History Series / DesperateHousewives

''Desperate Housewives'' is not a porn mag, but an American SundayEveningDramaSeries on [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]], about bored wives living in Wisteria Lane, a {{suburbia}} in the fictional city of Fairview, Eagle State that all experience endless drama in their lives after the suicide of their friend. The entire series is [[{{Narrator}} narrated]] by the dulcet tones of [[NearDeathClairvoyance the aforementioned late friend]].

''Desperate Housewives'' is not a porn mag, but an American SundayEveningDramaSeries on Creator/[[AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]], about bored wives living in Wisteria Lane, a {{suburbia}} in the fictional city of Fairview, Eagle State that all experience endless drama in their lives after the suicide of their friend. The entire series is [[{{Narrator}} narrated]] by the dulcet tones of [[NearDeathClairvoyance the aforementioned late friend]].

''Desperate Housewives'' is not a porn mag, but an American SundayEveningDramaSeries on Creator/{{ABC}}, about bored wives living in Wisteria Lane, a {{suburbia}} in the fictional city of Fairview, Eagle State that all experience endless drama in their lives after the suicide of their friend. The entire series is [[{{Narrator}} narrated]] by the dulcet tones of [[NearDeathClairvoyance the aforementioned late friend]].

* DawsonCasting: Inverted, thanks to the TimeSkip. Danielle and Julie are now several years older than their still-teenage actresses.

* BrainlessBeauty: Susan's mother Sophie was seemingly one in her youth ([[SilverVixen and arguably still is]]), being a much married serial romantic whom even Mary Alice calls "hoplessly naive" in her narration.

* FollowTheLeader: The idea for the series is said to have been inspired by ''Film/AmericanBeauty''. (What's funny is in that movie, the story is told from the husband's POV.)
* ForcedFromTheirHome: Bree abandoned Andrew by the side of the road at the end of Season 2 due to his increasingly out of control behavior. He did return in Season 3, though, after six months living on the street, much more humbled.

* TheAlcoholic: Bree, for the majority of the series (though usually [[RecoveredAddict in recovery]]), and then later Andrew and Carlos
* AlphabeticalThemeNaming / LetterMotif: Lynette's kids; Porter, Parker, Preston,Penny, and Paige. Paige's twin, a baby Tom and Lynette lost, was to be named Patrick. Not to mention Lynette and her sisters -- Lydia and Lucy.

Has a [[Characters/DesperateHousewives Character Sheet]]. Feel free to contribute.

** In the first season, Bree's son Andrew accidentally runs over Carlos's mother Juanita, an event that results in her death. The plot is seemingly resolved when Andrew is sent to a rehabilitation camp as punishment by his parents for his crime and various other transgressions. However, the plot is revived when Bree and Andrew confess to Gabby in the season 6 finale. Carlos eventually learns about Andrew's involvement in his mother's death in season 7, which leads to some hostility between him and Bree.
** In the season 1 episode "Your Fault", Lynette and Tom's plot deals with the latter's father having an affair. At some point, Tom mentions to his father something that his wife Lynette is never supposed to know. The audience is led to believe that this has to do with Tom working with his ex-girlfriend, but we learn in the seventh season that this refers to a [[spoiler:one-night stand Tom had with Renee Perry when he and Lynette were briefly broken up.]]

* AccidentalSuicide: After being exposed [[spoiler: as a murderer in Season 2, George Williams swallows a [[SuicideByPills deadly dose of sleeping pills]]]]. However, he didn't actually intend to die; he was expecting his ex-fiancee [[spoiler: Bree Van de Kamp to save him by calling for an ambulance. Unfortunately for him, [[DidntSeeThatComing she chooses not to]] and [[MurderByInaction lets him die]], letting everyone believe that he committed suicide]].

** [[spoiler: Nora Huntington]].

** Season 1: [[spoiler: Mary Alice Young]], since she was the one who killed Deirdre.
** Season 2: [[spoiler: Matthew Applewhite]]
** Season 3: [[spoiler: Gloria Hodge]], the murderer of Monique.
** Season 4: [[spoiler: Wayne Davis, Katherine's bitter CorruptCop ex-husband]].
** Season 5: [[spoiler: Dave Williams]]
** Season 6: [[spoiler: Patrick Logan, Angie's ex-husband]].
** Season 7: [[spoiler: Felicia Tillman]], as an ironic reversal to the situation in the first season.

