Desperate Housewives (Season 3)

infobox tvseason
season_name = Desperate Housewives Season 3


caption = Promotional poster for the third season.
dvd_release_date = September 4, 2007
dvd_format = Widescreen, Boxset
country = USA
network = ABC
first_aired = September 24, 2006
last_aired = May 20, 2007
num_episodes = 23|This article contains a summary of the third season of the American dramedy television series "Desperate Housewives". In the United States, season three first aired on September 24, 2006 and concluded on May 20, 2007. In addition to the twenty-three regular episodes in season three, two specials were aired; "Time to Come Clean" on September 3, 2006, and "The Juiciest Bites", on April 1, 2007.

In UK and Ireland the episodes "Listen to the Rain on the Roof" and "It Takes Two", served as a beginning-of-season double bill. Ireland began airing the episodes on January 2 2007 in the usual timeslot, but when it began on January 3 2007 in Britain, the first episode aired half-an-hour earlier than normal in the 9.30pm-10.30pm timeslot instead of 10.00pm-11.00pm, with the second episode airing at 10.30pm. The format returned to normal until the episode "Getting Married Today" aired in the UK, beginning at 10.20pm. Both reasons are due to the season premieres of Celebrity Big Brother and Big Brother respectively. Ireland finished airing the season on May 29 2007 with the UK finishing on May 30 2007

Cast

The main cast of "Desperate Housewives" season three comprises the same characters as in previous seasons. Orson Hodge has become a series regular after a recurring role in season two. New characters include Austin McCann, Alma and Gloria Hodge, Kayla and Nora Huntington, Detective Ridley, Ian Hainsworth, Carolyn Bigsby, Travers McLain and Victor Lang. Due to their many appearances in the show, Laurie Metcalf, Kathryn Joosten, Dougray Scott and Kiersten Warren were nominated along with the rest of the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble - Comedy Series this year as well, an honor that usually goes only to series regulars. [ [http://sagawards.com/PR_070104.htm] 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations.]

The UK will begin repeating episodes at 12.00noon on August 1, 2008, the day after the repeat of the season 2 finale. Hence this means Channel 4 will have finished repeating Season 3, by Tuesday 2nd September 2008. The first 10 episodes of season 4 will be to follow and these will finished on the night before episode 11 of season 4 is due to make it's premiere in the UK as no new episodes will have aired in almost 4 months. "Getting Married Today" is the only episode that has been shown on timeshift channel, channel 4+1 and was shown on 24 March 2008, on that channel at 00:45-01:50 as an encore, 3 days before the official UK premiere of season 4. Therefore, once all other season three episodes air on that channel up to What would we do without you? will be having their first airing on that channel.

tarring

*Teri Hatcher as Susan Delfino
*Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
*Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp
*Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis
*Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt
*Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Carlos Solis
*Andrea Bowen as Julie Mayer
*Doug Savant as Tom Scavo
*Kyle MacLachlan as Orson Hodge
*Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young
*James Denton as Mike Delfino

Also starring

*Shawn Pyfrom as Andrew Van de Kamp
*Joy Lauren as Danielle Van de Kamp
*Josh Henderson as Austin McCann (episodes 48-63)
*Brent Kinsman as Preston Scavo
*Shane Kinsman as Porter Scavo
*Zane Huett as Parker Scavo

Notable guest stars

*Pat Crawford Brown as Ida Greenberg
*Richard Burgi as Karl Mayer
*Dixie Carter as Gloria Hodge
*Jake Cherry as Travers McLain
*Rachel Fox as Kayla Huntington
*Kathryn Joosten as Karen McCluskey
*Cody Kasch as Zach Young
*Valerie Mahaffey as Alma Hodge
*Laurie Metcalf as Carolyn Bigsby
*Jesse Metcalfe as John Rowland
*Mark Moses as Paul Young
*Matt Roth as Art Shephard
*Dougray Scott as Ian Hainsworth
*John Slattery as Victor Lang
*Kiersten Warren as Nora Huntington
*Gwendoline Yeo as Xiao-Mei

Production

Following the departures of Tom Spezialy and Michael Edelstein, the series creator Marc Cherry was joined by Joe Keenan and George W. Perkins as executive producers for the third season of "Desperate Housewives". While Perkins had been working on the show since it's start, Keenan, who previously had worked as executive producer and writer on the sitcom "Frasier", was all new to the team. In addition the show had six co-executive producers during the season: Larry Shaw, David Grossman, Bob Daily, Kevin Murphy, Joey Murphy and John Pardee.

