Talk:Mary Alice Young

Mary Alice Young has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Review: August 28, 2017. (Reviewed version).

A fact from Mary Alice Young appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 18 September 2017 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Sheryl Lee was originally given the role of Mary Alice Young on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, but the producers decided to replace her with Brenda Strong?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2017/September. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Mary Alice Young.

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Mary Alice[edit]

Mary Alice is still a fictional character on the show, we hear her every week, the characters may be dead but she's not gone. Rex is a "was", not Mary Alice. OnTheCusp 09:13, 15 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It shouldn't be 'nee Angela Forrest' because Forrest was Pauls original name so therefore Young was her married name, not her maiden name.

Amusing phrase[edit]

"There is one episode in which she is not the narrator, thanks to the death of Edie Britt. Her role in this season is a lot like season three, when the same thing happened."

In season 3 Mary Alice didn't appear as often because Edie Britt died then too? 66.252.163.190 (talk) 23:51, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Explanation for Edits[edit]

Hello, I just wanted to explain that I made edits to the article to help during its future GA review. I will refrain from making edits on this page in the future. I focused primarily on fixing some problem areas in the prose and linking issues (where things were linked multiple times, not linked in the body of the article, or not linked in its first use). Good luck with the GA review, and I apologize for causing any unnecessary inconvenience. Just wanted to clear this as I was honestly just trying to help out with this, and I did not have any negative intentions. Aoba47 (talk) 19:11, 26 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all your help, I appreciate it! You caused no unnecessary inconvenience and I value your feedback as a reader before the review commences. Creativity97 21:07, 26 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Mary Alice Young/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: BrickHouse337 (talk · contribs) 01:19, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Review[edit]

Lead section:

- Looks good except for a few concerns:

- "In death, Mary Alice sees things she would not have seen in life: her friends' vulnerabilities, lies, and secrets." I would recommend changing "things she would not have seen in life" to maybe "things she would not have seen while alive." I think the definition of "life" varies widely.

- I noticed the first time I read the article there is a source confirming the claim that her narration is akin in style to Spoon Rivers' Anthology, but I think it might be best to copy that source and put a citation next to the claim in the lead. I don't think it's a huge issue, but I worry that someone could come along in the future and put a "citation needed" bubble next to that sentence without reading all the way to the reception section, where you have that source.

Casting and development:

- Unlink Marc Cherry's name in the first sentence of the casting and development section.

- "[...] but Lee was soon replaced by Brenda Strong after Cherry and the producers thought Lee was not right for the part." I think "the producers decided that Lee was not right for the part" reads better. Clearly they thought she was right for the part at one point and they decided she wasn't right later. Also unlink Brenda Strong's name in that sentence and change to simply "replaced by Strong." You've established who Brenda Strong is in the lead section, no need for multiple linking in this case.

- "In 2006, when asked during an interview what viewers could expect from Mary Alice for the series' third season [...]" Link "third season."

Storyline:

- Link "Bree" and "(Marcia Cross)". I think in this case it will flow better with the character and actress linked, even though she is mentioned twice in the casting and development section.

- "[...] Lynette asks if she is okay, to which Mary Alice says she is but Lynette knew otherwise, but having groceries that needed refrigeration, she simply told Mary Alice she would see her later." Consider changing to "[...] to which Mary Alice says she is and while Lynette knew otherwise, she had groceries that needed refrigeration, so she simply told Mary Alice she would see her later."

- "In 'Free', Mary Alice is shown to have been babysitting Katherine's daughter Dylan the night the child's father returned [...]" Do we know the name of the actress who portrayed the original Dylan in those flashbacks? If so, I think her name should be added. If not, not a huge deal.

- "[...] Years later, on the day Mary Alice committed suicide, Eli was at her house dropping something off [...]" Wasn't it a doorknob or something? If you can find out the exact object that he was dropping off, it might read better than "dropping something off." But I also don't see a huge issue with how it is now either, so it's up to you.

- Josh Zuckerman played the grown-up/teenage Eddie. It would probably be best to find the name of the child actor who played four-year-old Eddie in the flashback scenes with Mary Alice and put his name in brackets instead of Zuckerman's.

- "[...] At the end of the episode, Mary Alice's spirit is seen with the ghosts of all those who have died over the years on Wisteria Lane [...]" I'm being nitpicky here, but technically the ghosts of ALL those who died over the years on Wisteria Lane weren't shown in the series finale, only some (Edie didn't appear because of the beef between her and Marc Cherry, for example). So maybe consider changing to "Mary Alice's spirit is seen with the ghost of those who have died over the years [...]" I know that doesn't make a huge difference, but just removing the "all" makes a difference to me as a reader and die-hard fan of the series (this could also be just me here as a nitpicky fangirl on this point, so... Feel free to ignore me, LOL.)

Reception:

- "While reviewing the first season finale, Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly praised the conclusion to the Mary Alice mystery [...]" In my opinion, "Mary Alice mystery" reads a bit sloppy. Consider changing to "[...] praised the resolution to the mystery surrounding Mary Alice's death."

- "Tanner Stransky, also writing for Entertainment Weekly [...]" Maybe "Tanner Stransky, also writing for the magazine" instead? Entertainment Weekly is mentioned a little to frequently in that paragraph.

- "In 2014, Anna Silman of Vulture magazine described Strong as 'everybody's favorite deceased housewife/omniscient narrator'." Consider changing to, "As a result of her popularity as the series' narrator, Anna Silman of Vulture magazine described Strong as [...] in 2014."

Other than these concerns, the article looks great! Excellent work. Once these points have been addressed, I will return to pass/fail the article. Cheers, --Brick House 337 01:19, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much for this review BrickHouse, I really value your comments! I've addressed all of your concerns. I look forward to your final verdict! Creativity97 01:48, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

It is reasonably well written.
a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):
It is factually accurate and verifiable.
a (reference section): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):
It is broad in its coverage.
a (major aspects): b (focused):
It follows the neutral point of view policy.
Fair representation without bias:
It is stable.
No edit wars, etc.:
It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.
a (images are tagged and non-free content have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):
Overall:
Pass/Fail:
Excellent work on this article overall Creativity, I'm pleased to see another Desperate Housewives article promoted to GA! Pass. --Brick House 337 01:52, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you again so much for your review BrickHouse! I always appreciate your easygoing approach to the GA process. XOXO! Creativity97 01:58, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Absence[edit]

Look Into Their Eyes and You See What They Know Goojrr (talk) 07:07, 28 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Episodes That Do Not Have Previously On Desperate Housewives[edit]

Pilot You're Gonna Love Tomorrow The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened Look Into Their Eyes and You See What They Know Goojrr (talk) 07:22, 28 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]