In a time of great international anxiety, the television ground seems fertile for a bit of soapy escapism. Enter NBC’s highly-promoted “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” which may not exactly wither and die, but struggles to grow in its four episodes sent to press, lacking in most of the key departments needed to make a network soap opera a hit.

NBC’s “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” premiering Sunday, Feb. 23, at 10 p.m., is the latest series to try to recapture some of the soapy spark that “Desperate Housewives” brought to primetime television over 20 years ago.

NBC’s new drama series Grosse Pointe Garden Society is set to premiere Sunday.

On the surface, “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” is an idyllic landscape, but buried below are secrets, lies and murder. "It's a really fun ride,” said AnnaSophia Robb who stars as Alice. “It's delicious,

Steve Swisher/NBC Grosse Pointe Garden Society is intriguing not just because it's a murder mystery, but because of its star-studded cast. The NBC series, which premieres on Sunday, February 23, follows four members of a suburban garden club "who find their lives intertwined by scandal,