Desperate Housewives is an
American television
comedy-drama series created by
Marc Cherry, who also serves as
show runner, and produced by
ABC Studios and
Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are
Marc Cherry,
Bob Daily,
George W. Perkins,
John Pardee and
Joey Murphy,
David Grossman,
Larry Shaw and Sabrina Wind.
The setting of the show is the street of
Wisteria Lane in the fictional American town of
Fairview in the Eagle State. It follows the lives of a group of women, seen through the eyes of their dead neighbor. They work through domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their—at the surface—beautiful and seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood.
The show 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 Parker as
Gabrielle Solis.
Brenda Strong narrates the show as the deceased
Mary Alice Young, appearing sporadically in flashbacks or dreams. The show is inspired, to an extent, by the 1999 film
American Beauty.
Since its premiere on
ABC on October 3, 2004, the show has been well received by the critics as well as the audience. The show is a multiple
Emmy,
Golden Globe and
Screen Actors Guild award winner, and in April 2007 it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 120 million.
[Desperate Housewives On SABC3 Confirmed, TVSA News Desk, April 3, 2007]
Production
The idea for the series was conceived as Marc Cherry and his mother were watching a news report on
Andrea Yates. Prior to
Desperate Housewives, Cherry was best known for producing and writing episodes of
Touchstone Television’s hit comedy series
The Golden Girls and its successor
The Golden Palace. In addition he had created or co-created three sitcoms:
The 5 Mrs. Buchanans,
The Crew and
Some of My Best Friends, none of which lasted longer than a year. Initially Cherry had a hard time getting any
television network interested in his new series –
HBO,
CBS,
NBC,
Fox,
Showtime, and
Lifetime all turned his offer down.
[McDougall, Charles: Desperately seeking a ratings hit, The Daily Telegraph, January 5, 2005] Finally, two new executives at ABC,
Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, chose to greenlight it.
[O'Hare, Kate: ‘Desperate Housewives’ Has a Cherry on Top, Zap2it, March 19, 2005] Shortly thereafter, Disney had both Braun and Lyne fired, following their approval of another new drama series:
Lost.
[Craig, Olga: The man who discovered 'Lost' – and found himself out of a job, The Daily Telegraph, August 13, 2005]
The ABC executives weren’t initially satisfied with the name of the new show, suggesting
Wisteria Lane and
The Secret Lives of Housewives instead,
["Desperate Housewives – The Complete First Season” DVD] but on October 23, 2003,
Desperate Housewives was announced by ABC, presented as a
prime time soap opera created by
Charles Pratt Jr. of
Melrose Place fame, and Marc Cherry, who declared the new show to be a mix of
Knots Landing and
American Beauty.
[Development Update: October 23, The Futon Critic, October 23, 2003] While Cherry continued his work on the show, Pratt was credited as executive producer for the pilot episode only, remaining linked to the show as a consulting producer during the first two seasons.
On May 18, 2004
ABC announced their 2004–2005 lineup, with
Desperate Housewives in the Sunday, 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET slot,
[2004 Broadcast Upfront Presentations: ABC, Part 1The Futon Critic, May 18, 2004] which it still holds. After only three episodes were broadcast, on October 20, ABC announced that
Desperate Housewives, along with
Lost, had been picked up for a full season.
[ABC Orders Back Nine of Top-10 Series; ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Lost’ Get Full Season Pick-Ups, The Futon Critic, October 20, 2004]
Desperate Housewives is produced by creator Marc Cherry (Cherry Productions), Austin Bagley and Touchstone Television (Fall 2004-Spring 2007), which is now ABC Studios (Fall 2007-present).
On February 11, 2008,
ABC picked up
Desperate Housewives for the
2008-09 television season.
[ABC Announces Scripted Show Renewals] The fifth season of the series debuted on Sunday, September 28, 2008.
On April 23, 2009,
ABC picked up
Desperate Housewives for a 6th season for the
2009-2010 television season.
[Easy as ABC: "Lost", "Grey's", "Housewives" Renewed, E! Online, April 23, 2009] The sixth season premiered on Sunday, September 27, 2009.
[www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=8155]
Production crew
In addition to
Marc Cherry,
Tom Spezialy and
Michael Edelstein served as
executive producers for the first two seasons on the show. Spezialy, who also served as a staff writer for the show, left his previous position as writer and executive producer for
Dead Like Me to join the
Desperate Housewives crew. He had also worked as writer and co-executive producer on several shows, among them
Ed,
Jack and Jill, and
Parker Lewis Can't Lose, while Edelstein had been the executive producer of
Threat Matrix and
Hope & Faith.
Second season conflicts arose among the executive producers. As a result, Edelstein left the show mid-season, and at the end of the season, so did Spezialy.
[Keck, William: Wisteria Lane’s new landscape, USA Today, May 19, 2006] For the third year, Cherry was joined by award winning writer and producer
Joe Keenan, of
Frasier fame, and
telefilm producer
George W. Perkins, who had been on the
Desperate Housewives crew since the show’s conception.
Although receiving praise for his work on the show, Keenan chose to leave
Desperate Housewives after one season to pursue other projects.
[Keenan not ‘Desperate’ any more, Variety Magazine, March 29, 2007] Replacing him as second-in-command to Cherry and executive producer for the fourth season of the show was
Bob Daily, who had joined the crew as a writer and co-executive producer during the third season. Daily’s previous work include writing for the
cartoon series
Rugrats as well as for
Frasier. Also joining Cherry, Perkins and Daily for the fourth season were
John Pardee and
Joey Murphy, who had been with the series since the beginning.
[Development Update: Week of June 11-15, The Futon Critic, June 15, 2007] Both had also worked on Cherry’s previous show
The Crew in 1995, as well as on the sitcom
Cybill.
Larry Shaw and
David Grossman have, as of the first four seasons, been the most prominent directors, together directing more than half of the series’ episodes.
Filming
Desperate Housewives is filmed on
Panavision 35 mm cameras; it is broadcast in
standard and
16:9 widescreen high definition, though it is framed for the
4:3 aspect ratio.
The set for
Wisteria Lane, consisting mainly of facades but also of some proper houses, is located on the
Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. It is referred to by film crews as
Colonial Street, and has been used for several motion pictures and television shows since the mid 1940s.
[TheStudioTour.com: Colonial Street – History, Retrieved August 3, 2007] Productions to have been filmed here includes, among others,
So Goes My Love,
Leave it to Beaver,
The 'Burbs,
Providence,
Deep Impact,
Bedtime for Bonzo,
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,
Gremlins,
The Munsters,
Psycho,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
The Ladykillers and
Ghost Whisperer.
[TheStudioTour.com: Colonial Street – 1989–1996, Retrieved August 3, 2007] Interestingly from the street view of Bree's house the property appears double fronted, with rooms on either side of the front door. However, on the inside there is only one room off to the right and a set of external doors on the left. For the second season of
Desperate Housewives the street went through some heavy changes. Among the most noticeable of these changes was the removal of a church facade and a mansion in order to make room for Edie’s house and a park.
