Desperate Housewives is an American television series, created by Marc Cherry, that began airing on ABC in 2004. Set on Wisteria Lane in the fictional town of Fairview, the series tracks the lives of four housewives, following their domestic struggles while several mysteries unfold in the background. The tone and style of the series combine elements of drama, comedy, mystery, satire, and soap opera.

Cherry initially pitched the series to HBO, CBS, NBC, Fox, Showtime, and Lifetime; but all turned it down for one reason or another. The series was unique in that it rocketed to the top of the ratings from the premiere episode, and immediately the term "desperate housewives" became a cultural phenomenon, warranting "the real desperate housewives" features in magazines and such TV shows as Dr. Phil and Oprah. The show has been credited with almost single-handedly (along with Lost) reviving the long-dormant fortunes of ABC, whose last major ratings hit had been Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

In its first season out, Desperate Housewives was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy. On January 16, 2005, it won that top honor, and star Teri Hatcher won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross were nominated as well). Nicolette Sheridan was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy.

The show has come under critical fire by religious and conservative groups due to what some consider the seeming lack of morality amongst the characters. Though it is not uncommon for soap opera characters to make melodramatically questionable decisions, in the first season of "Housewives" almost every character (including children) has arguably committed a major crime.

Tagline: Everyone has a little dirty laundry.

Template:Spoiler The show begins with the suicide of Mary Alice Young, who narrates the episodes from beyond the grave. Mary Alice's suicide left behind a puzzle involving her husband Paul, son Zack, and a mysterious toy chest. The story is unraveled through her four friends and neighbors. The show also follows the mystery of why Mary Alice took her own life and precisely who Mike Delfino really is. At least once every episode, the 'surviving' housewives (Mary Alice was one of the group before her suicide) meet and discuss over either coffee or poker the events in the current storyline.

• Susan Mayer: an attractive but annoyingly self-righteous single mother, dating Mike Delfino, the handsome plumber who has just moved in across the street. After a difficult break-up with Karl, her ex-husband, she sufferred from depression for a long time, and was essentially cared for by her daughter, Julie. She sees Mike as an opportunity to find a better life than the one she has been living. She is naturally inquisitive, and is perhaps the driving force behind the housewives' efforts to discover the truth about Mary-Alice. She is particularly suspicious of Paul Young. She dislikes Zach, and worries about the threat he poses to her daughter, descibing him as 'rampage-crazy' (whilst admitting that she herself is 'adorable-crazy'). Susan is also a neighborhood gossip and busy-body as she hired a private investigator to uncover the dark secrets of the Youngs and Mike Delfino. She also has a long-running competitveness with Edie Britt.

• Julie Mayer: Susan's 14 year old daughter, who usually helps her deal with problems regarding her love life. She also helped to care for her mother after her divorce. She was briefly romantically involved with Zach Young, but came to find him disturbing and broke up with him.

• Karl Mayer: Susan's no-good ex-husband, Susan divorced him after he left her for his secretary, Brandi. Susan also discovers that he flirted with Edie whilst they were married. Karl is somewhat jealous of Mike, and actually asks to get back together with Susan.

• Sophie Bremmer: Susan's meddling mother, who came to stay with her after she had exaggerated that her boyfriend Morty was abusing her. Shes gets engaged in the episode "Sunday In the Park With George" after reconciling with ex-boyfriend Morty.

• Lynette Lindquist Scavo: an ex-career woman, now mother to three boys (two of whom are twins) and a baby girl. Considered to have been a corporate "shark", she has declined the option to go back to work, but misses it. Her husband, Tom, has been working with his ex-fiancee, Annabel; Lynette will do anything to keep them apart. This ties to her desire to keep her family together, to the extent that she asks Tom's boss not to promote him, so that he won't take trips away. She was hit by her mother, and refuses to spank her own children as a result. However, this pushes her to the limit as the children become more and more badly behaved.

• Tom Scavo: Lynette's husband, who is frequently out of town. Tom has been keeping a secret from his wife that only his father, Rodney Scavo, knows about. Tom decides to become a house-husband after he loses his promotion to Annabel and subsequently quits his job. He seems to genuinely care about Lynette, being prepared to discuss family matters with her if she feels that they need to.

