# Desperate Housewives (2004)

> Four suburban housewives on Wisteria Lane navigate friendship, scandal and secrets, narrated from beyond the grave by a neighbor who died by suicide.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/656

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 177
- Episode runtime: 42 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, drama, mystery
- Created by: Marc Cherry
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, Ricardo Chavira, Doug Savant, Nicollette Sheridan, Mark Moses
- TMDB rating: 7.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410975/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: wry, campy, glossy, soapy, suspenseful

## What critics say

Audiences broadly rate the series positively, praising its soapy mysteries, sharp humor and ensemble of suburban women, with later seasons drawing somewhat lower marks.

## Synopsis

Desperate Housewives (2004-2012) is an American ABC network prime-time dramedy created by Marc Cherry, a serialized soap opera with a mystery spine. Teri Hatcher plays Susan Mayer, a divorced mother whose life is upended by a new neighborhood, while Felicity Huffman plays Lynette Scavo, an overworked mother of four, Marcia Cross plays the uptight Bree Van de Kamp, and Eva Longoria plays the glamorous Gabrielle Solis. Their friendships, marriages, and rivalries play out on a manicured suburban street where every lawn hides a secret. The engine of the show is domestic ambition colliding with scandal: affairs, cover-ups, and hidden crimes pull the women into each other's lives season after season. Each episode mixes campy melodrama with sharp satire of suburban life, and the eight-season run builds a continuing mystery that keeps the ensemble tangled. Fans of Twin Peaks, Weeds and Dallas will find resonance in its blend of glossy surfaces, wry humor and serialized intrigue. The tone is wry, glossy and soapy, with a steady undercurrent of unease beneath the perfect facades of a quiet American suburb.

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