When is this going to be on TV?

DESPERATE LIVING didn't have that same sense of joyous fun about it that made FEMALE TROUBLE and POLYESTER so wonderful. I don't know that I can re-watch it as much as those other films. As Waters explained, aside from the fact that the production itself was beset by problems, 1977 was a hard time for underground/midnight movies. Waters' first films were made at the height of this movement (it's doubtful whether movies like MONDO TRASHO would have ever found an audience even ten years after when it was first released). PINK FLAMINGOS was really the peak of this underground film period. Movies were changing by 1977, the year of STAR WARS, and just a couple years before video would forever change the moviegoing scene. DESPERATE LIVING was really the last vestige of the underground/midnight movie scene, especially for Waters, who would seek a more "mainstream" marketing approach for his following film.

That said, DESPERATE LIVING does have some moments that leave me in tears, such as any of the scenes with George Figgs' character of the amorous nudist garbageman. I get the impression from listening to Waters' audio commentary that DESPERATE LIVING was a very stressful film to make, as he doesn't seem to have many fond memories of it as he does of, say, FEMALE TROUBLE.

It might show up on the Sundance channel or IFC. "Pink Flamingos" has shown up on Sundance's Midnight Snack a few times (with bonus footage).