• Preston and Porter Scavo: The Scavos' twin boys. They repeatedly misbehave and drive Lynette to distraction.

• Parker Scavo: The third son of the Scavos. After the twins put gum in his hair, Lynette shaved his head and used Parker to get into a yoga class by pretending he was afflicted with cancer.

• Penny Scavo: A baby girl, 18 months old.

Note: Before Episode 3, Penny's name was Daisy.

• Bree Mason Van De Kamp: described as "Martha Stewart on steroids," Bree is a deeply religious WASP, ultra-conservative ex-young Republican control freak who was trapped in a sterile marriage with Rex, her fed-up husband, and her rebellious children. Bree is obsessively concerned with perfection, keeping up appearances, and showing as little emotion as possible, much to the displeasure of her family. She was fiercely determined to save her marriage and would do anything to protect her family, as evidenced by her cover-up of son Andrew's hit-and-run. At the end of Season One, she reconciled with Rex over what happened with their family before he died.

• Rex Van De Kamp: the doctor husband of Bree, it was found out that he had an extra-marital affair with local homemaker/prostitute Maisy Gibbons. He also wanted to divorce Bree because he could no longer "live in this detergent commercial" and because of his inability to ask his wife to dominate him. Rex had a near-fatal heart attack. However, because his pharmacist was in love with Bree and jealous of their marriage, Rex was not receiving the proper medication to prevent further heart complications. As a result, Rex died, due to a heart failure on the season finale, convinced by the doctor that Bree altered his diet and killed him.

• Andrew Van De Kamp: the highly troubled and possibly sociopathic 16-year-old son of Bree Van De Kamp. He was expelled from school for smoking marijuana on school grounds and was involved in a hit-and-run while under the influence that landed Juanita Solis in the hospital. It has also been revealed that he is gay (or bisexual) following his 'escapades' with John Rowland's roommate Justin. After using his sexuality to manipulate his way out of a juvenile delinquent boot camp, Andrew vowed to play the perfect son for his mother until the day he gets his revenge and destroys her world.

• Danielle Van De Kamp: seemingly the most normal member of the family, 15-year-old daughter Danielle was the head of her school's abstinence club, but Bree discovered she had planned to give up her virginity to her ex-boyfriend, John Rowland, in order to lure him back to her.

• Gabrielle Solis: a former model who married her husband Carlos for money, but found satisfaction with her teenage gardener John Rowland. She absolutely despises Carlos' mother Juanita. Towards the end of season one, Gabrielle learns she's pregnant and that her husband has been replacing her birth control pills with sugar pills. She almost left Carlos after finding out the truth about her birth control pills, but she eventually decided to blackmail him into taking complete care of the baby in return for her testimony.

• Carlos Solis: the husband of Gabrielle who has some trouble with the law and a very meddling mother. Carlos wants to begin a family, so much so that he secretly replaced his wife's birth control pills since Gabrielle is against the idea of getting pregnant. Due to apparent financial difficulties, Carlos took a plea bargain which forces him to serve eight months in jail; separately, he was going to be tried in two hate crimes against two gay men (the family cable guy & Justin) whom he thought were having affairs with Gabrielle. Gabrielle originally refused to get him off doing extra time after finding out it was him who messed with her birth control, but then she decided to blackmail him into taking complete care of the baby in exchange for her testimony.

• Juanita Solis: the deceased nosy mother of Carlos, who was convinced that Gabrielle was cheating on him with another man, she had obtained photographic evidence of the affair moments before being accidentally run over by Andrew Van De Kamp. She remained in a coma for five months before awakening, only to fall to her death down a flight of stairs at the hospital. Before dying Juanita told a nurse of Gabrielle's infidelity; however, the nurse couldn't hear her because she was wearing headphones and listening to loud music.

