Desperate Housewives is an American comedy-drama mystery television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a total of 180 episodes. Executive producer Marc Cherry served as showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season included Bob Daily, George W. Perkins, John Pardee, Joey Murphy, David Grossman, and Larry Shaw.
The series features an ensemble cast, headed by Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp, and Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis. The supporting cast included Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt, Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair, and Vanessa Williams as Renee Perry. Brenda Strong narrates the series as the late Mary Alice Young, appearing sporadically in flashbacks or dream sequences.[1]
In August 2011, it was confirmed that the eighth season of Desperate Housewives would be the show's last; the series finale aired on May 13, 2012.[9][10][11] By the end of the series, it had surpassed Charmed with the most episodes in an hour-long television series featuring all female leads.
The first season premiered on October 3, 2004, and introduces the four central characters of the show: Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis, as well as their families and neighbors on Wisteria Lane. The main mystery of the season is the unexpected suicide of Mary Alice Young, and the involvement of her husband Paul Young (Mark Moses) and their son Zach (Cody Kasch) in the events leading up to it. Susan fights promiscuous neighbour Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) for the affection of new neighbor Mike Delfino (James Denton), Lynette struggles to cope with her four demanding children, Bree fights to save her marriage to Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp) while dealing with her rebellious son Andrew Van de Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom), and Gabrielle tries to prevent her husband Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) from discovering that she is having an affair with their gardener, John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe). The first season is also marked by mystery surrounding the murder of a neighbour and some secrets revealed about Zach, Mike, and Paul. At the end of the season both Paul and Zach go missing.
The second season premiered on September 25, 2005, and its central mystery is that of new neighbor Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), who moves onto Wisteria Lane with her son Matthew in the middle of the night. She keeps someone prisoner in her basement who tries to escape multiple times. Throughout the season, Bree tries to cope with being a widow, unknowingly begins dating the man who had poisoned her husband, fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son Andrew from growing to extremes, and deals with her daughter Danielle's new romance with Matthew Applewhite. Susan's love life becomes even more complicated as she has serious conflicts with Mike, and her ex-husband Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi) who is engaged to Edie, also starts to lean towards Susan. Lynette goes back to her career in advertising while her husband Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) becomes a stay-at-home father, and Gabrielle decides to be faithful to Carlos, who is now in prison after being double-crossed by a business partner, and begins preparations to have a child. Paul is framed and sent to jail, not for the murder he committed in the previous season, but for a fake one. Paul's son Zack reconnects with his wealthy maternal grandfather.
The third season premiered on September 24, 2006. In the third season, Bree marries Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), whose past and involvement with a recently discovered dead body becomes the main mystery of the season. Meanwhile, Lynette has to adjust to the arrival of Tom's previously unknown daughter and her mother to the family. The Scavos also experience tension as Tom wants to start a pizzeria. Gabrielle goes through a rough divorce, tries to get back into modelling, but finally finds new love in Fairview's new mayor, Victor Lang. After being run over by Orson in the previous season finale, Mike falls into a coma and suffers from amnesia when he wakes up. Edie sees her chance to make her move on Mike, and her family relations are explored throughout the season. Susan loses hope that Mike's memory will return and in the process moves on to a handsome Englishman, Ian Hainsworth (Dougray Scott), whose wife is also in a coma, while her daughter Julie Mayer (Andrea Bowen) starts dating Edie's nephew, Austin McCann (Josh Henderson), of which Susan disapproves. Elderly neighbor Karen McCluskey (Kathryn Joosten) hides something in her freezer. A shooting at the local grocery store leaves two characters dead and changes everyone's lives forever.