[TheStudioTour.com: Colonial Street/Circle Drive – The Church, Retrieved August 3, 2007][TheStudioTour.com: Colonial Mansion, Retrieved August 16, 2007]
Opening sequence
The initial idea for the show opening sequence was Cherry’s own, and after having asked sixteen companies to come up with suggestions how to best realize it, the producers finally hired
Hollywood-based yU+co to provide the final version.
[yU + co Opens ABC’s “Desperate Housewives”, Digital Producer Magazine, November 12, 2004] According to the yU+co’s official website, the idea behind the sequence is
“to evoke the show's quirky spirit and playful flaunting of women’s traditional role in society”.
[yU+co Official Website, Retrieved August 5, 2007] The images featured are taken from eight pieces of art, portraying domesticity and male-female relations through the ages
[Phelan, Joseph: Missing the Picture: Desperate Housewives Do Art History, ArtCyclopedia, Retrieved August 5, 2007]
The first image shows
Lucas Cranach the Elder’s painting
Adam and Eve. A snake passes an apple to Eve before another, larger, apple, with the words ‘Desperate Housewives’ written on it, falls on Adam. Then follows the
tomb paintings of
Queen Nefertari of
Egypt, the
Great Royal Wife of
Ramesses the Great. An animation of Queen Nefertari is seen standing within her tomb being overwhelmed by what appear to be countless children surrounding her. Next appearing is
The Arnolfini Portrait by
Jan van Eyck painted in 1434 –
Giovanni Arnolfini is seen eating a
banana and throwing the skin on the floor, leaving it for his wife to sweep it away. The painting
American Gothic by
Grant Wood from 1930 then follows, and the farmer is shown smiling as he is touched on the chin by a
pin up as his apparently disapproving wife frowns in front of a tin of canned sardines. The can appears on a kitchen work surface when the
World War II poster
Am I Proud! is shown, depicting a woman holding cans and jars including
Andy Warhol’s
Campbell's Soup Cans. The soup can then falls into the hand of a man featured in
pop art work by
Robert Dale,
Couple Arguing and
Romantic Couple. After the woman in this pictures is seen crying and giving her male companion a black eye, the image folds away, and the tree from Cranach’s painting reappears with the snake wrapped around it and the four main characters Bree, Lynette, Susan and Gabrielle appearing under the tree, each catching an apple. There is one variation for the opening theme (For DVDs), where Susan is in the Egyptian art. Lynette's in the can of sardines which close, resembling her face. Bree caught an apple, and passes it to Gabrielle. The music for the openings is composed by
Danny Elfman, and has been awarded both an
Emmy Award and the
BMI TV Music Award.
[2007 BMI Film/TV Awards List, BMI.com, May 17, 2007] In 2005 it was included on the album
Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives. When an episode is running too long, only the first sequence (the falling apple) is kept. From "
Now You Know" and onwards, only the main chorus of the theme is heard, which is the falling apple scene, and the photograph of the four lead actresses, crediting
Marc Cherry as creator.
Music
In addition to the theme composed by
Danny Elfman, the series
underscore music, composed by
Steve Jablonsky, defines the overall sound of the show. The much imitated music creates a musical counterpoint to the writing style and co-exists with the scenes as one of the most identifiable musical styles in television today. The score is electronic-based, but every
scoring session incorporates a live string ensemble that adds a certain intangible warmth to the score. Jablonsky incorporates recurring themes for events and characters into the score. He has been shaping the musical palette for the show since the 2nd episode of the first season.
["Desperate Housewives" Ah, But Underneath (2004)] Hollywood Records produced the first soundtrack album,
Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives distributed by
Universal Records, featuring music inspired by the series. Several of those songs have since been used in subsequent seasons.
Housewives's unique style combined with the heavy dialogue and quick-fire writing style limit the amount of
popular music used in the series. The series'
music supervisor,
David Sibley, works closely with the producers to seamlessly integrate these musical needs into the show. In addition to featured performances by central characters such as Susan Mayer singing along with
Rose Royce's "
Car Wash" to jog Mike's memory, and Lynette's memorable rendition of "
Boogie Shoes" atop a bar, several characters have been accomplished musicians, such as Betty Applewhite (a
concert pianist) and Dylan Mayfair (a
prodigy cellist), all requiring carefully planned training of the actors and preparation of the music. The often eclectic approach to music has created many
water cooler moments in the show, among them, Orson's ex-wife Alma singing along with
Cole Porter's period recording of "
Let's Misbehave" as she drugs him in order to conceive his child, and George, the town pharmacist singing "
Don't Give Up On Us" on Bree's front lawn as she takes pot shots at him with a shotgun.
The future
In August 2009,
Marc Cherry said that
Desperate Housewives will be on television for a few more years. The show's creator said that the series still "has a lot of life left in it", though he will soon take on a limited role behind the scenes. He told The Wrap: "Steve McPherson (ABC Entertainment president) and I agree that we shouldn't keep the show going for more than a couple years past my seven-year initial contract. We don't want it to just fade away. We've been in negotiations. I expect to sign my new deal soon to set up a future scenario for the show. Someone else will run the show after season seven and I will serve as executive producer from a distance. He went on to explain that the programme had been revitalised by the five-year leap forward for season five, saying: "Yes, I think it worked well. It was a way to start fresh and let everyone start from scratch in a way".
[Cherry: "Housewives" Could Be On for Years, Digital Spy, August 24, 2009]
Mary Cherry has signed a new two-year deal with ABC that will keep
Desperate Housewives on the air until the year 2013. But there’s no confirmation on whether the show’s main characters—played by Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria Parker—will want to go that long. They’re all only committed to the 2010-11 season, the show's seventh.
[Marc Cherry Signs New Deal with ABC, Variety.com, October 28, 2009]
Series synopses and episodes
The
first season began its original broadcast on October 3, 2004 and introduces the four central characters of the show:
Susan Mayer,
Lynette Scavo,
Bree Van de Kamp and
Gabrielle Solis, and their families and neighbors on
Wisteria Lane. The main mystery of the season is the unexpected suicide of
Mary Alice Young, and her husband and son's involvement in the events leading up to it. Bree fights to save her marriage, Lynette struggles to cope with her demanding children, Susan fights
Edie Britt for new neighbor
Mike Delfino's affection, and Gabrielle tries to prevent her husband
Carlos from discovering that she is having an affair with their gardener,
John Rowland.
The
second season began being broadcast on September 25, 2005 and its central mystery is that of new neighbor
Betty Applewhite, who moved in in the middle of the night. Throughout the season, Bree tries to cope with being a widow, unknowingly begins dating the man who poisoned her husband, fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son to keep growing to extremes. Susan’s love life gets even more complicated as her ex-husband gets engaged to Edie, who has been promoted to the role of fifth lead, Lynette goes back to her career in advertising and eventually becomes her husband’s boss, and Gabrielle decides to be faithful to her husband, and begins preparations to have a child. In the closing moment of the season finale, Mike is run over by Susan's dentist friend Orson, who will become Bree's husband in the next season.
