List of Desperate Housewives episodes

Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama-mystery which premiered on ABC on October 3, 2004, in the United States. The first season had a single special episode, while the second and third season each had two. Seasons one through eight have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Desperate Housewives follows the lives of four women–Susan (Teri Hatcher), Lynette (Felicity Huffman), Bree (Marcia Cross) and Gabrielle (Eva Longoria)–through the eyes of Mary Alice (Brenda Strong), their deceased friend and neighbor.

The vast majority of the episodes are titled after lyrics by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. A total of 180 episodes of Desperate Housewives were aired over eight seasons.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2004–05)

Season one premiered on October 3, 2004 and featured a total of 23 episodes and one clip show. The show opens with the mysterious suicide of housewife Mary Alice Young on a beautiful day in the suburbs, on a street called Wisteria Lane. Mary Alice, who narrates the show from the afterlife, had four friends: Bree Van de Kamp, the seemingly perfect mother of two teenagers struggling to save her marriage; Lynette Scavo, the mother of four whose husband is always away on business; Susan Mayer, the divorced mother in search of love who finds love in the form of her new neighbour Mike Delfino, who has a secret of his own; and Gabrielle Solis, the materialistic former runway model who cheats on her husband. While trying to be good wives and mothers, the four friends also try to find out why their friend committed suicide. The discovery of a blackmail note among Mary Alice's belongings, a therapy session tape in which she admits her real name was Angela, and her widowed husband's strange behavior all pique their interest in the mysterious suicide of their friend and neighbor.

Season 2 (2005–06)

Season two premiered on September 25, 2005 and featured a total of 24 episodes (including a two-hour season finale of two episodes) and two clip shows. After discovering Mary Alice's dark secret, the housewives continue to move on with their lives. Bree, whose husband Rex Van de Kamp has just died, is not coping well with being a widow and is unwittingly dating the man who poisoned her husband. Susan, still searching for love after breaking up with Mike, ends up in bed with her ex-husband Karl Mayer who is now dating the neighborhood hussy, Edie Britt. Lynette goes back to her career in advertising, as her husband Tom Scavo becomes a stay-at-home dad. Gabrielle, who is now pregnant, decides to be faithful to her husband Carlos Solis who is now in jail – but just as she starts accepting her upcoming motherhood, she suffers a miscarriage. While managing their busy lives, the women cannot help but notice something suspicious about the new neighbors, Betty Applewhite and her son, who moved in during the middle of the night and are keeping a prisoner held captive in their basement.

Season 3 (2006–07)

Season three premiered on September 24, 2006 and features a total of 23 episodes and two clip shows. It has been six months since Orson Hodge deliberately ran Mike over with his car. Gabrielle, who found out Carlos cheated on her with their surrogate maid, refused to take him back, and now they're getting divorced, but both want to raise the newborn child. Bree, who has finally put Rex's death behind her, marries Orson. A mysterious woman (played by Laurie Metcalf) accused him of killing his wife at their engagement party, and Bree cannot help but wonder if that is true. Lynette, meanwhile, tries to adjust to having another child around the house. Ultimately she quits her job at the advertising agency to start a pizzeria with Tom. Susan, who has been waiting for Mike to wake up from his coma is shocked when she finds out her nemesis Edie has been posing as his girlfriend, since he has amnesia. And Edie has her nephew move to Wisteria Lane after she finds him trying to break into her house.

Season 4 (2007–08)

Season four premiered on September 30, 2007 and was supposed to feature a total of 23 episodes, but due to the Writers Guild of America strike it only featured a total of 17 episodes including a two-hour season finale, making season 4 the shortest season of the series.^[70] In season 4, Susan and Mike settle down into a married life and Susan finds out she's pregnant. Lynette is battling Hodgkin's lymphoma and having problems with her recently discovered stepdaughter. Bree is pretending to be pregnant with her daughter's baby so she can adopt the baby and pass it off as her own. Gabrielle is in an unhappy marriage with Fairview's mayor and is continuing her secret affair with Carlos, and after faking a suicide attempt, Edie tries to keep her relationship with Carlos intact by blackmailing him. New neighbor Katherine Mayfair moves to Wisteria Lane with a dark secret of her own. Season 4 also saw the destruction of Wisteria Lane when a tornado ripped through the neighborhood and ultimately changed the lives of everyone. By the end of the season, a 5-year time jump takes place.

Season 5 (2008–09)

The fifth season premiered on September 28, 2008, with the time period jumping five years after the previous season. Cherry had stated that flashbacks would be used infrequently to advance or illustrate a current plotline of the new season following the five-year leap.^[87] The season mystery revolves around Edie's new husband, Dave Williams, 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 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 their two daughters and with a financial crisis, as Carlos' sight returns. Bree and Orson have marriage problems, because Bree has become too focused on her career, and Orson begins to steal from neighbors as a coping mechanism. Edie dies of electrocution after a car crash, before she can expose Dave moments after she discovers his secret.

The fifth season featured the show's one-hundredth episode, revolving around Eli Scruggs (Beau Bridges), a handyman who had an important role in all of the ladies' lives. This episode features flashbacks and returning characters, including Mary Alice, Rex, and Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook). The episode was broadcast on ABC on Sunday, January 18, 2009.

Season 6 (2009–10)

The sixth season premiered on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 9pm.^[111] The main mystery of this season is surrounding new neighbor Angie Bolen and her family. The first half of the season consists of Susan's daughter Julie Mayer being strangled by an unknown person, the conflict between Gabrielle and her niece Ana Solis, 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.

Season 7 (2010–11)

The seventh season premiered on September 26, 2010^[135] and its main focus is the return of Paul Young to Wisteria Lane and his plans of seeking revenge on the residents for shunning him during his incarceration. This season also focuses on the mystery of Paul’s new wife, and Felicia Tilman's plans to avenge the death of her sister at Paul's hands. Lynette’s best friend from college, Renee Perry moves to the Lane and stirs things up among the other housewives. Gabrielle and Carlos learn an unsettling fact about their eldest daughter, which ultimately takes them back to Gabrielle’s home town of Las Colinas. 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. Carlos learns the truth about his mother’s death, consequently ending the friendship between the Solis family and Bree. Lynette persuades Tom to take an exciting new job, which leads to unprecedented problems in their marriage.

Season 8 (2011–12)

On May 17, 2011, Desperate Housewives was officially renewed by ABC for an eighth season.^{[158][159][160]} The season premiere episode was broadcast on Sunday, September 25, 2011.^[161] This season picks up straight after the dinner party that featured in the previous season finale, in which Gabrielle's perverted stepfather Alejandro Perez is unintentionally killed by Carlos. Bree, Susan and Lynette walk in on this, and conspire to cover up what has happened. Due to her relationship with detective Chuck Vance, Bree becomes the main affected by the cover-up of Alejandro's murder, and is eventually accused of killing Alejandro herself. A new neighbor, Ben Faulkner, 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 Mike's death and Julie's unexpected pregnancy. Following the cover-up of Alejandro's murder, Carlos develops an alcohol problem, but Gabrielle persuades him to recover in rehab. Due to his guilty conscience, combined with recent events on the lane, Carlos decides to leave his highly paid career for a more charitable alternative, which forces Gabrielle to take a personal shopper position to bring in more money. 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. The series concluded on May 13, 2012.

Specials

References

• "ABC episode guide". ABC.com. Retrieved 2009-07-26. 
• "Channel 4 episode guide". Channel4.com. Retrieved 2007-07-24.