Desperate Housewives (Season 1)

infobox tvseason
season_name = Desperate Housewives Season 1


caption = Promotional poster for the first season.
dvd_release_date = September 20, 2005
dvd_format = Widescreen, Boxset
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = October 3, 2004
last_aired = May 22, 2005
num_episodes = 23
prev = None
next = Desperate Housewives (season two)

This article contains a summary of the first season of the American dramedy television series "Desperate Housewives".

The season first aired on October 3, 2004 and concluded on May 22, 2005. In addition to the twenty-three regular episodes in season one, a special, "Sorting Out the Dirty Laundry", was aired on April 24, 2005.

The First Season aired in the UK between January 5 2005 and June 1 2005. There were no gaps between episodes. Ireland was always 1 day ahead of the United Kingdom. Episodes 22 + 23 were aired as an end-of-season double bill in Europe

Cast

For the first season of Desperate Housewives, thirteen characters were included in the main cast: the five leading women, as well as Rex Van de Kamp, Carlos Solis, Paul, Zach and Mary Alice Young, Julie Mayer, John Rowland and Mike Delfino.

tarring

*Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer
*Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
*Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp
*Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis
*Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt
*Steven Culp as Rex Van de Kamp
*Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Carlos Solis
*Mark Moses as Paul Young
*Andrea Bowen as Julie Mayer
*Cody Kasch as Zach Young
*Jesse Metcalfe as John Rowland
*Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young
*James Denton as Mike Delfino

Notable guest stars

*Roger Bart as George Williams
*Mehcad Brooks as Matthew Applewhite
*Pat Crawford Brown as Ida Greenberg
*Richard Burgi as Karl Mayer
*Ryan Carnes as Justin
*Christine Estabrook as Martha Huber
*Bob Gunton as Noah Taylor
*Harriet Sansom Harris as Felicia Tilman
*Zane Huett as Parker Scavo
*Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey
*Brent Kinsman as Preston Scavo
*Shane Kinsman as Porter Scavo
*Joy Lauren as Danielle Van de Kamp
*Shawn Pyfrom as Andrew Van de Kamp
*Doug Savant as Tom Scavo
*Alfre Woodard as Betty Applewhite

Production

Joining series creator Marc Cherry as executive producers for the first season of "Desperate Housewives" was Tom Spezialy and Michael Edelstein, while Kevin Murphy served as co-executive producer.

Cherry and Spezialy also wrote the most episodes. The other writers of the first season include Kevin Murphy, John Pardee and Joey Murphy, Alexandra Cunningham, Jenna Bans, Kevin Etten, Josh Senter, Chris Black, Adam Barr, David Schulner, Katie Ford, Oliver Goldstick, Patty Lin and Tracey Stern - many of them also serving as producers.

Writer Kevin Etten also was story editor during the shows first year.

Seven directors worked with the show during the season: Larry Shaw (who also was one of the producers during the season), Arlene Sanford, Jeff Melman, Fred Gerber, David Grossman, John David Coles and Charles McDougall.

Plot summary

The show opens with the suicide of Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), who narrates the episodes from beyond the grave. Mary Alice's suicide leaves behind a mystery involving her husband Paul Young (Mark Moses), her son Zach (Cody Kasch), and a mysterious toy chest, which Paul digs out from underneath the family's pool. Ultimately, it is revealed to have contained the skeletal remains of a dead woman's body. The story unravels through Mary Alice's four friends and neighbors. Each has her own storyline that ties into the theme of being a "desperate" housewife: accident-prone single mother Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) trying to find love; perfect housewife Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross), mother of two problematic teenagers, who struggles to save her marriage; married Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman) tries to be super-mom to four children while longing to return to her life as a corporate executive; and materialistic, adulterous ex-runway model Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) who tries to keep her husband from finding out about her affair, and then finds out she's pregnant.

In its first season, the show reveals the mystery of why Mary Alice took her own life and the quest by a mysterious "plumber" named Mike Delfino (James Denton) to find out the fate of his former lover, drug addict Deirdre. By the end of the season, the show resolves the mystery with the revelation that 15 years ago, when Mary Alice's name was Angela Forrest, she buys the heroin-addicted Deirdre's only son Dana, and then flees with her husband Todd (now Paul) to Fairview (the town "Housewives" is set in) to keep the child (now named Zach) from being taken away from them. When Deirdre finds them, Mary Alice refuses to give up the child.

Upon being accused of being back on drugs, Deirdre hits Paul (Mary Alice's husband) and goes to get her son. Mary Alice, shocked, murders her, checks her arm for signs of drug use (she was not), and has her horrified husband dismember the body, put it in Zach's toy-chest, and bury it where the family is building a new pool in their backyard. All this happens while a 4-year-old Zach is watching them from the staircase. What Mary Alice does not count on is that one of her neighbours, Martha Huber, learns of Mary Alice's secret from her sister, Felicia Tilman (Harriet Sansom Harris), (with whom Mary Alice had worked before coming to Fairview). After learning the secret, Martha attempts to blackmail Mary Alice. Rather than face the blackmail, Mary Alice kills herself.

Later, when Paul finds this out, he kills Martha after she tells him she does not have any regrets about her blackmailing and its result. Mike (Deirdre's former lover) learns this information from Paul, whom Mike leaves in the desert (rather than killing) after Mike realizes Zach is his son. As a surprising twist, Bree's husband Rex (Steven Culp) dies of poisoning shortly after George Williams, a pharmacist in love with Bree, tampered with his heart attack medication and Bree intentionally prolonged his desperate attempt to reach medical help in a hospital. Bree's behavior is caused by her being angry at her husband because she was told by George, who lied and said that Rex had bragged to his co-workers about their sex life, or more specifically Bree's attempts at being a dominatrix to satiate Rex's BDSM needs.

Ratings

Nielsen ranking (2004-05 U.S. TV season; based on average total viewers per episode): #4 (23.71 million viewers) [cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/television/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000937471|publisher=Hollywood Reporter|date=2005-05-27|title=2004-05 Final audience and ratings figures]

Ratings - United Kingdom:

BARB ratings are as follows (BARB ratings are the viewing figures of the British Public)

(*) Note: "Goodbye for Now" and "One Wonderful Day" were served as an end of season double bill and ran from 10.00pm-12.00am on June 1 2005

The Season Average was roughly 4.2 million

Ratings - Australia:

Aired Mondays at 8.30 on the Seven Network; The program debuted Monday January 31st 2005, had a two week 'hiatus' during the Easter break (following ep: 2-07), a one week hiatus in July (following ep 1-20) and was interrupted by two recap specials: one following ep 1-19 and the other after ep 1-21. The season finale aired August 13th 2005. The show was the number one regularly scheduled program in 2005; 6 of its episodes making the Top 20 most watched Broadcasts of that year.

References