The
third season began broadcast on September 24, 2006. In the third season, Bree marries
Orson Hodge, whose past and involvement with a recently discovered dead body becomes the main mystery for half of the season. Meanwhile, Lynette has to adjust to having another child around the house, as a previously unknown daughter of her husband arrives. The Scavos also experience tension as Tom, Lynette's husband, wants to start a pizzeria. Gabrielle goes through a rough divorce, but finally finds new love in Fairview’s new mayor. Edie sees her chance to make her move on Mike, who's suffering from amnesia, and Susan moves on to a handsome Englishman whose wife is in a coma. Edie’s family relations are explored throughout the season. A shooting at the local grocery store leaves two characters dead and changes everyone's lives forever.
The
fourth season began being broadcast on September 30, 2007,
[ABC Announces Fall Première Dates, The Futon Critic, July 25, 2007] and its main mystery revolves around new neighbor
Katherine Mayfair and her family, who returns to Wisteria Lane after twelve years away, whose daughter remembers nothing about living on Wisteria Lane. Also, Lynette battles cancer; the newlywed – but unhappy – Gabrielle starts an affair with her ex-husband Carlos; Susan and Mike enjoy life as a married couple and learn that they are expecting a child; Bree fakes a pregnancy and plans to raise her teenage daughter's illegitimate child as her own; and Edie schemes to hold on to her new love, Carlos. A gay couple from Chicago – Lee (
Kevin Rahm) and Bob (
Tuc Watkins) – become residents of Wisteria Lane when they move into the house formerly occupied by
Betty Applewhite (
Alfre Woodard), and Gloria and Alma Hodge. A tornado threatens to destroy everything, and everyone, that the housewives hold dear. The season finale has Katherine's abusive cop ex-husband killing and getting killed, then in the closing minute the characters and their story have flashed forward by five years: Bree is a successful cookbook writer, her son works for her, Gabrielle has had children, Lynette's twins are old enough to drive cars, and Susan has a new lover played by Gale Harold—but what happened to Mike?
The
fifth season returned to broadcast on September 28, 2008, with the time period jumping 5 years after the previous season, with some flashbacks to events which happened between the two periods. The season mystery revolves around
Edie Britt's new husband,
Dave Williams, played by
Neal McDonough. Dave is looking for revenge on someone on Wisteria Lane (later revealed to be Mike Delfino and then, in a shocking twist, Susan). Susan deals with being a single mother and having a new romance with Jackson (
Gale Harold). Lynette and Tom learn that their son is having an affair with a married woman whose husband's nightclub burns down with all of Wisteria Lane's neighbors inside. Carlos and Gabrielle have to struggle with their two daughters, Juanita and Celia, as Carlos's sight returns. Bree and Orson are having marriage problems because she is so focused on her career, and Orson begins to steal from neighbors as a coping mechanism. As a result, Orson is in the street when Edie is racing away from her house after her discovery that Dave is a madman plotting to kill Mike and all those he loves; Edie swerves to avoid hitting him and crashes into an electrical pole, then exits the car, only to die of electrocution before she can tell anyone that Dave moved to Fairview in order to get revenge on the person who killed his wife and daughter. It is later when Susan reveals to Dave that it was she, not Mike, who was driving the car the night that a woman and child ran a Stop sign because the sign had fallen over on a dark stretch of road. Dave's revenge plans suddenly change as he says "Hi" to M.J., Mike and Susan's son. This season featured the show's 100th episode, revolving around Eli Scruggs (played by
Beau Bridges) a handyman who had an important input in all of the ladies' lives. This episode featured flashbacks and returning characters, including
Mary Alice Young,
Martha Huber and
Rex Van de Kamp. The episode was broadcast on ABC on Sunday, January 18, 2009.
The
sixth season started on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 9pm.
. It premiered with the wedding that season 5 ended with and showed Mike marrying Susan which Katherine finds very difficult, Lynette struggled with the concept of having another set of twins, Gaby doesn't want Ana to make the same mistakes that she did and Bree starts her affair with Karl.
Cast and characters
During its premiere season the show featured thirteen starring actors, all credited in the
opening sequence. For the show’s second year, several actors, mainly
child and teenage ones, who had guest starred during the first season, were promoted to series regulars without having their names included in the opening sequence. Instead they were billed as “also starring” during the first minutes of each episode, together with episode guest stars. This practice continued for season three and four.
The thirteen starring actors for season one included four leading actresses:
Teri Hatcher as
Susan Mayer, a divorced mother with a sense for humor for drama and in search of love,
Felicity Huffman as
Lynette Scavo a former businesswoman turned stressed out stay-at-home mother of four,
Marcia Cross as
Bree Van de Kamp the seemingly perfect mother struggling to save her marriage, and
Eva Longoria Parker as
Gabrielle Solis, an ex-model whose unhappy marriage has had her beginning an affair with her 17-year-old gardener. Furthermore,
Nicollette Sheridan played
Edie Britt, Susan’s arch rival, described by her as “the neighborhood slut”, who since then slowly had grown to become somewhat of a fifth lead until
Episode 5.23.
Steven Culp played
Rex Van de Kamp, Bree’s frustrated husband with secret sexual desires, while
Ricardo Antonio Chavira portrayed Gabrielle’s spouse
Carlos Solis, a rough business man who regarded his wife mainly as a trophy, and
James Denton acted as
Mike Delfino, the mysterious new neighbor who becomes Susan’s love interest.
Brenda Strong portrayed the show’s narrator
Mary Alice Young, who generally doesn’t appear in front of the camera, and whose unexpected suicide in the first episode remained a mystery throughout season one.
Mark Moses played
Paul Young, Mary Alice’s widower, who went to extremes not to have the reason for his wife’s suicide revealed, and
Cody Kasch acted as
Zach Young, the troubled teenage son of Paul and Mary Alice, who eventually turned out to be Mike’s biological son. Finally,
Andrea Bowen took the part of Susan’s caring and kind-hearted teenage daughter
Julie Mayer, and
Jesse Metcalfe played
John Rowland, Gabrielle’s teenage gardener/lover.
For the second season, Culp and Metcalfe left as show regulars, as Rex died from a heart attack and Gabrielle had ended her relationship with John. Several actors who had appeared as guest stars during the entire run of the first season were promoted to regulars for the second year, including
Doug Savant as
Tom Scavo, Lynette’s husband who for the second season quit his job determined to become a stay-at-home dad;
Brent Kinsman,
Shane Kinsman and
Zane Huett as
Preston,
Porter and
Parker Scavo, Lynette’s and Tom’s rascal boys;
Shawn Pyfrom as Bree’s complicated gay son
Andrew Van de Kamp; and
Joy Lauren as
Danielle Van de Kamp, Andrew’s hardheaded sister.
