Here's Something (More) About Mary

I posted before I went to bed last night about USA Network's new original series In Plain Sight, and I am really looking forward to the premiere tomorrow night (Sunday, June 1st) at 10:00pm EDT.

I checked out the In Plain Sight web site this morning and I think Mary Shannon is the character I can best relate to on the show. Just like me, Mary is tough, sexy and smart and keeps her identity undercover. Played by Mary McCormack, Mary Shannon is a U.S. Marshal attached to the highly secretive Federal Witness Protection Program known as WITSEC, assigned to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I'm fascinated by the New Mexico locale...after living in metropolitan Chicago for 40 years, Rex's brother Jake and his wife, Connie, moved out to the Middle of Nowhere, New Mexico, in November 2006. As far as I know, neither Jake nor Connie is part of the Witness Protection Program...but hey, you never know.

Mary Shannon's job of protecting Federal Witnesses—from career criminals to innocent bystanders—is tricky enough, but it's even tougher when dangerous people want those witnesses dead. On top of the myriad responsibilities attached to her high-risk job, Mary must keep the true nature of her work secret from her family and friends in order not to endanger them, her witnesses or herself. As an investment banker, I can relate....I frequently need to tell friends and family "If I told ya (about the client/project I'm working on), I'd hafta kill ya" until a deal is closed and publicly announced.

To help facilitate her witnesses' often rocky transition into their new lives, Mary has to wear many hats at any given time: mother, therapist, best friend, maid of honor, priest, rabbi, marriage counselor, employment agent, bodyguard, and occasionally, homicide detective. Same for Roxy: former disc jockey, current investment banker, mother of two girls, hot little wife to Rex, Roxiticus Desperate Housewife, blogger, therapist to the other Roxiticus Desperate Housewives...the list goes on!

As far as Mary's loopy mother, Jinx, and her younger sister, Brandi, are concerned, Mary's job as a Federal Marshal consists of lounging around the courthouse with her trivia-loving partner, Marshall, and serving the occasional warrant. My mother thinks that unless I've gone in to my office in New York City, I'm lounging around the Roxiticus Valley instead of hard at work from my home office. It's hard for Mary not being able to tell the people she's closest to what she does, but truth be told, she prefers it that way. The last thing she wants is for anyone to have to worry—that's her job, both on duty and off.

If you can't wait until tomorrow night, or you're leaving in the dark of the night to join the Witness Protection Program, click here for a video clip of Mary McCormick with a "relocation tip". Enjoy the show tomorrow night on USA Network, and do come back to Roxiticus Desperate Housewives and let us know whether it gets a thumbs up/thumbs down and why.

It's Sunday Night at 10:00PM EDT...Do You Know Where Mary Is??

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find Mary Shannon hiding In Plain Sight on the Roxiticus Desperate Housewives home page.

With those other Desperate Housewives living their lives in private over on Wisteria Lane for the summer, what's a Roxiticus Desperate Housewife like me to do with her Sunday nights? I have good news for all of us... USA Network's new original series In Plain Sight, an all-new crime drama starring Mary McCormack as Mary Shannon, a U.S. Marshal attached to the highly secretive Federal Witness Protection Program, premieres this Sunday, June 1st, at 10:00pm EDT.

Mary Shannon is based in the greater Albuquerque/Santa Fe area, where all of the pictures in this post were taken when Rex and Grammy and the girls and I went out to visit Rex's brother, Jake, during Spring Break 2008. Mary protects and manages relocated Federal Witnesses who come to her from all over the country. While she loves her job, she doesn't find it easy to lead a double life—especially since getting shot at on a regular basis is all in a day's work. The witnesses under Mary's care can be anything from career criminals, congenital liars, thieves and murderers to those who have had the misfortune of witnessing or falling victim to a crime. For the innocents, testifying means leaving behind everything and everyone they know, cutting off all contact, changing identities and relocating to the unfamiliar southwest to build a new life as the reward for their good deed. No matter what walk of life—or which side of the law—these people come from, they all have one thing in common: Someone wants them dead.

Even with all the risk and stress inherent in Mary's job, she sometimes finds it easier to be working than dealing with her personal life, which is already complicated by the fact that her family and friends can't know the true nature of her work for the safety of everyone involved. As we say in the investment banking business, "If I told ya, I'd hafta kill ya." Keeping a false front isn't exactly a cakewalk for Mary since her co-dependant mother, Jinx (Lesley Ann Warren) and equally co-dependant younger sister, Brandi (Nichole Hiltz), are living under her roof. Jinx has never held down a job and is rarely ever seen without a drink in her hand. Brandi is slightly more ambitious. Unfortunately, the driving ambition that brought Brandi to Albuquerque was the desire to sell a suitcase full of crystal meth for her mysterious boyfriend, Chuck. But Mary's on-again off-again boyfriend, Raphael Ramirez (Cristián de la Fuente), gets the worst deal of all because after Mary's job and family, there's not too much left of her to go around—or at least, that's the trump card Mary relies on whenever Raph tries to get too close.

I'm going to tune in to USA Network's original series In Plain Sight on Sunday night at 10:00pm EDT...I think I feel a new blog coming on!