*** Arguably, [[spoiler: Ramon Sanchez/Alejandro Perez, Gaby's step father]] is the big bad. Sure, [[spoiler: he was killed at the end of the previous season]], but it's because of him that a lot of the plot points occur.
* BigBadEnsemble: As stated above, the show had this during the final season. First, there's [[spoiler: Alejandro, as mentioned above. Although he's dead, his death triggered a lot of events, and almost got Bree arrested towards the end]]. Then there's [[spoiler: Donny, a loan shark that Ben borrowed money from. Notably, he's the only "Big Bad" that killed a main character directly. Notable in that, while he did get arrested for the murder, he's still pretty much a KarmaHoudini, because we never see him in prison or anything]]. Next, [[spoiler: Chuck Vance, Bree's former boyfriend who investigating her for Alejandro's murder. Orson killed him, and just a few episodes later, Orson ended up being one of the big bads, since he sent evidence that Bree participated in covering up Alejandro's murder after she rejected him]]. Finally, [[spoiler: There's Detective Murphy, a friend of Chuck's. He tries to find evidence against Bree after Chuck is killed, and even tries to frame her]]. Also, [[spoiler: Jane is something of a minor bad, since she's trying to hurry Lynette and Tom's divorce]].

* BittersweetEnding: The finale has Mary Alice funnily explain the peaceful destinies of the housewives, [[spoiler: Lynette remarrying Tom and finally landing her dream job as a CEO in New York, Gabrielle moving to California and becoming the host of a home-shopping TV show; Bree marrying Trip and becoming a legislator in Kentucky while Susan's destiny is left a bit on the dark, but with her children and granddaughter by her side]]. Then we understand that [[spoiler: they will never meet again]]. Plus, [[spoiler: Karen succumbs to cancer, but at least she's revealed to be with her son in the afterlife]]. It gets worse when Jennifer, the new owner of Susan's house, [[HereWeGoAgain is revealed to have a terrible secret of her own.]]

* CryForTheDevil: Deliberately invoked in "''Epiphany''", where we see how years of emotional abuse and neglect caused [[spoiler: Eddie Orlofsky]] to go from a sweet kid into become the notorious Fairview Strangler.

* MadnessMantra: [[spoiler: Eddie Orlofsky]], before he strangles women who [[BerserkButton mock him]].
--> [[spoiler: '''Eddie''']]: Please stop laughing at me...

** Season 8's subplot [[spoiler: on Karen's illness, which would later turn on a major plot point in the finale, was heavily inspired by the Kathryn Joosten's previous two experiences with cancer and her third relapse, which coincided with the filming and would cause her death just weeks after the series finale aired in May 2012]].

** Angie has a horrific looking burn scar on her back, which she got [[spoiler: from her days as an eco-terroist]]. She doesn't seem to mind it though, probably because its always covered.
** Dylan Davis recieved a scar on her arm from a childhood bike injury. The absence of this same scar on an adult Dylan clues in Wayne about the truth that [[spoiler: she isn't the real Dylan.]]

*** Actually, the reason that Carlos put Lynette through hell was because Gabrielle had asked him too(which is shown in a quick scene where Gabrielle admits a bit of guilt for it). The reason why he fires her, is because [[spoiler: Lynnette sends her Lawyer to his house]]. His justification is that firing a pregnant woman would be bad PR, so he does increasingly cruel things to force her to leave, finally firing her because she could not complete the ''impossible'' task of auditing an entire years finances in less than a ''day''. Overall, this [[InsaneTrollLogic doesn't make that much sense]], since this would be pretty solid grounds for suing him for unfair dismissal and harassment, potentially giving the company even ''worse'' PR! It's even worse than no-one even points this out!

* AmazingFreakingGrace: At [[spoiler: Mike's]] funeral.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Karl is killed in a plane crash by the very plane he hired to fly a banner over Wisteria Lane]].

* HarsherInHindsight: In-universe, [[spoiler: Eddie]] saying, “People are always telling me how funny I am,” and that his (awful) stand up comedy routine is "going to kill".

* HereWeGoAgain: [[spoiler: The ending of the very last episode features a woman moving into Susan's house after she leaves, taking out a box that she looks at with worry before hiding it, clearly implying it containing a secret. And that's where it ends]].

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Kayla attempted this in the last few episodes of season four...[[spoiler: and ultimately backfired on her]].

** [[spoiler: Orson's ex-wife, who was believed to be dead]] in season three.

* AloneWithThePsycho: Just about every season, such as [[spoiler: Lynette with Eddie]], Susan with [[spoiler:Zach]], Susan and M.J. with [[spoiler:Dave.]]