Alfre Woodard and
Mehcad Brooks joined the cast as
Betty Applewhite and her son
Matthew, who moved to the street in the middle of the night in order for the neighbors not to discover that they had Betty’s other son
Caleb – originally played by
Page Kennedy but soon replaced by
NaShawn Kearse – locked up in the basement. Also joining the main cast for the second season, after guest starring in a few season one episodes, were
Richard Burgi as
Karl Mayer, Susan's ex-husband who becomes engaged to Edie, and
Roger Bart as George Williams, Bree's pharmacist, and later obsessed fiancé, who had caused Rex's death. Bart, however, left the show mid-season, due to the suicide of George.
As the Applewhite mystery was solved in the second season finale, Woodard, Brooks and Kearse all had left the show when the third season begun. As had Mark Moses, as Paul was framed for murder and incarcerated, Cody Kasch, due to Zach's becoming a millionaire after causing his ill biological grandfather to die and thereby inheriting his entire fortune, and Richard Burgi, following Karl being dumped by both Susan and Edie. Two additions were made to the main cast for season three:
Kyle MacLachlan as
Orson Hodge, who marries Bree and whose dark family history serves as the main mystery for most of the season, and
Josh Henderson, playing Edie's bad boy nephew Austin McCann, who starts a relationship with Julie, but ends up getting Danielle pregnant and left the series mid-season.
For the fourth season, after having appeared as a guest star during season three,
Rachel Fox was added to the main cast playing
Kayla Huntington, Tom's daughter from a previous "one night stand". Also joining the main cast were
Dana Delany and
Lyndsy Fonseca as
Katherine and
Dylan Mayfair, a mother and teenage daughter who lived on Wisteria Lane twelve years earlier but had left the street.
Dana Delany's character is married to
Dr. Adam Mayfair played by
Nathan Fillion. Joining the cast in the fourth episode were
Kevin Rahm and
Tuc Watkins as a gay couple,
Lee McDermott and
Bob Hunter, who move in next door to Susan. Actor
Gary Cole joined the cast as a recurring character in the eleventh episode and played the ex-husband of
Katherine Mayfair,
Dana Delany's character.
[Gary Cole Joins "Desperate Housewives", ComingSoon.net, February 28, 2008]
Neal McDonough joined the cast of
Desperate Housewives as a series regular in season 5. He is the new husband of
Nicollette Sheridan's character,
Edie Britt.
[Neal McDonough Moving to "Housewives", Hollywood Reporter, June 27, 2008]
Max and Charlie Carver have been cast as Porter and Preston Scavo, Joshua Moore as Parker Scavo and Kendall Applegate as Penny Scavo.
Gail O'Grady,
Peter Onorati and
Gale Harold have also been confirmed to join the show as recurring characters.
["Desperate Housewives" Welcomes Gail O'Grady!, Entertainment Weekly, September 4, 2008]["Desperate Housewives": More Casting Updates for Season 5, BuddyTV.com, September 30, 2008][Gale Harold to Appear on 'Desperate Housewives', BuddyTV.com, April 29, 2008] Storylines involving Gale Harold's character needed to be placed on hold after he sustained injuries in a motorcycle accident.
[Harold Suffers Brain Swelling After Crash, SFGate.com, October 16, 2008] Madison De La Garza and Daniella Baltodano also joined the cast as Juanita and Celia Solis (respectively), the young daughters of Carlos and Gabrielle Solis.
The show also features a large number of recurring guest stars, the most prominent being
Kathryn Joosten and
Pat Crawford Brown as elderly neighbors Mrs.
Karen McCluskey and Mrs.
Ida Greenberg.
Kathryn Joosten had just been promoted to the regular cast in season 6. Others include
Christine Estabrook as Mrs.
Martha Huber, blackmailer of
Mary Alice Young, sister of
Felicia Tilman (
Harriet Sansom Harris) and murder victim of
Paul Young in season one and one episode of season five,
Dougray Scott as Ian Hainsworth, Susan's season three love interest;
Harriet Sansom Harris as Felicia Tilman, in search for her sister’s murderer during the first two seasons;
Ryan Carnes as
Justin, Andrew's boyfriend during season one and two;
John Slattery as
Victor Lang, former mayor of Fairview and Gabrielle's husband;
Bob Gunton as
Noah Taylor, the wealthy father of Mike's deceased fiancée and the biological grandfather of Zach, appearing during the first two seasons; and
Gail O'Grady as
Anne, a real estate agent who is having an affair with an underage Porter.
Casting
Eva Longoria Parker was the first reported to have landed a starring role, on February 9, 2004,
[Development Update: February 9, The Futon Critic, February 9, 2004]
followed by
Felicity Huffman (February 10),
[Development Update: February 10, The Futon Critic, February 10, 2004]
Teri Hatcher (February 18),
[Development Update: February 18, The Futon Critic, February 18, 2004]
James Denton and
Ricardo Antonio Chavira (February 26),
[Development Update: February 26, The Futon Critic, February 26, 2004]
Marcia Cross (March 1),
[Development Update: March 1, The Futon Critic, March 1, 2004]
Sheryl Lee,
Mark Moses, and
Cody Kasch (March 3),
[Development Update: March 3, The Futon Critic, March 3, 2004]
Andrea Bowen and
Kyle Searles (March 4),
[Development Update: March 4, The Futon Critic, March 4, 2004]
and
Michael Reilly Burke (March 8).
[Development Update: March 8, The Futon Critic, March 8, 2004]
On May 18, 2004
ABC announced their 2004–2005 lineup, with
Desperate Housewives as one of its new shows, starring an ensemble cast of these twelve names.
On July 2, after having shot the first pilot, ABC announced that Lee, Searles and Burke were to be replaced by
Brenda Strong,
Jesse Metcalfe and
Steven Culp, respectively.
[Development Update: July 1–2, The Futon Critic, July 2, 2004] While Lee was turned down after producers rethought the character of Mary Alice,
[Porter, Rick: Lee May Return from Dead on 'Desperate Housewives', Zap2it, July 13, 2004] Searles was replaced because of the lack of chemistry between him and his onscreen lover, Eva Longoria.
[Keck, William: Desperately seeking Metcalfe, USA Today, November 18, 2004] Steven Culp had been the producer's first choice for the part as Rex Van de Kamp, but as he had missed a meeting with the ABC executive to complete shooting for another television show,
Star Trek: Enterprise, the part had been offered to Burke instead. After the original pilot was filmed, Culp was off the Enterprise
cast, and when asked again Culp accepted the part, and Burke was let go.[Desperate Housewives: The Trek Connection, ]Airlock Alpha
, May 21, 2005
Andrea Bowen is returning to
Desperate Housewives as Julie Mayer.
[Andrea Bowen Returning to "Housewives", Hollywood Reporter, July 7, 2009]["Housewives" Scoop: Julie's Coming Home, Entertainment Weekly, July 7, 2009]
Shawn Pyfrom has quit his regular role as Andrew Van De Kamp and will only make guest appearances in the next season.
