Huffman and Savant click on 'Desperate Housewives'

NEW YORK — Marriage can be a hard job. This, Tom and Lynette Scavo have reminded us for seven years as husband and wife on "Desperate Housewives."

On the other hand, marriage can be a great gig. That's what it's been for Doug Savant and Felicity Huffman, who are wed in holy matrimony as the Scavos on the ABC hit.

"It's a good marriage," states Huffman. "It's got its ups and downs, but it keeps moving forward."

"It is by no means perfect," says Savant. "But I like what it represents on television. I like what it represents in America."

America — or a large chunk of its TV audience, anyway — has embraced the Scavo marriage since "Desperate Housewives" premiered in fall 2004. Lynette and Tom stood out among their wacky neighbors on Wisteria Lane, TV's go-to address for sexy suburban angst.

She was the former ad exec and frustrated stay-at-home mom, the most grounded member of the core sisterhood played also by Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Eva Longoria. He was the laid-back, often perfunctory breadwinner. Their kids (eventually numbering five) drove them crazy, but with their childrearing, as all things, they managed to cope.

Their marriage has weathered many challenges in this melange of melodrama, whodunit and dark comedy. Now, as "Housewives" (airing Sunday at 9 p.m. EDT) builds to its season finale on May 15, Tom has bloomed into a big-shot businessman who thinks Lynette is threatened by his success, while Lynette chafes at being slighted by a man she feels she doesn't know anymore.

"Tom's the heavy-hitting CEO and he's got the power in the relationship," says Huffman. "That's a new thing, and I find that as we act these scenes, it informs our off-screen time. Suddenly, we are a little at odds with each other, a little short with each other, in a way we didn't used to be. You're meaner," she says to Savant and chuckles.

Can this marriage be saved?

Savant laughs too.

"We've lived together at work for seven years," he explains as the pair shares lunch recently with a reporter, "so there's an ease and a comfort and a familiarity."