles to a season-ending head.

Video:
"Army Wives" has bright colors and a fair amount of detail for a DVD. It's presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and "enhanced" (i.e., stretched) for 16x9 televisions. No complaints here. The picture looks good enough to showcase better-than-soaper production values.

Audio:
The audio is probably overkill, with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mostly delivering dialogue and music. And there are times when you wish the music didn't keep playing in such clear, crisp tones. What's wrong with silence sometimes?? Subtitle options are in Spanish and French.

Extras:
Included this time is an average blooper reel, deleted scenes, another episode of "Army Wives Gives Back" (in which we watch them surprise real, deserving families), and "Stationed in The South." In the latter, cast and crew take you behind the scenes to give you a tour of Charleston and tell how they tried to make it an integral part of the show.

Also included are six Webisodes, all featuring Joan and Roland: "Time Marches On," "Duty Calls," "At Ease," "The War at Home," "Separation Anxiety," and "Private Conversations."

Bottom Line:
John Wayne used to say "Saddle up" in his Army cavalry films, but watching "Army Wives" I could picture him saying "Lather up." This nighttime TV melodrama has all the emotion, clichés, soap-opera plotting, and cheesy writing of daytime soaps.