Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama-mystery series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired Sundays at 9 P.M. Eastern/8 P.M. Central, on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012. Executive producer 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 main setting of the show was Wisteria Lane, a street in the fictional American town of 'Fairview' in the fictional 'Eagle State'. The show followed the lives of a group of women as seen through the eyes of a dead neighbor who committed suicide in the very first episode. The storyline covers thirteen years of the women's lives over eight seasons, set between the years 2004–2008, and later 2013–2017 (the story arc included a 5 year passage of time). They worked 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 featured 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. Brenda Strong narrated the show as the deceased Mary Alice Young, appearing sporadically in flashbacks or dream sequences.
The series was well received by viewers and critics alike. The show is a multiple Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award winner. The series premiere drew 21.6 million viewers and the show's first season finale attracted over 30 million viewers. In 2007, it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 120 million and was also reported that the series is the third most watched TV show in a study of ratings in 20 countries. In 2012, it remained as the most-watched comedy series internationally based on data from Eurodata TV Worldwide, which measured ratings across five continents; it has held this position since 2006. Moreover, it was the third-highest revenue earning show for 2010, with US$2.74 million per half hour. The show placed #56 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list.
Desperate Housewives was officially renewed by ABC on May 17, 2011 for an eighth season. The season premiere episode was broadcast on Sunday, September 25. The eighth season was the show's final season. The series concluded on May 13, 2012. By the end of the series, it had surpassed Charmed as the longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads by two episodes. Housewives was also the most watched series finale of 2012.
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. Cherry had difficulty in getting any television network interested in his new series; HBO, CBS, NBC, Fox, Showtime, and Lifetime all turned the show down. Finally, two new executives at ABC, Lloyd Braun and Susan Lyne, chose to greenlight it, reportedly after The O.C. on Fox premiered in 2003 and showed that a soap opera could succeed in prime time. Shortly thereafter, Disney had both Braun and Lyne fired, following their approval of another new drama series: Lost.
The ABC executives were not initially satisfied with the name of the new show, suggesting Wisteria Lane and The Secret Lives of Housewives instead. However, 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 with a little bit of Twin Peaks. 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 the 2004–2005 lineup, with Desperate Housewives in the Sunday at 9:00–10:00 p.m. ET slot, which it held all through the run of the show. 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. A couple of weeks later after Housewives premiered the owners of NBC called to see who had passed on the series due to its ratings success.
Desperate Housewives was produced by creator Marc Cherry (Cherry Productions), Austin Bagley and, since 2007, ABC Studios. From 2004 to 2007, Desperate Housewives was produced in association with Touchstone Television.
Production crew[]
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, left his previous position as writer and executive producer for Dead Like Me to join the crew on Desperate Housewives. 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. Subsequent to this, Edelstein left the show mid-season, and by the season's end, so did Spezialy. For the third year, Cherry was joined by award-winning writer and producer Joe Keenan—of Frasier fame—and television movie producer George W. Perkins, who had been a crew member of Desperate Housewives 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. Replacing him as 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 animated series Rugrats, 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. Both had also worked on Cherry's previous show The Crew in 1995, as well as on the sitcom Cybill.
In the first four seasons, Larry Shaw and David Grossman have been the most prolific directors, together directing more than half of the episodes.
Filming[]
The residence of Mary Alice Young (as seen in the premiere episode of Desperate Housewives), on "Wisteria Lane".
Desperate Housewives was filmed on Panavision 35 mm cameras (except for the final season, which was shot digitally on the Arri Alexa). It was broadcast in standard and 16:9 widescreen high definition, though it was framed for the 4:3 aspect ratio until the final season.
The set for Wisteria Lane, consisting mainly of facades but also of some proper houses, was located on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. It was referred to by film crews as Colonial Street, and has been used for several motion pictures and television shows since the mid-1940s. Notable productions that were filmed here include: 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, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 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.
Interior sets were built on sound stages at Universal Studios Hollywood, some of which were duplicated in some form on the Wisteria Lane back lot for filming when conditions required it.
Filming for the series ended April 26, 2012.
Opening sequence[]
The initial idea for the show opening sequence was Cherry's. After asking sixteen companies to come up with suggestions for how best to realize it, the producers finally hired Hollywood-based yU+co to provide the final version. According to the yU+co's official website, the idea behind the sequence is, "to evoke the show's quirky spirit and playful flouting of women's traditional role in society." The images featured are taken from eight pieces of art, portraying domesticity and male-female relations through the ages.