• Mary Alice Young/Angela Forrest: The deceased wife of Paul Young, who one day decided to end her life by committing suicide, narrates the show from beyond the grave. Her real name is Angela Forrest and she worked with Martha Huber's sister Felicia Tillman at a rehabilitation clinic in Utah several years ago. One of her patients at the rehabilition clinic was a drug-addict (Dierdre Taylor) who gave birth to a baby boy named "Dana". Deirde sold the baby to her in order to feed her drug habit. Mary Alice was scared the police might found out that she had "Dana" in her possession, so she moved to Fairview where she re-named the baby Zach and changed her name to Mary Alice Young (to try and avoid being traced). In a flashback we see Felicia Tillman explaining the whole story to Mrs. Huber who in turn writes the blackmail note which gets sent to Mary Alice. After receiving this note, Mary Alice killed herself. Later Paul Young killed Mrs. Huber to avenge his wife's death. Also Mary Alice is the murderer of Dierdre Taylor (when Dierdre returned several years later and demanded the child back) whom she stabbed in the chest, before cutting her body up and stuffing her in a toy chest. Witnessed by a Zach as a small child.

• Paul Young: The widower of Mary Alice, who tried to find out exactly what caused her death and who sent the note to her. When he found out it was his neighbour Martha Huber, he strangled her and dumped the body, but he also put Martha Huber's bracelet and ring in Mike Delfino's garage to try and frame him. He helped his wife dispose of Dierdre Taylor's body after Mary Alice killed her. He also had been drugging his son with tranquilizers to keep him from seeing Felicia Tillman. It was believed that Mike wanted to kill him to get revenge for Dierdre, however, Mike spared him.

• Zach Young/Dana: The mentally unstable son of Paul, he found love in the form of Julie Mayer who befriended him. Zach eventually got her to agree to let him stay in her bedroom after he had escaped from a juvenile rehabilitation center. This innocent infatuation turned into a strong obsession, and he was dumped by Julie. Early in season one Zach was disturbed with visions of killing his younger sister, Dana. However, later it was discovered that Zach's original name was "Dana". Zach is the biological son of Dierdre Taylor, who was killed by Mary Alice while attempting to take her child back after recovering from drug addiction. There is a possibility that Zach's biological father is Mike Delfino, however Mike was not aware that Dierdre had a son until the season one finale.

• Betty Applewhite: The first African-American housewife joined the series as a recurring guest in the final episode of season one, and will join as part of the main cast in season two. She is a single mother, with strong religious beliefs.

• Matthew Applewhite: Matthew is Betty's only child, and struggles under her extreme religious views and her over-protectiveness.

• Edie Britt: a serial divorcee, man-hungry real estate agent who tried to steal Mike away when not having sex with someone else. It was found out that even after all this time she was still interested in trying to move in on Mike. In the pilot episode, Martha Huber mentions Edie has a son but he is never seen or mentioned again in season 1, however it was recently confirmed that he will appear in season 2.

• Mike Delfino: a man who posed as the friendly neighborhood plumber, but who was actually working to find his former girlfriend (Dierdre Taylor) who had been missing for years and whose father, Noah, was dying. It was discovered that the toy chest that was dug up from the Young family pool contained the remains of Dierdre. Delfino was at one point convicted of dealing drugs and committing manslaughter when he accidentally killed a corrupt cop who was forcing Dierdre to have sex with him to keep quiet about her drug addiction (Dierdre, not Mike, was the drug dealer). Mike is possibly Zach Young's biological father. There is also a possibility that the corrupt cop could be Zach's biological father however either way this has not yet been revealed.

• John Rowland: Gabrielle and Carlos's (former) 18 year old gardener, he was having an affair with Gabrielle until Juanita discovered their secret. John was then convinced that the connection between Gabrielle and him meant a lot more than just sex. He proposed to her, but Gabrielle, who was threatened with legal proceedings by his parents, talked him out of it. John also had a relationship with Danielle Van De Kamp, until Bree asked him to be brutally honest with her. However after Carlos abused Gabrielle, she came running right back into his arms. Carlos found out that John was the one having the affair with Gabrielle at the end of season one, Carlos promised John that he "would kill him".

