Others say...

"Desperate Housewives Jump The Shark"
I am pinching myself: there is not a single 1 or 2 star review for this series out of 88. How can that be? What have I missed? I really couldn't stand this show (why did I watch it through, you ask? The furtherance of my own marital relations required it).

Seasons 1 and 2 had a real originality and freshness: an unusual combination of romantic farce and dark thriller which made them compulsive viewing. But the formula seems to have been changed for Season 3. In the intervening period I've been treated to some really outstanding television in the shape of Deadwood, The Sopranos and The Wire - so perhaps I'm now seeing all of Desperate Housewives for what it really is, but I don't think it's that. When it started, Desperate Housewives was on that level. This series really seems to be inferior to the first ones.

Firstly, the series-long continuity of plotlines which was a feature of the first two series is gone. As is the morbid undertone, and the genuinely fractious family relationships: now the guignol is played purely for (cheap) laughs. The real brutality is perpetrated by the scriptwriters who seem to have grown ever more panicked as the series progressed: developing characters and plot lines are hacked to death and their bodies carelessly jettisoned nearly every episode. At one point they resort to having almost all the characters assemble at a supermarket to be held up by a gun-wielding homicidal maniac, in so doing conveniently terminating about three (admittedly moribund) plot-lines with one tin of tomatoes.

Characters we know from previous series behave entirely contrary to their established type: hard-man Mike Delfino (admittedly with the excuse of a severe blow to the head) becomes a hopeless and gormless romantic; Edie Britt stops being a shrew; Lynette Sciavo starts being one, and becomes an hysterical witch-hunter, then a cocquette; Andrew Van der Kamp abandons almost his sociopathic tendencies; we are introduced to and then lose, without regard to story or character arc, a series of wooden characters such as Iain Hainsworth (who apparently really is a Brit, despite sounding like Mike Myers' impersonation of one), the wife-of-the-person-having-an-affair-with-the-former-mistress-of-Bree's-new-husband, Orson Hodge's "dead" wife; Orson's mother, Edie's nephew; Edie's estranged son; Tom Sciavo's ex girlfriend and their daughter; even creepy Zach makes a half-hearted return and disappears.

Not a hint of structure; not a hint of direction; just a ghastly assemblance of stupid and irritating plotlines which seem to have been harvested from the Dynasty and Falcon Crest reject bin. You shouldn't expect to get away with this simply by rebranding it as "comedy" - but judging by the average reaction on this site, they did!

It's just too ghastly to countenance. We have bodies in freezers, bodies buried in backyards, bodies in kitchens, bodies in gardens, bodies in supermarkets, bodies coming back from the dead, coming back from comas, going out from comas, at least seven or eight characters in hospital, we have characters falling out of carparks, falling out of windows, falling off ladders, falling off rooves, we have on-again-off-again allegations of insanity, pedophilia, infidelity, spousal homicide and an utter overdose of love triangles and other types of love geometry - tracking who is shagging whom is so hard that you are caused to doubt the very foundation of the space-time continuum of love itself.

And I haven't even got onto the truly exasperating Susan Myer. Perhaps best if I don't, come to think of it.

Olly Buxton

"These Women are way too Desperate and Eva is hot!!!!!"
I love having this show play in the background while I'm busy doing stuff at home, like cleaning my office/room....It's a good show.

"Drama at it's BEST!!"
Throughout the entire season i laughed, i cried, i sat on the edge of my seat pushing the next button unable to stop watching! Things happen on this show that you would never believe if it happened in your town and i think thats what makes it so great! You can watch the drama unfold without actually having to be a part of it! A definite must have!!

"Great!"
This season was sooo good. I can't wait for the fourth season to come out on DVD

"A great show!"
What a great show. I really enjoyed every single episode. Unlike other TV shows, where you feel some episodes were thrown in because the writers run out of ideas, every episode in Desperate Housewives is exciting and follows up on the previous episode. There are many stories taking place, all focusing on the lives of the five desperate housewives: Suzanne, the clumsy one, who is always in search of drama; Lanett, the strongest character of them all, and the bossy mother of very naughty children; Gaby, the sexy Latina ex-model, who basically worships money and has no qualms dating teenagers; Idy, the promiscuous blond who is afraid to grow old alone; and finally Bree, the most unique character in the whole show; words would be hard to describe her.

What I like about this TV series is that it grows on you. Unlike 90 and 120 minutes Hollywood movies, TV series allow you to really get to know the character. In some cases, you will even identify with many of them. The stories are original and not that farfetched. These are the stories of ordinary women in an ordinary suburb living on Wisteria Lane. Their lives are like many people we know (even Bree!). There is revenge, love, lust, sex, treachery, murder, ambition, power, jealousy, and of course gossip...you name it--basically, the ingredients of our everyday lives.

Desperate Housewives is entertaining to watch. Try watching it from season one onwards to really understand the characters. I find it easier to buy the episodes and watch them one after the other than wait for them to come up on TV.

Season 3 ends with some very interesting developments that will keep you in suspense until season 4 finally comes out on DVD. If you have not watched season 3 yet stop right here, because the following are spoilers.

Idy falls for Carlos, but tricks him into believing that she stopped using birth control pills. Carlos dreams of having his own child, but when he finds the truth, he leaves Idy. In despair, she hangs herself. Did she die? We will have to wait for season 4!

Gaby ends up marrying the mayor of the town, but finds out on her wedding day that she is being used by him. On her wedding day, she ends up having sex with Carlos (well, just French kissing really). Will they be back together in season 4?

Suzanne marries Mike in a very unusual but romantic wedding (in the forest with only Mike, her daughter, and the priest present). Many will probably end-up married this way after watching this scene!

Bree fakes her pregnancy in order to claim her teenage daughter's baby as her own.

Lanett falls in love with her chef (cook), but nothing happens between them. But how will this change her marriage? She also finds out that she has lymphoma, and her mother moves in with them. What's worse, the lymphoma or your mother moving in with you?

I can't wait for season 4!