"Desperate Housewives" (2004) TV series 2004-????

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Creator:

Marc Cherry

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | unknown

Release Date:

3 October 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Tempting, isn't it?

Plot:

Secrets and truths unfold through the lives of female friends in one suburban neighborhood, after the mysterious suicide of a neighbor.

Plot Keywords:

Secret | Friend | Suicide | Blackmail | Neighborhood

Awards:

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 38 wins & 106 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 10	4:00 PM	LIFE	You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover	#4.7
Tue. Nov. 10	5:00 PM	LIFE	A Distant Past	#4.8

Cast

Teri Hatcher	...	Susan Mayer / ... (124 episodes, 2004-2009)
Felicity Huffman	...	Lynette Scavo (124 episodes, 2004-2009)
Marcia Cross	...	Bree Hodge / ... (124 episodes, 2004-2009)
Eva Longoria Parker	...	Gabrielle Solis / ... (124 episodes, 2004-2009)
Ricardo Chavira	...	Carlos Solis (124 episodes, 2004-2009)
Brenda Strong	...	Mary Alice Young (124 episodes, 2004-2009)
Doug Savant	...	Tom Scavo (119 episodes, 2004-2009)
James Denton	...	Mike Delfino (119 episodes, 2004-2009)
Nicollette Sheridan	...	Edie Britt (112 episodes, 2004-2009)
Shawn Pyfrom	...	Andrew Van De Kamp (97 episodes, 2004-2009)
Andrea Bowen	...	Julie Mayer (94 episodes, 2004-2009)
Brent Kinsman	...	Preston Scavo (86 episodes, 2004-2008)
Shane Kinsman	...	Porter Scavo (86 episodes, 2004-2008)
Kyle MacLachlan	...	Orson Hodge (80 episodes, 2006-2009)
Zane Huett	...	Parker Scavo (80 episodes, 2004-2008)
Joy Lauren	...	Danielle Van De Kamp (72 episodes, 2004-2008)
Kathryn Joosten	...	Karen McCluskey (57 episodes, 2004-2009)
Dana Delany	...	Katherine Mayfair (53 episodes, 2007-2009)
Cody Kasch	...	Zach Young (52 episodes, 2004-2007)
Mark Moses	...	Paul Young (51 episodes, 2004-2007)

Runtime:

45 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (video rating) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) (video rating) | Malaysia:U | Singapore:M18 (season 2) | Germany:12 | UK:15 | Ireland:15 | Spain:18 | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:18 | Singapore:PG (season 1) (season 3) | Hungary:16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:NC-16 (season 4) | South Korea:15 (season 5) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | USA:TV-14 | Mexico:B | Portugal:M/12 | USA:TV-PG (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

First Christian Church of North Hollywood - 4390 Colfax Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cherry Alley Productions

Trivia:

Teri Hatcher broke two ribs filming the scene where she stumbles into a wedding cake and insisted they didn't stop production.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Susan's last name is at first pronounced "Meyer" occasionally by all characters, before it eventually changes to "Mayer" for the second season onward.

Quotes:

Gabrielle: I want a sexy little convertible! And I want to buy one, right now!
Maserati Saleswoman: I'll go start the paperwork.
Gabrielle: Well, not this one. I... vomited in this one.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Tripping the Rift: The Movie (2008) (V)

"Desperate," Guilty and Loving Every Friggin' Minute Of It!

Some thirty years ago now, a fledgling writer and self-admitted 'desperate housewife' herself, one Susan Harris was sitting watching the gawd-awful writing and acting being perpetrated on some daytime sudser and said, "Well, hell! I can do this, and I can do it better!" And so she sat down and started work on what became one of the most ground-breaking series of its time, SOAP.

Fast-forward to 2004. Miraculously, and not a moment too soon, the can-do spirit and twisted, blackly comic sensibility that Susan Harris blended into her frothy concoction has seeped into the consciousness and the pen of one Mr. Marc Cherry, and television right now is all the better for it.

It was high time, in a slate of shows that range from the ones that take themselves all too seriously (THE WEST WING, ER and about any other medical or cop drama you can name), to the ones that have no shame at all (AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS, FEAR FACTOR and every 'reality show' going), that somebody took the complete, over-the-top ridiculousness of both day-and-night-time soaps and gave them a good, hard shake.

DESPERATE is not a sitcom, but nothing on television right now makes me laugh harder. It isn't a straight drama, but I find myself just as involved as if I were watching LOST or THE SHIELD. It's not some stiff, stodgy or saccharine, treacly morality play, but when it comes to having a sense of those "family values" that certain politicians are so fond of emphasizing, it carries in one episode more commentary about love, compassion and caring for one's fellow man than all the seasons of JOAN OF ARCADIA and "that show with Della Reese" combined.

Not that it's going to receive the Nobel Prize anytime soon. I would just as soon settle for seeing every member of the terrific cast win an Emmy every year this show runs, and sooner or later, I have no doubt that it will happen.

But besides bringing us a terrific show to look forward to on Sunday nights, (something that hasn't happened for me personally since the heyday of THE X-FILES), let us give thanks for something else that TV has been far too slow in acknowledging...the value of beautiful, brainy and talented actresses over 40.

For realizing that Teri Hatcher DESPERATELY needed a role that would prove she could do a helluva lot more than play yet another version of Lois Lane. That Felicity Huffman, one of our most under-appreciated talents, DESPERATELY needed the sustenance of a role like Lynette Scavo to sink her teeth into. That Marcia Cross DESPERATELY needed the kind of showcase for HER talents that the likes of Frances Conroy, CCH Pounder, Sharon Gless and other top notch actresses only get on cable, and that Bree Van De Kamp will prove once and for all what we always knew from MELROSE PLACE--this woman ROCKS!, and for giving Eva Longoria something that all actors as gorgeous as she have DESPERATELY needed forever...the chance to prove that being a treat for the eyes, does not automatically mean that your acting talent is about as deep as a kiddie wading pool.

Thank you, thank you, thank you...and thank you for making us all DESPERATE for more of the shady doings on the sunny side of the streets of Wisteria Lane.