SEASON ONE
In the fictional American suburb of Fairview, on a street called Wisteria Lane, the suicide of Desperate Housewives’ narrator Mary Alice Young was the event that set the whole series in motion and had viewers immediately hooked. She was a seemingly perfect housewife who, fearing the exposure of a dark family secret, took her own life. At her funeral, Mary Alice's four close friends and the show’s main characters - Bree, Lynette, Susan and Gabrielle - are introduced.
Elsewhere that season: Andrew Van de Kamp runs over Carlos Solis’ mother Juanita, moments after she photographed Gabrielle cheating on Carlos. Paul Young strangles Martha Huber for her involvement in his wife's suicide. Rex Van de Kamp dies of a heart attack in the season finale.
SEASON TWO
The scoundrel of the sophomore season was pharmacist George Williams, who we learned had drugged Rex Van de Kamp to a fatal heart attack in season one so he could get closer to Bree. During the year he courted Bree but she gradually realised that he was unstable. He overdosed on sleeping pills and then begged Bree to call an ambulance. But she had just discovered that George was responsible for Rex's death, told him that she had called the ambulance while he was sleeping, and then sat and watched him die.
Elsewhere that season: Edie learns that Susan is Karl's other woman and sets her house on fire. Felicia frames Paul for her murder - severing her own fingers in the process. Mike is run over by Orson and left for dead.
SEASON THREE
This was probably the show’s best season as there was so much going on: there were Tom and (particularly) Lynette’s various struggles; Bree’s voyage of discovery about her new man Orson; Gabrielle and Carlos’ divorce and their respective new love interests, Edie and politician Victor Lang; Mike being (wrongly) jailed for murder. Oh, it just goes on and on and on. The moment of the season, though, just had to be the seventh episode, when a gun-wielding Carolyn Bigsby created a siege situation at the local supermarket.
Elsewhere that season: Lynette discovers she has breast cancer. An amnesiac Mike is involved in a love triangle with Susan and Edie. Susan falls for a rich Scotsman.
SEASON FOUR
Interrupted by the 2007 writers’ strike, there were fewer episodes than any other season, but there was the most spectacular moment in the show’s history to that point, when a tornado struck Wisteria Lane. The event turned a huge cliffhanger and attracted an audience of over 20m in the US. The most poignant moment occurred when Lynette discovered that Mrs McCluskey’s house - where her children had been before the storm - was demolished. In the second part Lynette finds her kids alive, and learns that elderly neighbour Ida died while saving them.
Elsewhere that season: Katherine Mayfair arrives on Wisteria Lane. The season ends with a five-year flash forward. Susan and Mike have a baby. During the hurricane, Victor is killed and Carlos is struck blind.
SEASON FIVE
The skip five years ahead was a smart move as things were starting to get a little stale around the Lane. There were drastic changes for most of the characters, but the key story revolved around Mike’s accidental killing of a mother and child in a road accident. As the season rolled along, viewers discovered that the increasingly unhinged new neighbour, Dave Williams, is the husband and father of the killed couple. In the season’s key moment he can’t bring himself to kill Mike’s son MJ and ends up being placed in psychiatric care.
Elsewhere that season: Dave murders Dr Heller and burns down the White Horse Club. Mike marries a mystery woman in the season finale. Edie Britt is killed off. Carlos regains his sight. Lynette gets pregnant. Again!
SEASON SIX
As was the case two years previously, the pivotal moment in the sixth season revolves around a disaster. This time a plane crash lands on Wisteria Lane during the annual Christmas party. Among the fatalities is Karl Mayer, Susan’s first husband and father of Julie. But the ultimate sad point of the tragedy occurs when Lynette gets injured and loses one of her unborn twins. The ongoing saga this season was the identity of a killer dubbed the Fairview Strangler.
Elsewhere that season: Mike and Susan are remarried. The Bolens are by far the show’s most interesting new neighbours. Katherine has a breakdown and runs away with Robin the stripper. Orson becomes wheelchair-bound.
SEASON SEVEN
This was originally intended to be the final season, according to creator Marc Cherry. Not an epic season by any stretch, but it did mark the return of Paul Young, with a new wife in tow. It’s later revealed that Young’s wife Beth is revenge-seeking Felicia’s daughter. In the season’s most poignant moment Beth commits suicide and donates a kidney to Susan, whose life depends on a transplant. But the key event comes at the season’s end when Carlos kills Gabrielle’s evil stepfather and the housewives cover it up, leaving everyone implicated.
Elsewhere that season: new glamorous neighbour Renee is a recently-divorced, old college pal of Lynette’s. Paul gets shot when a riot develops over his halfway house for ex-cons. Lynettte and Tom split up.
John Byrne
