what keeps Desperate Housewives DVD Box set from descending into soap opera?

Desperate Housewives Season 1-5 DVD Boxset is different than most, at least to me. I thought Desperate Housewives Seasons was going to be more of a "Soap Opera" type but it's more of a drama with comic undertones. It'll make you laugh mostly, make you cry sometimes and make you sit there with your mouth hanging open thinking "I can't believe she did that!". Desperate Housewives Seasons - The Complete Fifth Season saw Desperate Housewives dvd jumping 5 years ahead, I think it was a good change but by the end of the season, the storylines started getting ridiculous. I liked how Gaby lost her sex appeal and Carlos got his sight back. I didn't care for the whole Mike and Katherine new couple situation, they have no chemistry! Felicity Huffman is my favorite actress on this show but I didn't like how her character became so boring. I was very upset when Creator Marc Cherry killed off Edie played brilliantly by Nicolette Sheridan. The best episode of the season of Desperate Housewives dvd is the last one Sheridan is in, she was a force to be wrecken with, and she proved she could act - Desperate Housewives box set doesn't feel the same without her. The strength of the show is in its writing and directing. There is not a wasted word or scene in each episode. Each episode manages to be both dramatic and darkly comic at the same time. This writing and directing is what keeps Desperate Housewives series from descending into soap opera. If the skilled use of dark comedy was not used effectively throughout, this series would descend into mawkish melodrama. Because of this wit, style and writing, I don't really care what the recent crises are on Desperate Housewives dvd, I care about seeing how they handle it as a piece of dark comic theater.