[Shawn Pyfrom Quits "Desperate Housewives", Digital Spy, July 29, 2009][Shawn Pyfrom Leaving "Desperate Housewives", People.com, July 28, 2009]
Marc Cherry announced that
Jesse Metcalfe will reprise his role as
John Rowland in only two episodes of season six.
["Desperate Housewives" Brings Back Jesse Metcalfe, TV Guide Magazine, July 20, 2009][Jesse Metcalfe Returns to "Desperate Housewives", OK Magazine, July 28, 2009]
Orson Bean has joined the cast as Mrs. McCluskey's love interest, Roy Bender.
["Desperate Housewives": Episode 6.02 - Casting News, Spoiler TV, July 22, 2009]
Housewives
Note:
Teri Hatcher (
Susan Mayer),
Felicity Huffman (
Lynette Scavo), and
Eva Longoria Parker (
Gabrielle Solis) are the only three housewives to have appeared in every episode.
Marcia Cross (
Bree Van De Kamp) is absent in episodes
3.16 to
3.22 because of her pregnancy.
Nicollette Sheridan (
Edie Britt) has been absent for eight episodes in Season 1, six in Season 2, two episodes in Season 4, four in Season 5, and departed the principal cast at the close of the fifth season.
Alfre Woodard (
Betty Applewhite) guest-stars in two episodes in season 1, is absent for seven episodes during season 2, and departs the cast at the close of the second season.
Dana Delany (
Katherine Mayfair) has been absent in one episode in both the fourth and fifth seasons, since joining the cast at the start of the fourth season. Finally,
Brenda Strong (
Mary Alice Young) typically serves as the show's narrator, only making occasional onscreen appearances. She is absent as the narrator in episodes
3.16, when
Steven Culp (
Rex Van de Kamp) narrates (although Strong is still heard during the "Previously on
Desperate Housewives" montage), and
5.19, when Sheridan is the narrator, and Strong is not heard at all.
Mysteries
Each season has a mystery which focuses on one particular character.
| Season | Main Mystery | Mystery synopsis
|
| 1 | Mary Alice Young | Committed suicide after being threatened with blackmail; was attempting to cover-up the fact that she murdered her adopted son's biological mother.
|
| 2 | Betty Applewhite | Kept her mentally disabled son locked up in the basement under the belief that he had murdered a girl; later discovered that her other son was the real murderer and had framed his brother.
|
| 3 | Orson Hodge | Orson and his mother arrived on Wisteria Lane; reports claimed that he had murdered his first wife and then his mistress; it was later revealed that his first wife was still alive, and that it was actually his mother that had murdered his mistress.
|
| 4 | Katherine Mayfair | When Katherine arrived on Wisteria Lane, her daughter - Dylan - questioned her paternity; when she believed that her father was murdered by her mother, she researched; later, it was revealed that he was alive and she had left him following an abusive relationship and the accidental death of the real Dylan.
|
| 5 | Dave Williams | Edie Britt returned to Wisteria Lane after five years with new husband Dave. Unknown to Edie, Dave has an agenda: he wishes to take revenge on Mike Delfino, who he believes is responsible for the fatal car accident that killed his late wife and young daughter. It was later revealed that Susan caused the car accident.
|
| 6 | Angie Bolen | Angie unzips her dress, to reveal a horrible scar on her back. Marc Cherry revealed that the sixth season mystery will pay homage to a classic Dallas storyline. He added: "What we've planned is an interesting mystery storyline involving one of our beloved characters. It's a 'Who shot J.R.?' kind of storyline".[
] |
Reception
Ratings
| Season
| Timeslot (EDT)
| Season Premiere
| Season Finale
| TV Season
| Rank
| Viewers
(in millions)
|
| 1
| Sunday 9:00 P.M.
| October 3, 2004
| May 22, 2005
| 2004-2005
| #4
| 23.7
|
| 2
| Sunday 9:00 P.M.
| September 25, 2005
| May 21, 2006
| 2005-2006
| #4
| 22.2
|
| 3
| Sunday 9:00 P.M.
| September 24, 2006
| May 20, 2007
| 2006-2007
| #10
| 17.5
|
| 4
| Sunday 9:00 P.M.
| September 30, 2007
| May 18, 2008
| 2007-2008
| #6
| 18.2
|
| 5
| Sunday 9:00 P.M.
| September 28, 2008
| May 17, 2009
| 2008-2009
| #9
| 15.7[abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=051909_05]
|
| 6
| Sunday 9:00 P.M.
| September 27, 2009 | Spring 2010
| 2009-2010
| #9
| 15.5[www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/nielsens-charts.htm]
|
The premiere year
The show was the biggest success of the 2004–2005 television season, being well-received by both critics and viewers. The pilot episode had 21.3 million viewers making it the best new drama for the year, the highest rated show of the week, and the best performance by a pilot for
ABC, since
Spin City in 1996.
[Jaffer, Murtz: ‘Housewives’ Premiere Cleans Up for ABC, Prime Time Pulse, April 10, 2004]
Along with
Lost,
Desperate Housewives was credited to have turned around ABC’s declining fortunes.
Many critics agreed with Cherry’s initial comparison to the popular
black comedy film
American Beauty,
[Scott Pepper, Scott: TV Review: “Desperate Housewives”, Blogcritics, October 4, 2004] while its themes and appeal to female viewers were compared to those of the award winning TV show
Sex and the City,
[McFarland, Melanie: Timely ‘Desperate Housewives’ is life after ‘Sex and the City’, Seattle Post-Intelligencer October 1, 2004] and its mysteries were said to resemble those of
David Lynch’s classic TV series
Twin Peaks.
[Schmeiser, Lisa: Fall '04: “Desperate Housewives”, TeeVee.org, October 5, 2004] In its first review,
USA Today proclaimed the show to be
“refreshingly original, bracingly adult and thoroughly delightful” and naming it to be
“sort of Knots Landing
meets The Golden Girls
by way of Twin Peaks
”.
[Bianco, Robert: 'Housewives' has the recipe for a bubbly evening soap, USA Today, September 30, 2004]
Following the initial success of the show, the term "desperate housewives" became a cultural phenomenon. This warranted "real life desperate housewives" features in TV shows, including
The Dr. Phil Show,
[Dr. Phil – The Real Lives of Desperate Housewives, Retrieved August 5, 2007]
and in magazines.
[McKeever, Katrina & Britton, Paul: The Real Desperate Housewives, Manchester Evening News, May 19, 2005][Blackwell, Elizabeth: Confessions of Real-Life Desperate Housewives, Ladies Home Journal, Retrieved August 3, 2007] Among the more prominent names to declare themselves fans of the show were
Oprah Winfrey,
[Brioux, Bill: Oprah pays a visit to 'Housewives', Jam Showbiz, February 2, 2005] who also dedicated an episode of
The Oprah Winfrey Show to her visit at the film set; and the former
First Lady of the United States,
Laura Bush, who, in a speech during a dinner with
White House Correspondents' Association on April 30, 2005, stated
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife", referring to the show.