The music for the opening is composed by Danny Elfman, and has been awarded both a Primetime Emmy Award and the BMI TV Music Award. In 2005 it was included on the album Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives. When an episode runs long, only the first sequence (the falling apple) is kept. From the episode "Now You Know" 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 since the second episode of the first season, defines the overall sound of the show by creating a musical counterpoint to the writing style. The score is electronic-based, but every scoring session incorporates a live string ensemble. Jablonsky incorporates recurring themes for events and characters into the score. Hollywood Records produced the first soundtrack album, Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives distributed by Universal Records. Several of those songs have been used in subsequent seasons.
Housewives's unique style combined with the heavy dialogue and a quick-fire writing style limits the amount of popular music used within the series. The series' music supervisor, David Sibley, works closely with the producers to 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" and Lynette's rendition of "Boogie Shoes", several characters have been accomplished musicians, such as Betty Applewhite (a concert pianist) and Dylan Mayfair (a prodigy cellist).
Later seasons[]
In August 2009, Marc Cherry said that Desperate Housewives would be on television for a few more years, stating that the series still "has a lot of life left in it." He told The Wrap: "He went on to explain that he felt the program had been revitalized 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".
In October 2009, Cherry signed a two-year deal with ABC that could keep Desperate Housewives on the air until 2013. The stars of Desperate Housewives finalized new deals to make way for Season 8, and signed at the price of $12 million.
Originally, Marc Cherry hinted that Desperate Housewives would end in 2013 and in April 2011, Eva Longoria confirmed that there would definitely be an eighth season and expressed hopes for a ninth. Desperate Housewives was officially renewed by ABC on May 17, 2011 for an eighth season.
Final season[]
In August 2011, it was confirmed that Season 8 of Desperate Housewives would be the final season. Eva Longoria commented about the end of Desperate Housewives on her Twitter account:
Marc Cherry, the show's creator, made a cameo as a mover in the last scene of the final episode.
Series synopses and episodes[]
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 Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) for the affection of new neighbor Mike Delfino (James Denton), Lynette struggles to cope with her demanding children, Bree fights to save her marriage to Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp), 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 Applewhite house, focus of Desperate Housewives' season-long mystery from 2005 to 2006
The second season premiered on September 25, 2005 and its central mystery is that of new neighbor Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), who moved onto Wisteria Lane 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, Andrew Van de Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom) from growing to extremes. Susan's love life becomes even more complicated as her ex-husband, Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi) is engaged to Edie and is also started to incline 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, 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.
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 to the home. The Scavos also experience tension as Tom wants to start a pizzeria. Gabrielle goes through a rough divorce, but finally finds new love in Fairview's new mayor. After being run over by Orson in the previous season finale, Mike falls into 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 whose wife is also in a coma, while her daughter Julie Mayer (Andrea Bowen) starts dating Edie's nephew. 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 fourth season premiered on September 30, 2007, and its main mystery revolves around new neighbor Katherine Mayfair (Dana Delany) and her family, who return to Wisteria Lane after twelve years away. 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 McDermott (Kevin Rahm) and Bob Hunter (Tuc Watkins) – become residents of Wisteria Lane. A tornado threatens to destroy everything, and everyone, that the housewives hold dear. In the closing minute the characters and their story have flashed forward by five years.
The house of Katherine Mayfair on Wisteria Lane, as seen on Desperate Housewives from 2007 to 2010.
The fifth season premiered on September 28, 2008, with the time period jumping 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). 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 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's blindness, two young daughters, and a financial crisis. Bree and Orson have marriage problems because Bree has become too focused on her career as a successful cookbook writer and caterer. Edie dies of electrocution after a car crash, before she can expose Dave moments after she discovers his secret.
The sixth season premiered on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 9pm. 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), Lynette's attempt to sue her new boss Carlos, Katherine's eventual 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 the two of them and Orson inside. The second half of the season focuses on Katherine experimenting with her sexuality, Lynette 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 Bree, and the solving of the Bolen mystery.
The seventh season premiered on September 26, 2010 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 to 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), which ultimately takes 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's mother, 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 somewhat untraditional means. Following a major riot on the lane, Susan is 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. The main mystery of the season is the death of Gabrielle's perverted stepfather Alejandro Perez (Tony Plana) at Carlos's 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 1st 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 into 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 pays the ultimate price. 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 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.