• George Williams: The Van De Kamp family pharmacist, who started to have a relationship with Bree after she found out that Rex was having an extra-marital affair with Maisy Gibbons. Things were going extremely well until Bree shot off his toe (by accident) with a gun that was given to her as a gift by George. He returned after a short absence and started to lust after Bree. Rex immediately took offence to his advances on his wife and it culminated with him being pushed into a pool at Carlos Solis's going-away party. It had been found out that he was borderline obsessed with Bree and had been doing anything in his power to destroy the Van De Kamps' already rocky marriage. He is now responsible for the death of Rex Van De Kamp through his tampering with Rex's prescription drugs.

• Annabel Foster: Tom Scavo's ex-fiancee, Lynette is extremely jealous of her and has been doing anything she can to break her up from Tom. She gets the promotion of Vice President which Tom was eyeing.

• Claire: a nanny who was hired by Lynette to help her take care of her kids. However, she was fired by Lynette after it was found out she was sexually exciting her husband.

• Dierdre Taylor: Mike Delfino's ex-girlfriend who was on drugs, Zach's real mother and the woman Mary Alice killed and stuffed inside a toy chest. She appears in the last episode of season one.

• Felicia Tilman: Martha Huber's sister, she always hated Martha. She was originally working in Utah with Mary Alice Young when she was a nurse by the name of Angela Forrest, she came to Fairview to find out what happened to her sister, and ends up exposing Zach Young to the truth about himself that Paul has kept hidden from him. She had been entrusted with Zach's care after she blackmailed Paul Young into giving him up. But she was attacked with a hockey stick courtesy of Zach and it is unknown what condition she is in.

• Maisy Gibbons: a woman who was found to be selling sex to various men around the neighborhood, including Rex Van De Kamp. She was arrested during season one and her "little black book" with all the names of her clients was publicly exposed.

• Martha Huber: a nosy neighbor who sent Mary Alice Young the blackmail note which led to her suicide, which was discovered by her after hearing a shot from her kitchen. She was killed by Paul Young in the first season. Martha has a sister, Felicia Tilman, who coincidentally knew Mary Alice and was very suspicious of Paul Young.

• Justin: John's roommate, he has been having a sexual relationship with Andrew Van De Kamp, and he - at least - has developed emotional feelings. He was beaten up by Carlos Solis on suspicion of having an affair with Gabrielle.

• Teri Hatcher - Susan Mayer
• Felicity Huffman - Lynette Scavo
• Marcia Cross - Bree Van De Kamp
• Eva Longoria - Gabrielle Solis
• Nicolette Sheridan - Edie Britt
• Alfre Woodard - Betty Applewhite
• Mehcad Brooks - Matthew Applewhite
• Roger Bart - George Williams
• Doug Savant - Tom Scavo
• Ricardo Chavira - Carlos Solis
• Mark Moses - Paul Young
• Andrea Bowen - Julie Mayer
• Jesse Metcalfe - John Rowland
• Cody Kasch - Zach Young
• Brenda Strong - Mary Alice Young/Angela Forrest
• James Denton - Mike Delfino
• Steven Culp - Rex Van De Kamp (Season 1)

• Zane Huett - Parker Scavo (24 Episodes)
• Shane Kinsman - Porter Scavo (24 Episodes)
• Brent Kinsman - Preston Scavo (24 Episodes)
• Shawn Pyfrom - Andrew Van De Kamp (12 Episodes)
• Harriet Sansom Harris - Felicia Tilman (10 Episodes)
• Joy Lauren - Danielle Van De Kamp (9 Episodes)
• Christine Estabrook - Martha Huber (9 Episodes)
• Richard Roundtree - Jerry Shaw (7 Episodes)
• Lucille Soong - Yao Lin (7 Episodes)
• Lupe Ontiveros - Juanita Solis (6 Episodes)
• Ryan Carnes - Justin (5 Episodes)
• Bob Gunton - Noah Taylor (5 Episodes)
• Lesley Ann Warren - Sophie Bremmer (4 Episodes)
• Melinda McGraw - Annabel Foster (4 Episodes)
• Sam Lloyd - Dr. Albert Goldfine (4 Episodes)
• Richard Burgi - Karl Mayer (3 Episodes)
• Emily Christine - Ashley Bukowski (3 Episodes)
• Marla Sokoloff - Claire (3 Episodes)
• Sharon Lawrence - Maisy Gibbons (3 Episodes)
• Heather Stephens - Kendra Taylor (2 Episodes)
• Bob Newhart - Morty (2 Episodes)
• Kathryn Joosten - Karen McCluskey (2 Episodes)
• Marlee Matlin - Alisha Stevens (1 Episode)
• Rick Ravanello - Bill Cunningham (1 Episode)
• Ryan O'Neal - Rodney Scavo (1 Episode)