[Laura Bush: First lady of comedy?, USA Today, May 1, 2005]
The show ended up being the fourth most watched in the United States during the 2004-2005 season, with 23.7 million viewers each week.
The first season finale was watched by 30.62 million American viewers.
Later years
For its second year, the show still maintained its ratings – with 22.2 million viewers, it reclaimed its position as the number four most watched show.
However, several critics started to notice a declining quality of the show’s script,
[Guthrie, Marisa: In its second season, 'Desperate Housewives' is at a dead end, FSView & Florida Flambeau, April 3, 2006][Goldblatt, Henry: TV Review – Desperate Housewives, Entertainment Weekly, October 21, 2005]
and
USA Today’s Robert Bianco suggested that the part of the show getting “less good” was that showrunner Cherry had left much of the series writing in the hands of others.
[Biango, Robert: Housewives' is dragging desperately, USA Today, September 9, 2005] Mid through the season executive producer Michael Edenstein left the show due to conflicts with Cherry and in May 2006, just a couple of weeks prior to the second season finale, so did Tom Spezialy.
After the end of the season, Cherry would agree to the second year’s weaker script and also agreed that it had been a mistake to let go too much of the show. He now stated that he was back full time, claiming that both he and the writing staff had learned from their mistakes.
[Martin, Ed: Exclusive Interview! Desperate Housewives Creator Marc Cherry, Jack Myers Media Village, January 25, 2007][ABC vows stronger third season for its ’Desperate Housewives’, Wilmington Star, July 26, 2006][Network exec promises better 'Housewives' season, CTVA.ca, July 18, 2006]
The critics generally agreed on the improved quality for the third year,
[ABC’s 'Desperate Housewives' back on track for third season, Reality TV World, September 12, 2006][Martin, Ed: Sizzling Preview of Desperate Housewives, Jack Myers Media Village, September 14, 2006][Taroli, Justin: The Third Time Isn’t Always the Charm for TV Hits, The Crown Online, Retrieved August 3, 2007]
but the overall ratings fell notably from previous seasons. Due to complications from her pregnancy Marcia Cross was put on permanent bed rest. After filming one episode from her own personal bedroom she was forced to take maternity leave with six episodes of season three still remaining. It was predicted that the ratings would be down by over 25% since the premiere year.
[Ryan, Joal: Housewives’ Most Desperate Hour, E! Online, April 10, 2007] However, for the last three episodes of the season, the rating turned somewhat, and the season ended up with 17.5 million viewers, falling from number four to number ten on the list of most watched shows.
While Cross's departure allowed for the much-underused Edie to have more story, fans noticed a decline in the stories during Cross's departure. Stories such as Lynette's emotional affair with restaurant manager Rick, proved unpopular. Furthermore, Susan's contrived triangle with Ian and Mike seemed tiring to many viewers, particularly in an episode where Susan is lost in the woods. Notable, however, was that the show’s rating among viewers age 18–24 increased from the previous season.
[Vasquez, Diego College_kids_now_watch_more_TV.asp Fact: College kids now watch more TV, Media Life Magazine, July 26, 2007]
For its fourth season, the series proved to have staying power.
[Desperate Housewives | TV Review | Entertainment Weekly] The series averaged 18.2 million viewers. Ratings peaked in Episode 9 where 20.6 million viewers tuned in to see the heavily marketed tornado episode. The show once again moved back up into the top 5 highest rated programs in the 2007-2008 season, being the #1 ABC drama and beating popular medical drama
Grey's Anatomy for the first time in 2 years.
[ The Season 5 Premiere was the highest rated TV Show of the night.|||season2,00.html Zap2it – TV ratings] It also became for the first time the #1 scripted show, beating
CSI.
Although ratings were down for the 5th season, along with every single scripted series on television,
Desperate Housewives was still the most watched scripted series on ABC, consistently beating the other ABC flagship shows,
Lost and
Grey's Anatomy, although the latter is still number one in the 18-49 demo, followed by
Housewives.
In 2006, the American cable network
Bravo launched their
reality series,
The Real Housewives of..., in the footsteps of the “real life desperate housewives” phenomenon.
[Chang, Richard: TV: “The Real Housewives of Orange County”, The Orange County Register, March 13, 2006] That program has taken place in areas such as
Orange County, California,
Atlanta, and two series within the
New York-
Tri-State Region, within the City itself and the
New Jersey suburbs.
According to a survey of twenty countries conducted in 2006 by
Informa Telecoms and Media,
Desperate Housewives was the third most viewed TV show in the world, after fellow American series
CSI: Miami and
Lost.
During a fund raising auction for the
British child charity
ChildLine in December 2006, a walk-on part in
Desperate Housewives had the highest bid, £17,000, beating
Daniel Craig’s
James Bond tuxedo from
Casino Royale.
[James Bond tuxedo raises £12,000, BBC News, December 11, 2006][James Bond, 'Desperate Housewives' Raise Money for UK Charity, StarPulse, December 11, 2006]
Awards and nominations
[
Housewives at 2008 GLAAD Awards.jpg|[[Dana Delany],
Teri Hatcher,
Brenda Strong and
right
For its premiere season, the show was awarded six
Emmy Awards, two
Golden Globe Awards and two
Screen Actors Guild Awards. The nominations of all of the leading actresses except
Eva Longoria Parker for both Golden Globes and Emmys received some media interest. While Longoria Parker seemingly didn’t bother, stating for the press that
“I'm new. I just arrived. I didn’t expect at all to be in the minds of the Academy.”, Marc Cherry regarded them being left out as a
“horrendous error”.
[Longoria: “I Never Expected an Emmy”, ContactMusic.com, July 24, 2005] In the end, the Emmy went to
Felicity Huffman, while
Teri Hatcher received the Golden Globe, as well as a Screen Actors Guild award.
The show’s second Golden Globe Award for its first year was for Best Musical or Comedy TV Series, while the other Emmys went to
Kathryn Joosten for her guest role as Karen McCluskey (beating, among others, fellow cast member
Lupe Ontiveros),
Charles McDougall for his direction of the pilot episode,
Danny Elfman’s theme music, the picture editing of the pilot, and the casting of the series. The entire cast was awarded a Screen Actors Guild Award, and
Nicollette Sheridan was nominated for a Supporting Actress Golden Globe.
In 2006 the show continued to receive several nominations. It was awarded with yet another Golden Globe for Best TV Musical or Comedy Series, and all the four leading women received Golden Globe nominations, although none of them won. The cast ensemble was awarded with another SAG Award, as was Felicity Huffman. Emmys nominations included, among others, guest actress
Shirley Knight and supporting actress
Alfre Woodard, although none of the resulted in an actual award.
The show did continue to be nominated in 2007 – Felicity Huffman was granted an Emmy nomination for the second time, and guest actresses
Laurie Metcalf and
Dixie Carter also received Emmy nominations. The show, along with actresses
Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman, received Golden Globe nominations, and Huffman and the cast ensemble were also nominated for SAGs. None of the Golden Globe, Emmy or SAG nominations resulted in any actual awards.
