Army Wives

Army Wives is an American drama series that follows the lives of four army wives, their families, and an army husband whose wife is in the army. The series premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007. The show had the largest series premiere in Lifetime's 23-year history, and the largest viewership in the 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm time slot since December for Lifetime.^[1]

The second season premiered on Lifetime in the United States on Sunday, June 8, 2008, and had 19 episodes.^[2] Season three began airing in June 2009.

In February 2009, Lifetime announced that it ordered a fourth season of the series.^[3]

Premise

Based on the non-fiction book originally titled Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives, by Tanya Biank, the series is set at the fictional Fort Marshall in Charleston, South Carolina, home to the also fictional 23rd Airborne Division. Presumably based on the actual 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg.

In the pilot episode of Army Wives, "A Tribe is Born," Roxy impetuously decides to marry PFC Trevor LeBlanc and moves with her two kids to his army post. Floundering in her new life as an Army wife, she takes a job bartending at a local joint known for being a Jody bar (where civilian men go to hit on enlisted men's wives). While on the post, Roxy meets Claudia Joy Holden, who believes that her husband COL Michael Holden's promotion didn't come through because of base politics. Another army wife, Pamela Moran, is heavily pregnant with twins - she's secretly acting as a surrogate to get her family out of debt. Meanwhile, psychiatrist Roland Burton is trying to reconnect with his wife, LTC Joan Burton, who has just returned from Afghanistan. Then there's Denise Sherwood, who is dealing with her son Jeremy's anger-management issues as her strict husband, MAJ Frank Sherwood, is about to be deployed. The unlikely group bonds when Pamela unexpectedly goes into labor at Claudia Joy's wives' tea party and subsequently gives birth on the pool table in the bar where Roxy works. Not wanting everyone to know her family's dire financial situation, Pamela relies on these new friends to keep her surrogacy from being exposed.

As the first season progresses, the four women and Roland all become great friends. They go on to face things such as deployments, abuse, hostage situations, adultery and the vicious rumors that surround them.

It should be noted that though the show is based on the book of the same name, and some of the characters echo their book counterparts, significant differences are in place. This includes such matters as who was killed on the show as compared to who died in the book. For instance, Claudia Joy's oldest daughter Amanda died on the show in the second season opener. The book counterpart of Claudia Joy lost her husband in a plane crash during a mission to find the remains of soldiers in Vietnam.

Another major sub-plot of the third season is the Emmalin Holden character becoming increasingly flippant and (at times) rebellious toward her parents (Claudia Joy and General Michael Holden). When the Holden family sponsors Haneen, a young girl from Iraq, who lost her entire family in a bombing and is in the U.S. for a complicated operation to restore the use of her severely injured right hand, the girl breaks down and wonders aloud why she was spared. It is revealed that Emmalin has been suppressing many of the same feelings, not knowing why she was spared when her older sister, Amanda, was killed near the end of season one.

Episodes

Cast

Main Cast

• Kim Delaney as Claudia Joy Holden
• Catherine Bell as Denise Sherwood
• Sally Pressman as Roxanne "Roxy" LeBlanc
• Brigid Brannagh as Pamela Moran
• Brian McNamara as Major General Michael Holden
• Sterling K. Brown as Dr. Roland Burton
• Wendy Davis as Lt. Colonel Joan Burton
• Drew Fuller as Sergeant Trevor LeBlanc
• Katelyn Pippy (2nd season on) as Emmalin Jane Holden
• Terry Serpico as Lt. Colonel Frank Sherwood

Recurring Cast

• Jeremy Davidson as Sergeant First Class Chase Moran
• Richard Bryant as Private First Class Jeremy Sherwood
• John White, Jr. as Finn LeBlanc
• Luke Bartelme as Toby Jack "TJ" LeBlanc
• Jake Johnson as Lucas Moran
• Chloe J. Taylor as Kathrine Eileen "Katie" Moran
• Gigi Rice as Marda Brooks
• Melissa Ponzio as Angie
• Rhoda Griffis as Lenore Baker
• Kim Allen as Amanda Joy Holden (Deceased)
• Caroline Pires as Emmalin Jane Holden (1st season)
• Patricia French as Betty Camden (Deceased)
• Kate Kneeland as Marilyn Polarski (Deceased)
• Seamus Dever as Dr. Chris "Getti" Ferlhingetti (Deceased)
• Jeff Rose as Major Bryce Ogden

Main Crew

• Katherine Fugate - executive producer, creator and writer
• Mark Gordon - executive producer
• Ben Younger - director
• Deborah Spera - executive producer
• Jeff Melvoin - executive producer
• Harry Bring - co-executive producer
• Cal Johnson - Stunt Coordinator

Directors & Writers

• Joanna Kerns
• Rob Spera
• Perry Lang
• Patrick Norris
• Tanya Biank
• Dee Johnson
• Rama Laurie Stagner

Ratings

The series opened its third season with 3.5 million viewers and a 2.4 rating among women 18-49, and a 1.0 rating among men 18-49. That makes Wives the top-rated drama premiere in Lifetime's key demographic so far this year, though the show declined 22% among total viewers compared with last year's premiere.^[4]

Soundtrack

DVD releases

Army Wives: The Complete First Season was released on Region 1 DVD on June 10, 2008. The three-disc collection includes all 13 episodes from the First Season.^[5] The second season was released on Region 1 DVD on June 2, 2009. The five-disc collection will includes all 19 episodes from the second season.^[6]

The third season is scheduled to be released on Region 1 DVD in the United States on February 9, 2010.^[7]

International airings

The series began airing in Ireland on Monday, October 15, 2007, on TG4 (in English) and in New Zealand on Thursday, June 19, 2008, on TV2. The series began airing in Australia on December 1, 2008, on Channel Ten. The series also airs in the United Kingdom on Living (UK TV channel), and on the South African network M-Net. The second season ended on M-Net on Monday, January 5, 2009.^[8]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Army Wives

• Official website at myLifetime.com
• Army Wives at the Internet Movie Database
• Army Wives at TV.com
• Army Wives Review at Variety.com
• "List of Army Wives Episodes". TVGuide. http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/army-wives/285442.