Marc Cherry, Kevin Murphy, Joey Murphy, John Pardee, Alexandra Cunningham, Jenna Bans, Kevin Etten, Josh Senter and Dahvi Waller continued as writers, and was joined by new executive producer Joe Keenan, as well as Susan Nirah Jaffee, Bob Daily, Brian Alexander, Christian McLaughlin, Jeff Greenstein and Valerie Ahern.

Writers Jenna Bans and Josh Senter continued as story editors for the show, and was joined by writer Dahvi Waller.

Six directors worked with the show during the season: co-executive producers Larry Shaw and David Grossman remained from the past season, as did Wendey Stanzler, while David Warren, Matthew Diamond and Sanaa Hamri did their first work on the show.

Ratings

Nielsen Ranking (2006-07 U.S. TV season; based on average total viewers per episode): #10 (17.5 million viewers) [cite news|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/features/e3ifbfdd1bcb53266ad8d9a71cad261604f|publisher=Hollywood Reporter|date=2007-05-25|title=2006-07 primetime wrap]

Plot summary

Season three's main mystery revolves around Bree's new husband, Orson Hodge. At the end of season two, Orson ran over Mike Delfino for reasons unknown at the time. Suspected of cheating on his wife, Alma (who is originally thought to be dead), and killing a woman named Monique Pollier, Orson is placed under constant suspicion from the housewives and some of the other neighbours, especially Mike, who is the main suspect in Monique's murder. To complicate matters, Orson's mother (Gloria Hodge) and Alma come to Wisteria Lane and take matters into their own hands. The housewives are brought together this season to comprehend the mystery and put the pieces of Orson's past together, while trying to sustain their individual lives that are causing them much trouble.

usan's story

Susan Mayer has moved on from Karl, her ex-husband, who is no longer a regular, but a recurring character. Mike Delfino, Susan's love interest, is in a coma after being hit by Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), and Susan has been dutifully attending to Mike in the hospital. In the hallway of the hospital, Susan meets a man named Ian Hainsworth (Dougray Scott) whose wife, Jane, is in a coma. They have coffee together, and then begin to date and later make love. When Mike wakes up from his coma in the third episode with Edie Britt at his side, he is a peculiar man and he has a darker personality, thinking that this was not an accident. He also has a type of amnesia, and has no recollection of his relationship with Susan. Edie, who continues to hate Susan, takes advantage of Mike's amnesia by convincing Mike that Susan had treated him horribly, and manipulates him into wanting her instead. Mike is later arrested on suspicion of murder; Edie breaks up with him. Susan tries to help Mike out of the murder case; Ian, jealous of Susan's apparent feelings for Mike, gets Mike out of prison on the condition that she never interacts with Mike again. After Jane dies, Ian and Susan get engaged. Mike tells Susan he wants her back and they share a kiss. Susan realises she has to choose between Mike and Ian - she chooses Ian. He however, can see her feelings for Mike and he leaves for England and breaks up with her. Susan follows Mike into the woods when she finds out he's left Wisteria Lane. She finds him and they get back together. The two are now engaged. Then the night of Gaby's wedding Susan surprised Mike with a wedding of their own and the two get married.

Lynette's story

Lynette Scavo is having a hard time integrating yet another child, Kayla Huntington (Rachel Fox), into the family. Kayla's mother, Nora (Kiersten Warren), had a one-night stand with Tom before Tom and Lynette's marriage, and has forced herself into the family and makes life difficult for the Scavos, especially Lynette. Lynette is desperate to find Nora a man, as she wants her out of the house as much as possible. Therefore, Lynette pairs Nora with Carlos. Nora is killed in a hostage situation at a supermarket while Lynette sits next to her, leaving Tom and Lynette to raise Kayla. During the altercation, Lynette is shot in the arm. Kayla hates Lynette because before Nora died, Nora kept telling Kayla that Lynette was trying to steal her. When Lynette tries to bond with Kayla, Kayla becomes cruel, even ruining Lynette's beloved childhood doll. Not only does Lynette have to deal with Nora and Kayla, she also has to deal with the fact that Tom has opened up a pizzeria, which could get the Scavo family into serious financial trouble. Lynette quits her job to help Tom run his pizzeria. Lynette has to run the restaurant when Tom is out with a back injury. She hires a new manager, Rick, whom she begins to have feelings for. She has dinner with him before she goes home every night. One night the pizzeria gets robbed, and Lynette and Rick get locked in the freezer for the night. Tom then sees security-tape footage of the two in the freezer and begins to get suspicious about their relationship. He takes Rick out for lunch and asks him if he is sleeping with his wife, Rick replies no but Tom still tells him that he has to quit. Rick then tells Lynette that he has feelings for her which forces her to fire him so that nothing happens between them to jeopardise her relationship with Tom. She's deeply unhappy in her marriage with Tom. He tries to trick her into talking about their marital problems with his "friend" who is actually a marriage counselor. At home, Lynette gets into a fight with Tom, and he pushes her off the bed and she gets hurt and has to be rushed to the hospital. At the hospital, they tell Lynette that she probably has lymphoma. After the diagnosis is confirmed, Lynette's mother comes to stay with Lynette to help her while she battles cancer.

