Wisteria Lane is a perfect upper-middle-class American suburb, with beautiful homes, neat lawns, minivans and sport-utility vehicles in the driveways, and an occasional baseball game in the street for the youngsters. But there are troubles beneath the surface.
Lynette Scavo is a former businesswoman who decided to get off the career track to raise four children. An attractive woman, Lynette is harried, anxious, frustrated at her three sons who misbehave at the drop of a hat, while getting little or no help from her always traveling husband (Doug Savant). Her neighbour Gabrielle Solis is a former model who married wealthy Carlos. He gives her all the possessions she desires, but not the physical relationship she craves. So while Carlos is out making his latest deal, Gabrielle turns to her buff teenage gardener John. John not only keeps Carlos’ beloved roses in full bloom, he pays particular attention to Gabrielle’s personal garden.
Book illustrator Susan Mayer is divorced with a bright teenage daughter. Getting back into the dating scene is the furthest thing from her mind-until she meets her new neighbor, the good looking plumber Mike. Unfortunately for Susan, she must compete for Mike’s affections with fellow Wisteria Lane resident Edie Britt, the town tramp with more Botox and silicone than most of Hollywood could ever dream of.
Then there’s dedicated housewife Bree Van De Kamp. Played to the hilt by former Melrose Place vixen Marsha Cross, Bree is Martha Stewart in overdrive-too perfect when it comes to running her household, which drives her husband Rex to seek a divorce. At one point, Rex and Bree go to marriage counseling. Always prim and proper, Bree showed her true colors during a dinner party on the third episode, after Rex made the fatal mistake of telling his neighbors that he and Bree are having marital problems and visiting the doctor once a week. After the neighbors tried to lighten the situation by talking about their most embarrassing moments, Bree-with eerie calm and a knife poised to Rex’s back-blurted out to the other residents of Wisteria Lane that her hubby "cries" after the two have sex.
The sidebar stories of the women are nearly overshadowed in the pilot by the suicide of neighbour, Mary Alice Strong (narrated by actress Brenda Strong). What drives a perfectly rational and sane housewife to kill herself? And what’s the secret behind the note she left behind to the ignorance of her grieving son and seemingly uncaring husband? And what about Mike the plumber-Susan stumbled upon a gun in his kitchen cabinet and a map of Wisteria Lane. What secret is he hiding? Will Carlos learn about Gabrielle’s affair with gardener John, can Bree save her marriage, or will she stray? And what of Lynette? Will she be able to get her bratty boys in shape and find a new nanny, or will her dependence on prescription drugs get out of control?
There has long been a tradition on television of showing mothers as being there with a warm dinner, some good advice, and cleaner-than-clean, springtime fresh laundry. Even in these more enlightened times, the “good mom” (everyone from Marge Simpson to Debra Barone of Everybody Loves Raymond) has some character flaws but generally domesticated women are usually not shown as imperfect (except for the occasional Lifetime Channel movie). Maybe that’s why Desperate Housewives, ABC’s new hit comedy-drama, has struck a cord with women who see themselves in the characters, while their clueless male partners think the show is all fantasy. The point their men may be missing is that they could be living with one of these women.
