Desperate Housewives was narrated by a woman who dies in its first episode
Every episode of Desperate Housewives was framed by the voice of Mary Alice Young, whose sudden suicide opens the pilot and sets up the first mystery. Her neighbours on Wisteria Lane then spent eight seasons hiding crimes behind tidy lawns, and at its peak the show drew an audience estimated at 120 million worldwide.
Created by Marc Cherry, who also ran the show, the series aired on ABC from October 3, 2004 to May 13, 2012, totalling 180 episodes. It is set on Wisteria Lane in Fairview, a made-up town in an equally made-up Eagle State. Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria led the cast as four friends, while Brenda Strong voiced the late Mary Alice, occasionally appearing in flashbacks and dreams.
Its structure blended soap and whodunit. Each season hung its domestic storylines on a central puzzle: why Mary Alice killed herself, then a newcomer keeping someone locked in her basement, then the dark past of Bree's new husband, Orson. Around those mysteries ran stories of marriages, careers, children and affairs. Across its run the show covered fifteen years of the characters' lives, helped by a leap forward of five years at the close of the fourth season.
Ratings were huge. Its first five seasons all ranked among the ten most-watched American series, and it stayed in the top ten for viewers aged 18 to 49 into its sixth. In 2007 it was reported as the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, and data from Eurodata TV Worldwide placed it as the most-watched comedy internationally from 2006 into 2012. In 2010 it earned $2.74 million per half hour, the third-highest figure of any series.
The show collected Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Entertainment Weekly later put it 56th on a list of new television classics. ABC confirmed in August 2011 that the eighth season would be the last. By the finale it had overtaken Charmed for the most episodes of any hour-long series built around an all-female lead cast.
Source: Desperate Housewives
