Desperate Housewives - The Complete First Season Review

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has never watched Desperate Housewives. I may have caught it once for 10 minutes but that's it. My son-in-law is so thoughtful (and my daughter). They sent me three first seasons of shows I've never seen. I play them on my computer especially at night when I can't sleep or during weekends when the television line up isn't so great. I watched the 6 discs in the Desperate Housewives Complete First Season in three days. I am now hooked on the show and hope I can just pick it up like a soap opera and figure it out or get the other years!

A Closer View

Five of the discs have four episodes. The sixth one has three. We learn about the characters right away. The story is told by the character Mary Alice Young, played by Brenda Strong, who kills herself. We will be learning that she has a secret - a huge one - which she hoped would die with her. Her four best friends and neighbors who all live in beautiful homes on Wisteria Lane in the suburb of "perfect on the outside" are each very different and though they have many things in common have distinct personalities.

The acting is terrific as is the story.

• We meet the very pretty, girl next door type, Susan Mayer, played by Teri Hatcher. Susan is a single parent whose husband, Karl Mayer, played by Richard Burgi had an affair. She stayed in bed for a week after she found out leaving her daughter to parent her. The parenting went on and on. During Season One Susan meets her neighbor, Mike Delfino, played by hunky James Denton, who is one of several people in the middle of this secret. We meet Julie Mayer, played by Andrea Bowen, as a 13-year old who is way too close with her mom. At one point she gets involved with the son of Mary Alice Young, Zach Young, played by the troubled Cody Kasch.

• Gabriella Solis, played by the gorgeous and sexy Eva Longoria Park, is a model married to the sketchy Carlos Solis, played by Ricardo Chavira. When Carlos' mother, comes to visit, all hell breaks lose in the Solis family. Of course that was just the beginning of hell since Gabby has been having an affair with their teenaged gardener, John Rowland, played by the gorgeous Jesse Metcalfe

• Bree Van Der Kamp, played by the very well known Marcia Cross, is married to Dr. Rex Van Der Kamp, played by Steven Culp. Some may see Bree as a perfectionist but clinically I'll label her obsessive compulsive. She had to make the bed before taking Rex to the hospital when he was having a heart attack. They have two children, one of whom seems to have a secret of his own.

• Lynette Scavo, played by Felicity Huffman, was a career woman who turned stay at home mom to three out of control boys and a baby girl. I can feel her stress! She's married to Tom Scavo, played by James Denton. He is a frustrated career ladder climber and Lynette continues to sabotage his climb.

It is this group that makes up the Desperate Housewives and who in this first Season attempt to try to figure out why Mary Alice shot herself.

There are many other key players in this First Season of Desperate Housewives. There is the outsider, Edie Britt, played by the fabulous looking Nicollette Sheridan who just can't get the woman to like her.

George Williams played by Roger Bart, a pharmacist, holds a burning torch for Bree.

Although Lesley Ann Warren playing Sophie Bremmer, Susan's mother, is only in 6 episodes I've always liked her and enjoyed seeing her in Desperate Housewives. We see a peak (3 episodes) of Bob Newhart playing Morty Flickman, an unlikely fiancée for Sophie.

We see Joely Fisher as Nina Fletcher in 5 episodes and Polly Bergen as Stella Wingfield in 7 episodes

The last episode of the year not surprisingly is a real cliffhanger. We find Zachary holding a gun to the head of Susan while he waits for Mike to come home. His purpose is to kill Mike who he thinks killed his father. The last scene is Mike walking into the house.

The First Season can be bought at www.amazon.com for $42.00 new and less for used editions. Desperate Housewives sounds and plays like a soap opera but oh what a great soap opera it is!