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Tavis: Talented actress Felicity Huffman has enjoyed success in theater, film and television. Many remain fans of her work in the Aaron Sorkin series "Sports Night," which we all know came and went way too fast. But now she's back on network TV in the new ABC series "Desperate Housewives." The show premieres on October 3. Here now, a scene from "Desperate Housewives."

Lynette Scavo: That's it. Get out.

Boy: No!

Lynette: No? I am your mother. You have to do what I say. Come on.

Boy: We want to swim, and you can't stop us!

Lynette: Here. Get out. Get in this pool and just grab you. Get out! Get over here. Get over here.

Tavis: Ha ha ha. Oh, that's funny. Felicity, nice to see you.

Felicity Huffman: Nice to be here.

Tavis: Glad to have you on the program.

Huffman: Thanks.

Tavis: 2 things occurred to me when I first saw that clip. I fell out laughing the first time I saw it for 2 reasons. One because--and this is the cultural thing. If I ever said to my black mama, "We want to go swimming, and you can't stop us," I would have never been here to meet you. I would have been dead on the spot for ever saying that. So one, it was a cultural thing hit me first of all. But secondly, when I saw the piece, I realized--I don't want to give too much of the story away, but the setting of this makes this makes it even funnier. Can you tell where this--where this scene was?

Huffman: Yeah. The scene takes place at a funeral, actually. It's the whole start of...our good friend has killed herself, and it's the funeral, it's the wake, and everyone's in black and very solemn, and my kids strip off their clothes and go swimming.

Tavis: And you walk in the pool with your black dress on.

Huffman: That's right. And my high heels.

Tavis: Cool. Tell me more about what "Desperate Housewives" is about. I saw the title, as we all have seen the commercials everywhere. And I think you think you know what the series is all about, but why don't you clue us a little more.

Huffman: Well, the name itself is kind of great, you know. You don't put housewives with desperate very much. You expect us to come in kind of going... Desperadoes, with our cleaning supplies. It's the story of friends, 4 women who are friends on Wisteria Lane. It takes place in a fictitious Eagle State, which is not to be confused with Eagle County. And it's kind of their life. It started with their friend who seemed perfect. She had a perfect life, and then she blew her brains out in the first 2 minutes of the show, which is kind of wonderful, because it starts it off with a bang, no pun intended. And then it investigates why she did it. There's that mystery, and it sort of goes off into their lives and what they're going through. It's a cross between...it's a cross between "Six Feet Under" and "American Beauty" and a little bit "The Stepford Wives." And then Marc Cherry, who wrote it and created the whole thing, has thrown in sort of a dollop of wickedness and a heightened sense of reality, so it walks a razor's edge. It's actually really fun.

Tavis: Juxtapose for me in your own mind, at least, how we live in a world where women--and to be sure, sexism is alive and well. No question about that. But women are achieving more and doing more and running major corporations. I mean, women are being empowered in ways today they never have been before, and yet I'm looking at a TV show called "Desperate Housewives." Is that that anybody's reality?

Huffman: Um, yes, I think it is people's reality. I think it deals with the small desperations, not the big ones, the day-to-day desperations that people are brought to, you know, within a morning, within an afternoon, or within a week, so I think it's universal in that way. It's kind of the truth of the human condition, as opposed to the circumstances.

Tavis: So as a man, what do I learn watching "Desperate Housewives" about those moments, those little bouts with desperation that I'm unaware of, that I should appreciate, that women, particularly the housewives, go through every day or every week?

Huffman: Damn, you're smart. I wish I brought someone else's brain to this interview. I think what you'd appreciate is Teri Hatcher doesn't wear very many clothes.

Tavis: I like that.

Huffman: She's naked a lot.

Tavis: That's good.

Huffman: Eva Longoria, also very small clothes. Um, what would you appreciate? I guess the wom--I'm not sure men are actually interested in appreciating this. Maybe they are.

Tavis: We are. Come on. Give me a chance. Give me a chance. Try it out on me.

Huffman: I think you'd be, at least with my character, who's raising 4 kids under the age of 6 and her husband travels, just that how several times a day, you are brought to the brink of desperation. I think--Marc Cherry's--I don't know if you've heard of this, but the reason he thought up this whole concept of a show was he was watching the trial of the woman who killed her children, and with his mother, and he was watching it, and he turned and went, "Oh, my God, could you imagine doing that?" And she sort of went, "Yeah, I've been there." And that was his mother, who'd just been--just the perfect mom. And so, you know, most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and women--I think men would appreciate that, at least with my character, motherhood is the most difficult, trying, unappreciated, boring, wonderful, terrible job. My husband has a whole theory that the reason that women do a lot of the raising--I'm not saying that men aren't involved, and they are more these days than ever before, but you know, women do the lion's share, is he thinks it was a conspiracy, because men did it for a little while and went, "This sucks, man. I think it's a woman's job." "Yeah. Me, too. We have no idea how to do this. Let's go to work."

