TV Topic: Gabby's chubby kids on "Desperate Housewives"

So Susan is bedding her young house painter after being abandoned by Mike for obsessing over a car accident that killed a mother and child. Lynette is trying to train her wild teenage twins with minimal help from her equally childish husband. Bree is failing to fill the void her daughter left when she took back her son with a cooking empire, shoving Katherine out of the spotlight. And Edie has returned with a new creepy boyfriend, who has a mental illness history and a strange control over her. I would be intrigued by his presence, since he's the scariest of all the Wisteria Lane villains and because I think his vendetta has something to do with Susan's car accident, but I was a little distracted by Gabby.

I was really impressed with how they handled her storyline. It can't be easy for a weight-watching former model to have two chubby kids. Or for that hasbeen with an affinity for gossip to endure being the butt of all the housewives' jokes, especially after Edie rolls back into town looking like a wannabe MILF. While I think her efforts to slim her four-year-old down by making her chase their convertible all the way home after eating half a cake were a bit extreme, at least she didn't join in on berating her kid with judgement and criticism like Celia does to her daughter on "Weeds." Gabby has come a long way since her self-absorbed days. Yeah, she kind of started whining about how she was glad Carlos couldn't see how hideous she had become after two kids and no time for self-pampering, but instead of fixing herself, she aimed to help her daughter retain her self-esteem--at least, that's how I see it. Some people might see her behavior to be just as scarring as screaming "Hey fatty! Put down the fork." But I'm interested in seeing how this plays out and whether or not Gabby will regain her former gorgeous glory.

And as a completely off-topic side note, I loved it when one of the gay neighbors took a cellphone shot of the half-naked painter as he snuck away from Susan's house in midday. Priceless.