The fifth season premiered on September 28, 2008, with the time period jumping forward five years after the previous season, with some flashbacks to events which happened between the two periods. The season mystery revolves around Edie's new husband, Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), who is looking for revenge on someone on Wisteria Lane (later revealed to be Mike because of a road accident Mike and Susan were involved in that killed Dave's wife and daughter). Susan and Mike are divorced due to the accident putting pressure on their marriage. Susan deals with being a single mother and having a new romance with her painter, while Mike starts dating Katherine. Lynette and Tom learn that their now teenage son Porter is having an affair with a married woman whose husband's nightclub burns down with all of Wisteria Lane's neighbors inside. Gabrielle struggles with Carlos' blindness, triggered in an injury during the tornado in season 4; two overweight young daughters; and a financial crisis. Bree and Orson have marriage problems because Bree had pressured Orson into doing time in prison for running over Mike and he resents her. She has become too focused on her career as a successful cookbook writer and caterer, and her daughter Danielle had come to claim back her son while Orson was in prison. Edie dies of electrocution after a car crash, before she can expose Dave's motives moments after she discovers his secret.
The sixth season premiered on Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 9pm.[13] The main mystery of this season is surrounding new neighbor Angie Bolen (Drea de Matteo) and her family. The first half of the season consists of Julie being strangled by an unknown person, the conflict between Gabrielle and her niece Ana Solis (Maiara Walsh), Karen McCluskey finding new love, Lynette's attempts to sue her new boss Carlos for firing her for getting pregnant, Katherine's eventual mental breakdown at losing Mike to Susan, and Bree's affair with Karl, which ends tragically when Karl's hired plane crashes into a building with him and Orson inside, killing Karl and leaving Orson paraplegic. The second half of the season focuses on Katherine experimenting with her sexuality, Lynette unknowingly inviting the Fairview strangler to stay with them before discovering the truth, the conflict between Bree and a son of Rex whom he had before meeting her, and the solving of the Bolen mystery.
The seventh season premiered on September 26, 2010,[14] and its main mystery is Paul's return to Wisteria Lane with a new wife and with plans of punishing the residents for shunning him during his incarceration, while an old nemesis of his still plans to get her own revenge on him. Lynette's best friend from college Renee Perry (Vanessa Williams) moves onto the lane and stirs things up among the other housewives. Gabrielle and Carlos learn an unsettling fact about their daughter Juanita Solis (Madison De La Garza) (who was switched at birth), which ultimately leads them back to Gabrielle's home town of Las Colinas. A now divorced Bree starts dating her contractor, and reveals the truth about the death of Carlos' mother Juanita at the hands of her son Andrew in the second season, consequently ending the friendship between the Solis family and Bree. Due to financial problems, Susan and her family have moved off the lane, and Susan is forced to earn money by doing pornography. Following a major riot on the lane, Susan is injured and put on the waiting list for a vital organ donation. Lynette persuades Tom to take an exciting new job, which leads to unprecedented problems in their marriage.
The eighth and final season premiered on Sunday, September 25, 2011.[15] The main mystery of the season is the death of Gabrielle's perverted stepfather Alejandro Perez (Tony Plana) at Carlos' hands, and its cover-up by the four housewives, which occurred in the previous season finale. After the murder, Bree receives a blackmail letter from an unknown person similar to the one Mary Alice had received in the first season. Due to her relationship with detective Chuck Vance (Jonathan Cake), Bree becomes the main character affected by the cover-up of Alejandro's murder, and is eventually accused of killing Alejandro herself. A new neighbor, Ben Faulkner (Charles Mesure), moves onto the lane, attracting Renee along the way. Ben is going through severe financial problems, and resorts to a dangerous and unruly loan shark to bail him out. Mike meddles in the business of Ben's loan shark in an attempt to protect Renee, but he is eventually shot dead by the loan shark. During the first half of the season, Susan struggles with the guilt of her involvement in the Alejandro case, and during the second half, she tries to deal with both Julie's unexpected pregnancy at the hands of Lynette's son Preston and Mike's death. Following the cover-up of Alejandro's murder, Carlos develops an alcohol problem, but Gabrielle persuades him to recover in rehab, which eventually results in Gabrielle and Carlos switching house roles. Tom moves out of the family home, and Lynette struggles to come to terms with how quickly Tom seems to have moved on, until she accepts that she is still in love with him, and decides she will try to win him back. Mrs. McCluskey receives worrying news about her health and decides to end it all, but Bree manages to convince her otherwise.
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