The two-hour series finale which aired on Sunday, May 13, 2012, featured the conclusion of Bree's court case. To bring the series to conclusion, there was a wedding, a birth, and a death, and the future of the four main housewives was revealed.
Cast and characters[]
Main cast[]
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.
Teri Hatcher plays Susan Mayer
The thirteen starring actors for season one included four leading actresses: Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, a divorced mother with a sense of humor for drama and in search of love; Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, a former businesswoman turned stressed out stay-at-home soccer mom of four; Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp, the seemingly perfect mother struggling to save her marriage; and Eva Longoria 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. 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 businessman 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 does not 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.
Eva Longoria plays Gabrielle Solis
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 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 death 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 began, as had Moses, as Paul was framed for murder and incarcerated; Kasch, due to Zach's becoming a millionaire after causing his ill biological grandfather to die and thereby inheriting his entire fortune; and 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.
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Dana Delany plays Katherine Mayfair.
For the fourth season, after having appeared as a recurring guest star during season three, Rachel Fox was added to the main cast playing Kayla Scavo, 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. Almost all actors portraying the housewives' children, except Pyfrom, left the main cast after the fourth season finale.
Neal McDonough joined the cast of Desperate Housewives as a series regular in the fifth season. He played Dave Williams, the new husband of Edie. Max and Charlie Carver were cast as Preston and Porter Scavo, respectively, Joshua Logan Moore as Parker Scavo and Kendall Applegate as Penny Scavo. Sheridan left the cast when Edie was killed off near the end of season 5, as did McDonough when his character's mystery was resolved. Pyfrom quit his regular role as Andrew after season 5 and only made guest appearances in later seasons.
Kathryn Joosten played Karen McCluskey
In the show's sixth season, Bowen re-joined the series' cast as a regular. After appearing as a guest star in the fifth season finale, Maiara Walsh was made into a regular actress as Ana Solis, Carlos's niece. Drea de Matteo, Jeffrey Nordling, and Beau Mirchoff joined the cast as Angie, Nick, and Danny Bolen, respectively, being the season's mystery. Kathryn Joosten was promoted to a series regular, after being a recurring guest star for five years as elderly neighbor Karen McCluskey. Madison De La Garza, who plays Gabrielle's eldest daughter Juanita Solis, and Mason Vale Cotton, who plays Susan and Mike's son M.J. Delfino, were also promoted to regulars. Max Carver was not on the show until his character, Preston, returned from an extended trip in Europe with a girlfriend, thus being demoted to a recurring cast member, supposedly because the show's cast was big enough already. Delaney left the main cast when the character of Katherine moved indefinitely to Paris, as did Walsh when hers moved to New York. De Matteo, Nordling, and Mirchoff also left when their characters' mystery was resolved.
As of the seventh season Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm, who have played respectively Bob Hunter and Lee McDermott, a gay couple, have both been upgraded to series regulars, and Kyle MacLachlan left Desperate Housewives. Moses returned to reprise his role as Paul, but left again the main cast when his character's mystery was resolved at the end of the season. Vanessa Williams joined the cast of Desperate Housewives as Renee Perry, an old rival of Lynette's from college. The role of Penny was recast, with Applegate being replaced by Darcy Rose Byrnes.
In the eighth season, the cast was joined by Jonathan Cake, who made special guest appearances towards the end of Season 7 in the role of Chuck Vance, a love interest for Bree. Charles Mesure also joined the cast as Ben Faulkner, a ruthless self-made contractor, who finds himself attracted to Renee. Furthermore, Bowen, Burgi, Culp, Delany, MacLachlan, Moses, Pyfrom, and Lauren reprised their respective roles as Julie Mayer, Karl Mayer, Rex Van de Kamp, Katherine Mayfair, Orson Hodge, Paul Young, Andrew, and Danielle Van de Kamp in some capacity in one or more 2012 episodes.
Kathryn Joosten, in real life, had lung cancer (like her character Karen McCluskey in the show), and after an 11 year battle sadly mirrored the show's series finale fate of her character. She died of lung cancer on the morning of June 2, 2012 only about twenty days after the onscreen death from cancer of her character.
Casting[]
Eva Longoria was the first reported to have landed a starring role, on February 9, 2004, followed by Felicity Huffman (February 10), Teri Hatcher (February 18), James Denton and Ricardo Antonio Chavira (February 26), Marcia Cross (March 1), Sheryl Lee, Mark Moses, and Cody Kasch (March 3), Andrea Bowen and Kyle Searles (March 4), and Michael Reilly Burke (March 8). 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. While Lee was turned down after producers rethought the character of Mary Alice, Searles was replaced because of the lack of chemistry between him and his onscreen lover, Eva Longoria. 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.