2008 yielded the least nominations with none at the Golden Globes and only the cast being nominated at the SAGs. The show was nominated for four Emmys, including acting nods towards
Polly Bergen and
Kathryn Joosten for
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Joosten won the show's seventh Emmy and first since its debut year.
Other notable awards include the 2005
People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Drama, the Future Classic Award at the 2005
TV Land Awards, the 2006 TP de Oro for Best Foreign Series, and the Golden Nymph at the 2007 Monte-Carlo TV Festival, among others.
[The IMDb.com list of awards for Desperate Housewives, Retrieved August 3, 2007]
Screen adaptations
On February 26, 2007,
The Walt Disney Company announced that four South American versions of the show were about to begin production: one for
Argentina, one for
Colombia, one for
Brazil and one for
Ecuador.
['Housewives' going global, Variety Magazine, March 5, 2007] Later on, the Colombian and Ecuadorean productions merged, leaving three
Latin American shows:
The Argentine version, called
Amas de Casa Desesperadas, began being broadcast in 2006. The first year proved successful enough for a second season to begin production.
[Amas de casa desesperadas Official Canal 13 Website, Retrieved August 3, 2007] The first season of the version for Colombia (
RCN TV) and Ecuador (
Teleamazonas), also entitled
Amas de Casa Desesperadas, began being broadcast in Ecuador on May 2007, and is broadcast five days a week.
[Amas de casa desesperadas Official Teleamazonas Website, Retrieved August 3, 2007] The Brazilian version,
Donas de Casa Desesperadas began being broadcast on
RedeTV! in August 2007.
[Donas de Casa Desesperadas Official RedeTV Website, Retrieved August 3, 2007]
In addition, a second US version is being developed for the
Spanish television network
Univision. Just as the two previous Spanish versions, it is to be named
Amas de Casa Desesperadas, and the production began in July 2007.
[De La Fuente, Anna Marie: Univision gets Spanish 'Housewives', Variety Magazine, May 14, 2007]
International broadcasts
The show is broadcast in many countries worldwide.
- In Australia, the Seven Network has aired all five seasons. All seasons have been in primetime slots.
- In the Netherlands, NET5 has aired all four seasons, with the fifth season to conclude at the end of 2009. All seasons have been in primetime slots.
- In New Zealand, TV2 has aired all five seasons. All episodes have have aired at the primetime of 8:30pm on Mondays.
- In the United Kingdom it is broadcast on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. The first season was broadcast on 5 January 2005 on Channel 4. Episodes are shown first on E4 on a Sunday night at 10pm, followed by its main showing on Wednesdays on Channel 4 at 10pm, followed by a repeat at the earlier time of 9pm on E4 the following Sunday. Both Channel 4 and E4 have timeshift services of one hour. Therefore, each episode is shown a total of six times by the company.
- Times on S4C in Wales are much later and vary due to Welsh language programming being broadcast in prime-time. Episodes generally air between 11pm and 2am. Viewers in Wales who have digital television can watch the Channel 4 and E4 showings, and following digital switchover due to complete in Wales in 2009, episodes will cease to be broadcast on S4C as the whole of Wales will have access to Channel 4.
- Ireland is the first country outside the US to receive new episodes. Episodes are played at 9.55pm on Tuesdays, 2 days after the ABC original US showing. Latest episodes can be watched by viewers in Ireland online.
- In South Africa, Desperate Housewives is broadcast on pay-TV channel M-Net on Thursdays, from 20:30 to 21:30. SABC3 broadcasts older seasons.
M6
September 2005
June 2006
| French dubbing, English with French subtitles on digital networks
|
| Germany
| Desperate Housewives
| ProSieben
| 2005
| German dubbing
|
|
| 靚太唔易做 (English: It's not easy to be a beautiful housewife)
| Pearl
| 2005
| Traditional Chinese subtitles
|
|
| Született feleségek (English: Natural Born Wives)
| TV2
Cool TV
Sorozat+
| 2005
2008
| Hungarian dubbing
|
|
| Aðþrengdar eiginkonur
| RÚV
| 2005
| Icelandic subtitles
|
|
| Desperate Housewives
| Star World
| 2006
| English subtitles
|
|
| Desperate Housewives - I segreti di Wisteria Lane
| FOX Life
Raidue
| 2004
| Italian dubbing
|
|
| Очајни домаќинки
| A1
| 2004
| Macedonian subtitles
|
|
| עקרות בית נואשות
| yes
HOT
| 2005[www.tve.co.il/story/2500]
2009[www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/871/224.html]
| Hebrew subtitles
|
|
| 靚太唔易做 (English: It's not easy to be a beautiful housewife)
| TDM
| 2007
| Traditional Chinese subtitles
|
|
| Desperate Housewives
| 8tv
| 2005
| Malay subtitles
|
|
| Esposas Desesperadas (English: Desperate Wives)
| Sony Entertainment Television [mx.canalsony.com/shows/desperate-housewives]
Azteca 7 [www.tvazteca.com/esposasdesesperadas/index]
| 2005
2005
| Spanish subtitles
Spanish dubbing
|
|
| Desperate Housewives
| NET5
| 2005
| Dutch subtitles
|
|
| Gotowe na wszystko (English: Women Ready for Everything)
| Polsat
Fox Life
Comedy Central
| 2005
2007
2007
| Polish reader
|
|
| Esposas Desesperadas
| WAPA-TV
WNJX-TV
| 2009
| Spanish dubbing
|
|
| Neveste Disperate
| Prima TV
Pro TV
TVR 1
| 2008
2006
2006
| Romanian subtitles
|
|
| Отчаянные домохозяйки
| STS
Domashniy
| 2005-2007
2009
| Russian dubbing
|
|
| Očajne domaćice
| RTV Pink
RTS
| 2005-2007
2008-2009
| Serbian subtitles
|
|
| Zúfalé manželky
| STV 1
| 2005
| Slovak dubbing
|
|
| Razočarane gospodinje
| POP TV
| 2005
| Slovene subtitles
|
|
| Mujeres Desesperadas (English: "Desperate Women")
| La 1
Sony Entertainment Television
FOX España
| 2005
| Spanish dubbing
|
|
| Desperate Housewives
| SF Zwei
| 2005
| German dubbing and English (second audio program)
|
|
| Umutsuz Ev Kadınları
| CNBC-e, e2
| 2005
| Turkish subtitles
|
|
| Desperate Housewives
| Channel 4, E4
| 2005
| None
|
|
| Відчайдушні Домогосподарки
| ICTV
New Channel
| 2007
2008
| Ukrainian dubbing
|
|
| Những bà nội trợ kiểu Mỹ (English: American housewives)
| VTV3
| 2008
| Vietnamese dubbing
|
|
| Desperate Housewives
| Kanal 5
| 2008
| Swedish subtitles
|
Internet Ratings
In its first public release of online individual TV program rankings,
The Nielsen Company announced that the series had 723,000 unique viewers in December 2008.
