Life on Wisteria Drive

For the past three years, Americans have followed the lives of five women on the ABC television show "Desperate Housewives." The show's drama and mystery unfold in a suburban neighborhood along the fictitious Wisteria Lane.

We decided to take a look at the neighbors who live on Cape Girardeau's Wisteria Drive -- to find out if there's any mystery and drama in this suburban neighborhood.

Joel Meade and his wife, Brandy, live in an apartment complex at 3007 Wisteria Drive.

At one time, there was a lot of drug activity that went on in the building, Meade said.

"The landlord cleaned all that up, and the people involved with that moved out," he said.

Now the Wisteria Drive apartment complex is pretty quiet. The building's residents all get along and are close. Meade said his street has no similarities to the hit ABC show.

"I'm familiar with it, but I don't watch it," Meade said about "Desperate Housewives." "To be honest with you, I wouldn't say anything good about it -- there's nothing about that show that's similar to my lifestyle."

Meade was a youth pastor at Teen Challenge before he had back surgery, and his wife works at Blue Cross Blue Shield. "We're just trying to make it from day to day," he said.

At 3023 Wisteria Drive lives Jim Welk, who runs his own construction company. "It's a pretty quiet street," Welk said.

As far as he can tell, Welk said there's nothing unusual taking place on his street.

"We're not that lucky," he said. "If there is something going on, let me know where it's at."

Several houses down from Welk, lives Freda Nall at 3117 Wisteria Drive. She's retired and spends most of her day at the Hoover Center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, where she's enrolled in the Senior Alive Adult Daycare Program.

"There's not that much going on here," Nall said about her street. "The neighbors, we don't visit each other that much -- it's not that we don't like each other, we're just not that close."

Across the street from Nall live Kevin and Susan Branock at 3118 Wisteria Drive.

Susan Branock shares a similarity to "Desperate Housewives" character Lynette Scavo -- each woman is raising three sons.

"I could tell you things about our neighbors, but they might hate me after that," Branock said laughing. "Actually, everyone on our street is very friendly. We help each other out whenever we can."

Susan Britton, a Missouri real estate broker/saleswoman for 31 years licensed at Century 21 Key Realty, lives at 3122 Wisteria Drive. Britton is also the owner and instructor for the Cape Girardeau Excellence School of Real Estate.

Despite having a similar last name to Nicolette Sheridan's character, Edie Britt, and having the same profession as Sheridan's character, Cape Girardeau's Wisteria Drive real estate agent is nothing like the "Desperate Housewives" character.

"There are absolutely no similarities between Edie and myself -- personally or professionally," Britton said. "But I do enjoy the television show."

The 24-year Wisteria Drive resident said the neighborhood is pleasant, and she has great neighbors.

"Being in the business of real estate and exposed to the market, if I thought any differently, I would most likely move," Britton said. "Many of my neighbors have lived on this street for several years."

Michelle Gosche, her husband, David, and three children have lived at 3018 Wisteria Drive for about nine years. Gosche works for a printing company, and her husband is a computer programmer.

"We're basically your regular people," she said. "I've watched the show in the past, and my neighbors aren't like anyone on it," Gosche said about "Desperate Housewives."

But Gosche has one complaint about living on Wisteria Drive.

"Sometimes people drive through a little too fast," she said. "Other than that, there's no strange stuff going on here."

jfreeze@semissourian.com

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