Mary Alice Knows What She Did: I also had the pleasure of sitting
down with my favorite dead girl, Brenda Strong, who plays dearly
departed Desperate Housewife Mary Alice, the show's narrator and the
housewife who killed herself in the opening scenes of the pilot
(after someone found out her dirty secret).

Borrowing a line from Teri Hatcher, you know what I had to ask,
right? "Mary Alice, what did you do?!"

Brenda burst out laughing. "See, this is really hard, because every
interview up until now, I've not known, and I've been able to say
no, and 'They haven't told me,' " she said. "But I, I--I'm blushing.
Because I actually do know now."

Fighting my urge to lunge at her throat and squeeze the truth out of
that pretty little neck (she really is the loveliest person in the
world, but all's fair in love and spoiler-sleuthing!), I held it
together and asked, "Were you surprised?"

"Um, yes and no," she said. "There were certain elements that I had
guessed on a lark, and I went 'Oh! I was right?! Oh, that was just,
that was a leap in the dark.' So, there are certain things I
intuited, and then certain things just completely sideswiped me. I
had no clue that that's where they were going, so I was really happy
to go 'Ooh! This is gonna get juicy!' "

So, does she still consider herself a good girl? "Yes, I still see
the good in her." Hmmm...tricky, tricky.

You Everwood fans know that Brenda has played dead before. In fact,
her death also set that series in motion, inspiring hubby Andy
(Treat Williams) to head to the 'wood. "I'm sure I will be back,"
she said of her WB stint. "I always come back some time around the
holidays, when things get much more heartfelt, and they need to have
kind of a maternal figure in there to remind them that that part of
their lives is missing."

(Moderator's comment: OH, SHIT, NO!)

As for Mary Alice, she said she'll "be doled out like really good
chocolate. You're not gonna get too much of me at once. That way the
Mary Alice mystery gets to pace itself. Just enough to keep the
audience interested and to make sure that they remember who I am."

(Moderator's comment: I'm afraid that means little to no screen
time).