Lifetime rolls out new drama 'Army Wives' RHOSHALLE
BY JANICE LITTLEJOHN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - Denise Sherwood tugs on her necklace as she watches her husband board the bus. There are no tears, but her sullen look reveals her fears as the Army major embarks on a three-month tour of duty in the Middle East.
It's an all too familiar scene around the country these days - and one played out in the pilot episode of the new Lifetime ensemble drama, "Army Wives," about the lives of the women - and one man - left behind when their soldier spouses go off to war.
Premiering tonight at 10, the 13-episode series is billed as one of the biggest summer launches in the history of the female-focused cable channel.
"I wanted to make the premiere a special event," says Lifetime entertainment chief Susanne Daniels, who has high hopes for the show.
During the past few seasons, the once top-rated network has failed to garner a hit original series. So with ratings and revenues down last year, Daniels is using "Army Wives" to anchor a slate of new scripted projects designed to flip the channel's fortunes.
The closest thing that Lifetime has had to a defining hit in recent years was "Strong Medicine," which ran for six seasons. Yet "Army Wives" could do it again, says Daniels, because it has "a unique voice, and we're always looking for stories that aren't being told on television right now."
The series centers on the stresses of military life for civilian spouses and the unlikely camaraderie between five of those sharing a common bond: the soldiers they each love. It stars Kim Delaney as Claudia Joy Holden, the respected colonel's wife, and Catherine Bell as Sherwood, a housewife with a violent teenage son.
"There have always been stories about the home front during war," says executive producer Mark Gordon ("Grey's Anatomy"). "But we haven't seen anything really about what's going on today with the women and men whose husbands or wives are in the military here at home or overseas."
"Army Wives" is based on the book "Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives" by Tanya Biank.
"These are the heroes at home," says Delaney, 45, on the phone from Charleston, S.C., where the series is filmed. "These are the women that take care of the kids, the houses and themselves."
Delaney and the cast recently spent time with military spouses of the nonprofit support group, Operation Home Front.
"It's amazing how passionate they are about what their spouses do," Delaney says. "The Army wives all take care of each other, but there is a code ... a pecking order."
The show had been pegged early on as 'Desperate Housewives' on an Army base, but for Delaney, it's so much more.
"I don't want to say that it's heavier because it's not," she says. "There's actually joyful moments. It's funny. It's romantic. It's tragic. It's about real life."
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