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 | April 12, 2011 | 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 | October 29, 2008 | April 12, 2011 | 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 | October 21, 2009 | April 26, 2011 | 7, 6 (Reg. 5) | 24 |
| The Complete Seasons 1–5 | November 9, 2009 | 31 | 111 | |||
| The Complete Sixth Season – The All Mighty Edition | September 21, 2010 | October 4, 2010 | October 20, 2010 | April 26, 2011 | 5 (Reg. 1) | 23 |
| The Complete Seasons 1–6 | October 4, 2010 | October 20, 2010 | 36 (Reg. 1) 37 (Reg. 4) |
134 | ||
| The Complete Seventh Season – Wild, Wild Wisteria Edition | August 30, 2011 | October 31, 2011 | November 30, 2011 | May 15, 2012 | 5 | 23 |
| The Complete Seasons 1–7 | October 31, 2011 | 41 | 157 | |||
| The Complete Eighth and Final Season | September 25, 2012 | September 24, 2012 | October 3, 2012 | N/A | 5 (Reg. 1) | 23 |
| The Complete Collection | September 25, 2012 | September 24, 2012 | 45 (Reg. 1) | 180 |
Games[]
In 2005, UK company Re:creation published Desperate Housewives Dirty Laundry Game, a board game based on season three of Desperate Housewives. 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. 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. "The inspiration for Gameloft's take on Desperate Housewives comes from the most unlikely place, too – the original Mario Party on the Nintendo 64."
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. 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 978-1-4013-0826-1), a companion to the first season of the show, written by the production team behind the series. One year later, in October 2006, Hyperion published The Desperate Housewives Cookbook – Juicy Dishes and Saucy Bits (ISBN 978-1-4013-0277-1). In addition, official wall calendars, featuring shots taken from the series, were published by Andrews McMeel Publishing for 2006, 2007, and 2008.
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 978-0-930865-79-5), 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 978-1-84511-220-2), from I.B. Tauris, is an academic look at the show by film studies lecturers Janet McCabe and Kim Akassm, Welcome to Wisteria Lane: On America's Favorite Desperate Housewives (ISBN 978-1-932100-79-2), published by BenBella Books, consists of seventeen essays written from a feminist perspective, 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. 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. In 2007, they were released in a limited edition of 300 pieces each. A perfume was also released, named Forbidden Fruit.
Another Desperate Housewife commercials[]
In conjunction with season six, Marc Cherry was commissioned 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 mobile phone company Sprint and involve just three characters. The two main characters are Stephanie (played by Rebecca Staab) and Lance (played by David Chisum) who have moved into the former house of Edie Britt after her death. The third character, Elsa, was Stephanie's friend. It is eventually 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 indicating he's seeing another woman and a furious Elsa shoots him. In truth, Stephanie had sent the message herself. The final mini-episode has Elsa being arrested and Stephanie attracted to a handsome policeman at the scene. Each episode ends 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."
Ask Desperate Housewives[]
For the sixth season of the series, ABC created "Ask Desperate Housewives" to promote their website abc.go.com. It was presented and sponsored by Sprint, and it was hosted by series creator, Marc Cherry. In each special, Marc Cherry and an actress/actor of the series would answer questions that fans submitted to abc.go.com.
Social Media[]
Like many TV shows, Desperate Housewives is present on popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It is the second most 'liked' ABC show on Facebook, with 12 million 'likes', which exceeds that of other popular ABC shows such as Modern Family, Once Upon A Time, Dancing with the Stars, and Lost. On Facebook, the show can be found under the title "Desperate Housewives" with a blue check mark to confirm that it is the official page. On Twitter, Desperate Housewives is listed as "desperateABC" and has more than 200,000 followers; again, a blue check mark is present as confirmation that it is official page. Desperate Housewives' official website is abc.go.com/desperatehousewives, but entering desperatehousewives.com will also locate the page. The website features character bios, quizzes, and episode descriptions. When Desperate Housewives was on the air the last five episodes would be available on the show's site or on the ABC Player App (now known as 'Watch ABC'). Desperate Housewives is one of the few shows that has remained on the ABC website after its conclusion.
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page Desperate Housewives. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. |