* ArcWords: As of season 8, the note saying [[spoiler: I know what you did, it makes me sick, I'm going to tell]].

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Julie has a baby with Porter in the last episode.]]

* BlackAndGrayMorality: As the series progresses, the housewives and their families commit acts that are more and more questionable, both morally and legally. Such acts include sleeping with an underage boy, denying aid to a man who has poisoned himself, hiding the corpse of a murder victim and so on. Mary Alice went so far as [[spoiler: murdering a young woman.]] On the other hand, a good part of these deeds have a motivation behind them, and the villains are more dangerous than the protagonists, being mentally unstable (Dave), domestic abusers (Wayne) or straight-up sociopaths (Gloria).

* FamilyBusiness: The Scavo pizzeria which [[spoiler: may finally be dead]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* IdiotBall: Susan in "Suspicion Song". After they are ''finally'' in the clear for [[spoiler: Alejandro's murder, she decides to ''paint'' a series of portraits of the event in her art class, which her teacher ends up putting into an art gallery, in plain view of the public]]. Not your finest moment there...
** In "Who Can Say What's True", Susan then proceeds to continue this long streak of bad decisions by [[spoiler: investigating Alejandro's life by travelling to his home, where she meets his family. Because after covering up a man's murder, it's only natural to want to become acquainted with their kin, right? There is absolutely ''nothing'' suspicious or potentially implicating about that?!]]

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Art Shepard. Lynette suspects he's a pedophile after finding some risque photos of young boys in his basement. This quickly spreads throughout the neighborhood, and they show up to protest at Art's house. The stress induced by the rumors and protests causes Art's sister Rebecca to go into cardiac arrest and ultimately pass away. Lynette feels guilty for jumping to conclusions, and when she apologizes to Art, he pretty much admits to being a pedophile. After that, we never hear from him again, having apparently moved off of Wisteria Lane]].

** "Epiphany", takes the Sondheim allusions even further, as much like in Sweeney Todd, we learn the precise RageBreakingPoint that drove kindhearted [[spoiler: Eddie Orlofsky]] to become a deranged serial killer.

** Edie narrates the episode following [[spoiler: her own death]].

** In the episode ''Bang!'' in Season 3, [[spoiler: Carolyn Bigsby]] snaps and takes a local supermarket [[HostageSituation hostage]]. The episode is also peppered with Lynette having [[RecurringDreams recurring dreams]] of Mary Alice.

* TwistEnding: The show tries, but over time the twists have became easier and easier to spot, the worst being season 5, when everyone had the whole mystery figured after the first episode. Season 6 finally was able to pull off a surprise when it came to [[spoiler: Patrick's demise]] thanks to red herrings and misleading spoilers.
** In Season 5, it is explicitly stated from the start that [[spoiler: Dave is planning to kill Mike]], so the tension of this Season comes from DramaticIrony, we watch as he gets close to the main characters, always knowing his motive.

''Desperate Housewives'' is not a porn mag, but an American TV drama on Creator/{{ABC}}, about bored wives living in Wisteria Lane, a {{suburbia}} in the fictional city of Fairview, Eagle State that all experience endless drama in their lives after the suicide of their friend. The entire series is [[{{Narrator}} narrated]] by the dulcet tones of [[NearDeathClairvoyance the aforementioned late friend]].

* HarsherInHindsight: In-universe, [[spoiler: Eddie]] claims his (awful) stand up comedy routine is "going to kill".

** Carlos seems to go back and forth on this. For the most part he's an easy going nice guy, but sometimes he will suddenly become a intimidating vindictive ass doing needlessly villainous things, such as firing Lynette when she's the sole supporter of a family of six and pregnant with twins solely because he didn't want to give her maternity leave.

* BrotherChuck: Mike's dog Bongo was an important character in the early episodes but has not been seen or mentioned since mid-season 2.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Gabrielle once tries to convince Carlos that she has "sexsomnia". Probably fewer than ten percent watching the show know [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_sex it's a real condition]].

Airing for eight seasons from 2004 to 2012, ''Desperate Housewives'' surpassed ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' as the longest-running hour-long TV series with all-female leads. Alongside ''Series/{{Lost}}'', the show helped pull ABC out of a DorkAge of low ratings and critical reviews. It also gained a PC game adaptation, bizarrely enough.

* CourtroomAntic: Carlos' trial.

* LousyLoversAreLosers: Edit Britt claims her first husband was terrible in bed and she spent the entire marriage faking a lot of orgasms. But she claims it was WorthIt since it taught her how to lie and bluff.