Tavis: I feel like I should turn to camera one and just say, "Mom, I'm sorry. Whatever I did, and whatever I've done, and however I embarrassed and hurt you and pushed you to the brink and to the point of desperation, I'm sorry, sweetie."

Huffman: You should.

Tavis: OK. I just did.

Huffman: OK. Good. I think that's great.

Tavis: You are a mother. You and your husband, a fine actor, by the way, William H. Macy. Love that guy. He's great.

Huffman: Me, too.

Tavis: I guess you do, 'cause you had 2 babies for him, so you must love him. Uh, what's the most challenging part of motherhood for you? Because you mentioned that whole range of emotions that comes on being a mother. What's the high for you, being a mother, and what's the challenge?

Huffman: You're great. I'm going to take lessons from you. Um, I think the highs for me...is the enchanting, magical being.

Tavis: I love that word, enchanting. Isn't that a great word? Enchanting.

Huffman: That children are and that you get to share in. And another high point, although difficult, is that, as in marriage, you meet yourself in a--with more depth. When you have children, it's like mach 5. You just come up against yourself all the time. And that is a high point, because as a person, you grow. And I think the low point is, you know, 7:00 at night, when you're tired and got 2 kids to put down, or 4 kids to put down, and you're exhausted and you've got no more juice left, and they're giving you a hard time and coming up against, "I want to leave the room for a really long time." That's a low point.

Tavis: Yeah. I was in a conversation the other day. As a matter of fact, we had a guest a couple of weeks ago--I turned 40, and I'm not married yet and don't have kids yet. My producer Neal Kendall is not married and doesn't have kids, as our mothers remind us often. And we were having a conversation about turning 40 on this program a few weeks ago, and I think I made the point either that night or in some other conversation about the fact that I'm not even certain that people are well-advised--I'll get mail about this. I'm not even sure that people are well-advised to want to have kids today, not because motherhood and fatherhood isn't such a wonderful thing...I suspect it is--but that the challenges of raising kids in today's world, in today's society, today's environment is such a difficult one. Would you advise folk to have kids in this socie--I mean, your kids are young now.

Huffman: Why do you think it's so difficult now as opposed to 10 years ago?

Tavis: If you think it's tough being an adult these days...we complain about everything...try being a child these days. The challenges, the pressures, the drugs, the crime, the emphasis on image being everything, and you gotta have this, and you gotta have it now. I mean, just the pressures that kids have to deal with every day, I'm not sure I want to bring a kid into that. And God love you if you happen to be a personality, and now your kids have more pressure on them because your daddy is so-and-so or your mama is so-and-so. Would you advise people to have kids? I mean, am I--if I get married, am I setting my wife up to be a desperate housewife?

Huffman: Well, you certainly...if you have children, you're setting up for a very difficult job. It's a difficult job. There's no way around it, and that's saying it lightly. Would I advise people to have children? Yes. It's one of the blessings of being alive. Would I say it's for everybody? No. I think it's perfectly respectable and admirable to go "That ain't for me. Great." I'm scared of raising my kids these days. I'm scared of raising my kids, period. I'd be scared 10 years ago, I'm scared now. But, yes, the way the world is right now, yes, I find it terrifying.

Tavis: I've got 30 seconds left. I say the...I don't know how to phrase this. I won't phrase it. I love your name--Felicity.

Huffman: Thank you.

Do you like your name? I used to hate my name Tavis growing up. I've come to like it over the years. I think Felicity is, like, cool name.

Huffman: It's great. It means happiness. You know, I'm the youngest of seven girls.

Tavis: And I'm the oldest of 10 kids.

Huffman: You're the oldest?

Tavis: You're the youngest, I'm the eldest, yeah.

Huffman: Wow. The oldest is usually so messed up.

Tavis: I am, and w won't talk about that. At least not on air. Stick around for a few minutes and I'll show you how messed up I am. Felicity Huffman, one of the stars of the new ABC sitcom premiering October 3rd called "Desperate Housewives." Check it out. That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR, National Public Radio. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching. Good night from Los Angeles, and keep the faith.