Other media and merchandise
DVD releases
| DVD Name |
| Region 1 |
| Region 2 |
| Region 4 |
| Region 5 |
| No of discs |
| No of episodes |
| The Complete First Season
| September 20, 2005
| October 10, 2005
| November 28, 2005
| July 18, 2006
| 6 (Reg. 1, 2 and 4)
5 (Reg. 5)
| 23
|
| The Complete Second Season – The Extra Juicy Edition
| August 30, 2006
| November 13, 2006
| October 4, 2006
| June 28, 2007
| 7 (Reg. 2 and 4)
6 (Reg. 1 and 5)
| 23/24
|
| The Complete Seasons 1-2
|
| November 13, 2006
| October 24, 2006
|
| 13
| 47
|
| The Complete Third Season – The Dirty Laundry Edition
| September 4, 2007
| November 5, 2007
| October 31, 2007
| December 13, 2007
(the release was cancelled)
| 6
| 23
|
| The Complete Seasons 1-3
|
| November 19, 2007
|
|
| 19
| 70
|
| The Complete Fourth Season – Sizzling Secrets Edition
| September 2, 2008
| November 3, 2008 [– Desperate Housewives Season 4 (Region 2) See Product Details]
| October 29, 2008
|
| 5
| 17
|
| The Complete Seasons 1-4
|
| November 3, 2008
|
|
| 24
| 87
|
| The Complete Fifth Season – The Red Hot Edition
| September 1, 2009
| November 9, 2009[Desperate Housewives Season 5 (Region 2) See Product Details]
| October 21, 2009
|
| 7
| 24
|
| The Complete Seasons 1-5
|
| November 9, 2009
|
|
| 31
| 111
|
Games
In 2005, UK company Re:creation published
Desperate Housewives Dirty Laundry Game, a
board game based on season three of
Desperate Housewives.
[Re:Creation 2007 Product Catalogue, page 15, Retrieved August 3, 2007] Players attempt to guess their opponents’ secrets by answering
trivia questions, while keeping clues to their own secrets concealed.
2006 saw the release of two
video games:
Buena Vista Games released the
sim computer game Desperate Housewives: The Game, featuring an original storyline spanning 12 episodes.
[Desperate Housewives: The Game Official Website, Retrieved August 3, 2007] The game is set on Wisteria Lane, but the player does not play as any of the housewives, although they frequently appear.
A couple of months later,
Gameloft released a
mobile game based on the series.
[Desperate Housewives Mobile Game Official Website, Retrieved August 3, 2007] “The inspirado for Gameloft’s take on Desperate Housewives comes from the most unlikely place, too – the original
Mario Party on the Nintendo 64.”
[IGN: Desperate Housewives Review]
Soundtrack and literature
In September 2005,
Hollywood Records released a
CD (distributed by
Universal Music),
Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives, featuring music inspired by the series, as well as sound clips taken from the first season of the show. The songs included have been described as promoting “
girl power”, and among the artists appearing – all being female – were
LeAnn Rimes,
Gloria Estefan and
Shania Twain.
[Allmusic: Desperate Housewives, Retrieved August 3, 2007] Controversially, no originally composed music from the show is included on the CD.
Two books have been officially released within the Desperate Housewives franchise. In September 2005 ABC’s sister company
Hyperion Books released
Desperate Housewives: Behind Closed Doors (
ISBN 978-1401-3082-61), a companion to the first season of the show, written by the production team behind the series.
[Hyperion Books: Desperate Housewives – Behind Closed Doors, Retrieved August 3, 2007] One year later, in October 2006, Hyperion published
The Desperate Housewives Cookbook – Juicy Dishes and Saucy Bits (
ISBN 978-1401-3027-71).
[Hyperion Books: The Desperate Housewives Cookbook – Juicy Dishes and Saucy Bits, Retrieved August 3, 2007] In addition, official
wall calendars, featuring shots taken from the series, were published by
Andrews McMeel Publishing for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
[Andrews McMeel Publishing: Desperate Housewives 2008 Wall Calendar, Retrieved August 5, 2007]
Four unauthorized books written from different points of view were released in 2006.
Delicious Housewives, A Novel of Erotica, by International best-selling author Tamarias Tyree (
ISBN 978-0930865795), from
RSVP Press, is an erotic parody of the popular TV series featuring the housewives' sexual misadventures which eventually lead them to an appearance on the Jerry Springer Show...
Reading ‘Desperate Housewives’: Beyond the White Picket Fence (
ISBN 978-1845-1122-02), from
I.B. Tauris, is an academic look at the show by
film studies lecturers Janet McCabe and Kim Akassm,
[I.B. Tauris: Reading “Desperate Housewives” – Beyond the White Picket Fence, Retrieved August 5, 2007] Welcome to Wisteria Lane: On America’s Favorite Desperate Housewives (
ISBN 978-1932-1007-92), published by
BenBella Books, consists of seventeen essays written from a
feminist perspective,
[BenBella Books: Welcome to Wisteria Lane: On America’s Favorite Desperate Housewives, Retrieved August 5, 2007] and in Chalice Press’
Not-so-desperate: Fantasy, Fact And Faith on Wisteria Lane (
ISBN 0-8272-2513-X) author Shawnthea Monroe is giving a
Christian interpretation of the show.
[Chalice Press: Not-so-desperate – Fantasy, Fact And Faith on Wisteria Lane, Retrieved August 5, 2007] Also, following the “real life desperate housewives” phenomenon, several books have been released dealing with life strategies for contemporary women.
Fashion dolls
In December 2006 it was announced that the characters of Bree, Gabrielle, Edie, Susan and Lynette were to be made into tall
fashion dolls, produced by
Madame Alexander.
[Finn, Natalie: Desperate Housewives Play Around, E! Online, January 2, 2007] In 2007 they were released in a limited edition of 300 pieces each.
[Madame Alexander Fall 2007 collection: Couture – Desperate Housewives, Retrieved August 5, 2007] A perfume was also released, named
Forbidden Fruit.
Another Desperate Housewife
In conjunction with season six Marc Cherry was comissioned to write eight "mini-episodes" entitled "Another Desperate Housewife". The episodes were written after the previous season's extensive product placement proved unpopular with the fans. The mini-episodes were written to advertise the mobile phone company "Sprint" and involved just three characters. The two main characters were Stephanie and Lance who have moved into the former house of Edie Britt after her death. The third character, Elsa, was Stephanie's friend. As the episodes go on it is revealed that Lance and Elsa have been having an affair. Stephanie finds out and tells Lance to break it off. Elsa suggests killing Stephanie but Lance gets a text message on his phone indicating he's seeing another woman and a furious Elsa shoots him. In truth, Stephanie sent the message herself. The final mini-episode has Elsa being arrested and Stephanie attracted to a handsome policeman at the scene. Each episode ended with a Mary Alice-like narration saying things such as "This is Suspicion on the now network" or "This is betrayal on the now network".
