I wanted to check out ‘Why Women Kill’ on CBS All Access because on paper, it sounded like something I would enjoy. It was conceived by Marc Cherry, who created ‘Desperate Housewives.’   I share with Cherry a love of the Great American Songbook, and I know he is a fan of my beloved Ann Hampton Callaway. And the series (literally) started great for me, with the titles scored by Michael Feinstein’s version of “L.O.V.E”

The first episode is titled ‘Murder Means Never Having To Say I’m Sorry,’ and I don’t know what that really means.  The premise of the show is three tiers: there generations of stories of women who are living at the same house. The first part is set in 1960s, with Ginnifer Goodwin playing Beth Ann, a housewife whose husband is having an affair with a waitress. The second part is set in the big shoulder pad 1980s, with Lucy Liu playing Simone, who discovers her husband is having a gay affair. The third part is set on present day, with Kirby Howell-Baptiste in an open relationship marriage. It’s all so ‘trying-to-be-decadent’ but at the same time feels so familiar. I couldn’t see anything new or interesting in it that’s enough to make me go back. It’s very reminiscent of ‘Desperate Housewives,’ which also bored me. I think this soapy murder genre is just not for me. Among the actresses, only Goodwin is effective, and you can see her character’s arc already. Liu is a major disappointment – she is given lines but she doesn’t really deliver them well, as if she is bored or needs to invest more energy in her performance. is she normally this bad? As for Howell-Baptiste, she isn’t given much yet, so she just lays there like dead wood. With so much content out there, I don’t know if continuing to watch this will have any value for me.