Yes, that's right "Desperate Housewives" is returning April 13 from the writers' strike with a newly disabled character, and according to the March 28 Entertainment Weekly, it's permanent.
Last we left the soapy ABC drama, a tornado had blown everything away, except the main characters, of course. (Only minor or recurring characters usually die in these TV events.) But those characters did not remain unscathed. Carlos Solis (played by Ricardo Chavira pictured above) was blinded from an injury during the tornado.
Here's what EW says, "Gabrielle will learn that ex-hubby Carlos (Ricardo Chavira) was permanently blinded in the tornado — but not before Carlos tricks her into remarrying him."
The article goes on to say that "Desperate Housewives" creator and exec producer Marc Cherry will end the show after three more seasons. So does that mean Carlos will be a blind character until 2011, or is this going to be TV blindness, which is suddenly cured by another bump on the head in a few weeks?
Considering the way TV can heap a bunch of negative stereotypes on a disabled character and the sometimes campy nature of "Desperate Housewives," this could get scary, folks. Don't get me wrong, I like campy as much as the next person, but if the Carlos character starts doing stupid things that blind people don't do, it will just reinforce lots of incorrect information to millions of people.
Ricardo Chavira hails from my ancestral homeland of Texas, so here's my plea to him -- and to the "Desperate Housewives" writers -- to get the blind character right.