¹ On April 24, 2005 a special episode aired called "Desperate Housewives: Sorting Out the Dirty Laundry". The episode was interestingly enough not narrated by Brenda Strong. It replayed memorable moments from season one as well as gave viewers a preview of the season finale.

• In the original pilot, Mary Alice Young was played by Sheryl Lee; Gardener John Rowland by Kyle Searles; and Rex Van De Kamp by Michael Reilly Burke. Lee was replaced, of course, by Brenda Strong for the series; both had played regular roles as dead people before, Strong on Everwood and Lee on Twin Peaks.

• Opening credits contain references to famous pieces of art, including American Gothic and The Arnolfini Portrait

• Every episode title in the first season references a song title, many of them by Stephen Sondheim: they include Every Day a Little Death and The Ladies Who Lunch.

• Various sources on the Internet and in the press have stated that the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears, Oprah Winfrey and Miranda Richardson (Richardson, in fact was considered, but declined the role of an English nanny) have expressed interest in guest starring on the show, however, it is unlikely they will ever get the opportunity as the producers do not want big names to distract the viewer from the plot.

• On April 13, 2005, Touchstone Television announced Alfre Woodard would join the Desperate Housewives cast starting from the second season as the first African-American 'wife' on the street. On April 22, Touchstone announced Mehcad Brooks would also join as Woodard's son.

• The show's set is on the Universal Studios backlot and has been used for decades in many TV and movie productions to represent a typical American suburban neighborhood. It includes the houses used in The Munsters and the 1989 film The Burbs. An aerial photograph of the set is available from Microsoft TerraServer. [1]

• Steven Culp confirmed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he would not return at all next year and that his character really is dead. He also said that the cast is expendable and at any time a character can die without the actor knowing.

• Producer: Touchstone Television
• Theme music composer: Danny Elfman

• United States and Canada: October 3, 2004 on ABC (US) and CTV (Canada)
• Germany: October 14, 2004 on Premiere (German pay TV, undubbed original version).
• Brazil: November 4, 2004 on Sony Entertainment Television
• Ireland: January 4, 2005 on [[RT%C9_Two|RTE2]].
• United Kingdom: January 5, 2005 on Channel 4 (each episode followed by a première of the next on E4 - which therefore did not initially screen episode 1, but re-ran episodes 1 and 2 later in the first week).
• Belgium: January 21, 2005 on één.
• Australia: January 31, 2005 on the Seven Network. This registered 2.5 million viewers, one of the highest for a premiere in Australian history.
• Singapore: January 31, 2005 on MediaCorp TV Channel 5.
• Croatia: February 17, 2005 on Nova TV
• Italy: February 22, 2005 on FOX Life.
• Turkey: February 28, 2005 on CNBC-é.
• Netherlands: March 1, 2005 on Net 5.
• Denmark: March 2, 2005 on TV2
• Spain: March 3, 2005 on FOX.
• Sweden: March 29, 2005 on Kanal 5.
• Switzerland: April 11, 2005 on SF DRS
• Germany: April 12, 2005 on PRO 7 (free-to-air, dubbed in German).
• Mexico: May 3, 2005 on Canal 7 (VHF). However, it was initially broadcasted in Sony Entertainment Television several months ago.
• Hong Kong: May 12, 2005 on TVB Pearl.
• Portugal: May 22, 2005 on SIC.

• Template:Google Video Search
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• Television Without Pity
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