Bree's story

Bree Van de Kamp and Orson Hodge become engaged in the season premiere, and wed in the second episode of the season. Her son, Andrew, also returns, and we learn that he became a male prostitute shortly after Bree dumped him on the side of the road at the end of season two. The big mystery of the season revolves around Orson's past, involving his first wife, Alma, and a murdered woman named Monique Polier. Orson's personal history brings the other housewives together in suspicion. It is slowly revealed that Orson's first wife, a woman named Alma, planned on leaving Orson. How their marriage truly ended is a mystery, but Bree becomes suspicious that Orson killed her. The police find a dead woman's body, believed to be Alma, but eventually discovered to be Orson's mistress, Monique. The discovery of Mike's phone number written on her hand leads the police to become suspicious of Mike and eventually arrest him.

Orson's mother, Gloria, moves in with Orson and Bree around the time that Alma returns, alive and well (she left Orson because of his affair). It is later revealed that Mike's phone number was on Monique's hand because she had plumbing problems. It is also revealed that Gloria killed Monique in "self-defense" after she told Monique to stay away from Orson. Orson is drugged and raped by Alma, who eventually realizes (with some "emotional support" from Orson's mother) that he will never come back to her. Gloria locks Alma in her attic, and begins an attempt to kill Bree. Bree, who has found evidence of Monique's death (a bag of teeth ripped from her mouth), falls off a ladder during her efforts to take a decoy bag of teeth, causing a concussion. Alma escapes the attic, only to fall three-stories to her death. Gloria tries to kill Bree, but Andrew comes to the rescue; he left early from the grand opening of Tom's pizza place when Danielle showed up and said she didn't have to be with Bree anymore because Gloria came to take care of her. After Andrew rushes home he gets knocked out by Gloria, who tries once again to kill Bree. Orson enters and saves Bree, and Gloria has a stroke, leaving her permanently paralyzed but with full mental capacity. Orson visits her, only in order to let her see him walk out of her door for the final time. Orson also uses a fake suicide note written by Alma and the bag of teeth to exonerate Mike. Bree and Orson finally leave for their honeymoon.

Marcia Cross (Bree) has been absent in the last episodes of the season due to maternity leave. However, in the season finale, Bree returns, and is, to all appearances, pregnant. Bree is faking the pregnancy to cover up the real pregnancy of her daughter, Danielle. We see Bree removing a bag, which was used to make her look pregnant. Danielle, meanwhile is hidden in a remote location. Bree and Orson plan to hide Danielle's pregnancy and purport her future child to be their own.

