If the, um, rather unusual happenings on Wisteria Lane seem somewhat tame to Doug Savant and Marcia Cross, it's understandable.
The "Desperate Housewives" stars have experienced prime-time plot twists and character development (if you can call it that) that seemed more like science fiction than soap opera.
They're both "Melrose Place" survivors.
Savant spent five seasons on that Fox serial playing Matt Fielding, the good guy/gay guy — a character writers never really figured out what to do with but who was on hand while all sorts of campy high jinks were swirling around.
Cross spent parts of five seasons as Dr. Kimberly Shaw, a complete nut job who, among other things, was in a terrible car accident, tried to murder the man she supposedly loved and frame his ex-wife, later married that guy, attempted suicide, kidnapped a baby, detonated a bomb at the Melrose Place apartment complex, was committed to a mental institution, had a brain tumor and died of a stroke.
"Melrose" was fun for awhile, but — particularly in retrospect — was definitely stupid beyond belief.
Savant said he was "extraordinarily proud" to have been part of the show's success. But he admits he was unsure how it managed to become a success.
"We were unclear at the start of 'Melrose' exactly what it was," he said. "It became a juggernaut. It became a thing of its own. Things coalesce in a way that they conspire to make a hit that I don't think anyone on that show was really aware of, from (creator/producer) Darren Star to the cinematographers to the actors doing their best to handle what ended up being sort of campy material. And to our great pleasure, it found a huge audience and people enjoyed the camp."
In other words, that "Melrose" became a hit for several seasons confounded its stars in a way that the success of "Desperate Housewives" does not.
"I'm not sure they knew that that's what they were doing," Savant said of the "Melrose" writers and producers. "('Desperate' creator/executive producer) Mr. (Marc) Cherry does."
To put it another way, "Desperate Housewives" is intentionally funny. "Melrose Place" was unintentionally funny because it was so stupid.
Not that Savant and Cross were quite that blunt. They sort of danced around that conclusion, never completely dissing the show that made them stars.
"I don't know if this is legitimate or not, but I think of 'Melrose Place' as like Andy Warhol, and I think of ('Housewives') as like Kandinsky or Francis Bacon," Cross said.
"I'd be complimented if I knew who they were," Cherry interjected.
"One is like pop art . . . but this is much more complicated and rich and interesting," Cross explained.
"OK. Well, that's good," Cherry said.
And Cross and Savant both have fond memories of working on "Melrose Place," stupid or not. " 'Melrose,' to this day, is still a great, huge blessing in my life, but . . . to revisit this kind of great success is twice as glorious for me," Savant said.
And, while Cross spent a season on "Everwood" last year, she's quite obviously reveling in the huge success that's come to her — at the age of 43 — as Bree Van De Kamp on "Desperate Housewives." Although she won't quite go so far as to say she feels vindicated.
"I think you have to feel wronged to feel vindicated, and I've never felt particularly wronged. My agent here and my manager might feel very vindicated at the moment. Am I right?" Cross said as the duo nodded in agreement. "They had to tell people for 10 years that I wasn't Kimberly Shaw."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com