MANILA, Philippines?An interviewer pointed out that the new Hallmark Channel drama ?Army Wives? is really ?Desperate Housewives? set in a military base.

Although ?Army Wives? also boasts steamy scenes, the similarity with the wicked women of Wisteria Lane ends with the fact that the two shows have strong female lead characters.

?We are very different from ?Desperate Housewives,?? star Catherine Bell says. ?Our show is realistic. We have sexy scenes, too, but the show is not about that. It focuses on a person?s life as a complete package. More people can [thus] relate to our stories.?

Co-star Kim Delaney agrees: ?Everybody can identify with at least one of the characters. You can immerse yourself in each story. It?s a great ride. I?m proud of it.?

Created by Katherine Fugate (?The Prince and Me?) and produced by Mark Gordon (?Grey?s Anatomy?), the new series is based on Tanya Biank?s non-fiction book, ?Under the Sabers: The Unwritten Code of Army Wives.?

Bell says she prepares for her role by poring over Biank?s book. ?It?s very powerful. I also hung out with a lot of military wives.?

Delaney believes preparing for the series is an ?ongoing? process. ?I ask all sorts of questions. I spend a lot of time with [Biank].?

Delaney relates that she has fallen in love with the show?s iron-willed, yet vulnerable, women.

?I always go back to the page and it becomes me. It tackles various aspects of life. It?s painful. It?s funny. It?s charming.?

Delaney describes her character as ?the moral center of the group.?

?The challenge is not to put her on a pedestal and to keep her real. She?s flawed, very human. Just like everybody else, she doesn?t always have all the answers.?

Unlike on other women-powered shows, there?s no chance of catfight rumors erupting on this set, Bell and Delaney assert. (The series also stars Brigid Brannagh and Sally Pressman, with Roland Burton as the lone thorn among the roses.)

?All of us get along very well,? Bell insists.

Delaney concurs: ?We?re having so much fun. Catherine and I have become great friends. Same with Brigid. We spend time together celebrating [milestones]. We enjoy each other?s company. We?re very lucky that way.?

?Army Wives? premieres on the Hallmark Channel tonight at 9, with repeats tomorrow 1 a.m. and on May 18 at 3 pm.

(E-mail: bayanisandiego@hotmail.com)