Gabrielle's story

Gabrielle Solis and her husband Carlos get divorced early in the season. In the season premiere, their surrogate maid Xiao-Mei (Gwendoline Yeo) is confined to bed rest because of her pregnancy. Gabrielle is her reluctant — and obnoxious — caretaker, threatening Xiao-Mei with deportation to China whenever she is too demanding. Xiao-Mei has the baby in the second episode of the season, but is is revealed that, due to a mix-up, it is not Carlos and Gabrielle's baby, but an African-American baby. Their embryo had been switched with someone else's, and theirs was not conceived by the person to whom it was switched. Xiao-Mei moves into an apartment after giving birth, for which Carlos and Gabrielle paid. During her bitter and unpleasant divorce from Carlos, Gabrielle tries to settle with other men. After the divorce is final, Gabrielle starts mentoring young girls in pageantry with her former personal shopper, Vern. One of the girls, Amy Pearce, has a widower father, Bill, with whom Gabrielle begins a romantic relationship. But soon after starting to date Bill, Gabrielle notices that she has a secret admirer. She suspects the admirer is Carlos trying to sabotage her relationship, although it is later revealed as Zach Young, who is now a billionaire (his grandfather died, leaving Zach his entire estate). Gabrielle becomes disgusted with him, yet when Susan asks Gaby to persuade Zach to get a lawyer for Mike, she agrees to go out on a date with Zach. Zach and Gabrielle become "friends," but when she moves on to other men, he becomes outraged. He begins to sabotage her relationships, with him eventually lying to her about them having sexual intercourse. Carlos reveals the fault, stating that she would have remembered having sex with him (after catching a glimpse of Zach's large penis in the bathroom). Then, Zach proposes to her, but Gabrielle "shows him the door." Shortly thereafter she begins to date Victor Lang, a political run-in for Fairview mayor and they get married. However, Gaby looks for Victor to introduce him to Bree at the reception, sneaks up to a room to find Victor and his father discussing how they got Gaby to marry him; he only wanted to secure the Minority vote. Then they talk about how Victor is the husband and makes all the choices now. Gaby leaves and finds Carlos in a room depressed as well. The two kiss and it is implied that they sleep together.

Edie's story

Edie Britt is still angry at Susan. After Mike was run over, Edie was always at the hospital and convinces Mike that Susan had treated him horribly. She also makes Mike believe he never loved Susan and that she's been in love with him since she first saw him. Susan goes to see Mike and sees him and Edie having sex on the hospital bed; Susan rushes out. This causes even more tension between her and Susan. Eventually Edie and Mike become involved but the relationship is short lived. After Mike is released from the hospital, he is arrested for Monique's murder and Edie breaks up with him. Edie's 18-year-old nephew, Austin McCann (Josh Henderson), moves in with her at the beginning of the season. Susan's daughter, Julie, begins with a healthy distaste for him but there ends up to be a spark between the two. After sitting through the supermarket hostage situation, they begin to date, much to Susan's displeasure. Edie warns Julie to stay away from Austin but Julie sleeps with Austin anyway. However, unknown to Julie, Austin had an affair with Danielle. Julie has Edie pose as her mother so she can get birth control pills without her mother finding out. Edie's son, Travers, stays for a month, and she asks Carlos to babysit once in a while. They get on well and Edie soon becomes attracted to Carlos, and makes a pass. They begin a relationship, but Edie is worried it's just because of Travers. She hires a lawyer to get joint custody, but Carlos convinces her not to, and re-assures Edie he will be there for her when Travers has to leave. After Travers leaves with his father, Edie would like for Carlos to move in with her. Because Mike and Carlos shared a house, and Mike is marrying Susan, Carlos takes over the lease, and he is renting from Mrs. Simms, who is in a nursing home. Edie visits her at the home, and then tells her that Carlos is an alcoholic, does drugs, and is intending to use her home as a place he can hook up with prostitutes. Mrs. Simms terminates the lease, and her son tells Carlos he is being evicted. Edie offers Carlos a place to stay at her house, but he is suspicious that she was involved. He is angry when he found she manipulated others to get him to move in with her. She then tells him she might be pregnant with his child. After they find that she was not, in fact, pregnant, she suggests that he stay with her and they together try for a baby. She begins taking birth control, because she would not like to have children with him unless he truly loves her. While looking for money in Edie's purse to pay the paper boy, Carlos discovers Edie's birth control pills. At Gabby's wedding, Carlos confronts Edie and tells her he can never trust her again, Edie tries to apologize but is unsuccessful. At the closing scene of the season, Edie is shown with a sealed letter to her "beloved" Carlos, and hangs herself with a scarf.

Mary Alice's story

The spirit of Mary Alice Young continues to watch over the neighborhood and narrates the show. For the sixteenth episode, My Husband, the Pig, she is temporarily replaced by Bree's deceased husband Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp), who returns to the series narrating the episode from a male perspective.

Ratings - Australia:

Aired Mondays at 8.30 on the Seven Network; season debuted Monday February 5th 2007, had a one week 'hiatus' during the Easter break (following ep: 3-09) and the finale aired July 16th 2007. The Houswives remained a popular fixture in most of the capital city markets, the exception being Brisbane where the shows audience somewhat 'capitulated'.

References