“Desperate Housewives” is a perfect blend of dark comedy drama with a nighttime soap opera twist. “Aching for perfection, thirsty for blood, longing for truth, dying for love and hungry for revenge” perfectly describe this show. With secrets, romance and murder—all on one street—each new season and year bring new mysteries and more dark and twisted events to the lives of the people on Wisteria Lane. The show is now in its seventh season, after premiering on October 3, 2004, and has had tons of success and millions of viewers. However, “Housewives” seems to be selling itself short and may be living up to its cleverly developed title. After surviving a shooting at a local grocery store, a tornado, numerous hit-and-run accidents, numerous deaths of neighbors and a plane crash, what more could the women of Fairview and this street endure?
When the first season of “Housewives” debuted, television viewers received a new take on the typical housewife and were warned to never underestimate her or what she is capable of. It presented scandalous and juicy viewpoints from the lives of four women—Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis—as their dirty laundry, hidden agendas, love affairs and scandals unfolded through the narration of one woman who mysteriously committed suicide. It was refreshingly interesting to see how desperate someone could become when he or she is in the heat of passion, trying to protect his or her family or trying to mask his or her identity from the world.
Season one’s storyline revolved around a normal, suburban, seemingly perfect woman named Mary Alice Young as her life quickly took a dark turn when she committed suicide, and her friends tried to figure out the mystery behind her death. As they uncovered more about her secrets, their lives behind closed doors unraveled and took a dark and funny turn for the better.
The following seasons’ storylines—up until season seven—focused background stories and pasts of new neighbors, new husbands, the return of old neighbors, a five-year jump into the future and a mystery strangler in the neighborhood, among others. Season seven, however, lacks what the first six seasons had—a central mystery or scandal to focus on. The scandals and storylines have not been as scandalous or jaw-dropping like in previous seasons. There are a lot of things going in these characters’ lives, and it can be hard to keep up with them.
What happened to the classic murder mysteries, love affairs, blackmailing and hidden agendas “Housewives” is so well-known for? Everyone’s dirty laundry has been aired out to the max, but viewers wonder what’s left to squeeze out from these four women’s lives? Some of these plotlines have been seen and done before, and writers of “Housewives” need to bring back the memorable and guilty pleasures the show is iconic for—something new to keep viewers on their toes and on the edge of their couches.