Desperate Housewives

Its first season out, Desperate Housewives was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy. On January 16, 2005, it won that top honor, and star Teri Hatcher won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy (Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross were nominated as well). Nicolette Sheridan was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy.

Plot and characters

Tagline: Everyone has a little dirty laundry.

The show begins with the suicide of Mary Alice Young, who narrates the episodes from beyond the grave. Mary Alice's suicide left behind a puzzle involving her husband Paul, son Zack, and a mysterious toy chest.
The story is unraveled through her four friends and neighbors. The show also follows the mystery of why Mary Alice took her own life and precisely who Mike Delfino really is.
At least once every episode, the 'surviving' housewives (Mary Alice was one of the group before her suicide) meet and discuss over either coffee or poker the events in the current storyline.

The Mayer family

• Susan Mayer: an attractive single mother, interested in Mike Delfino, the handsome, widowed plumber who has just moved in across the street and is not quite what he seems.

• Karl Mayer: Susan's ex-husband, Susan divorced him after she found out that he was having an affair with his secretary.

• Julie Mayer: Susan's 14 year old daughter, who usually helps her deal with problems regarding her love life. She was briefly romantically involved with Zach Young.

• Sophie Bremmer: Susan's meddling mother, who came to stay with her after she had exaggerated that her husband Morty was abusing her.
  

  The Scavo family

• Lynette Scavo: an ex-career woman who is now saddled with three rampaging children, a baby, and a husband who is always out of town.

• Tom Scavo: Lynette's husband that is frequently out of town. Tom keeps a secret from his wife that apparently only his father, Rodney Scavo, knows about.

• Preston & Porter Scavo: The twin children of the Scavo's, they are repeatedly misbehaving and continuously drive Lynette out of her mind.

• Parker Scavo: The third son of the Scavo's, Lynette shaved his head after the twins put gum in his hair, and used Parker to get into a yoga class by pretending he was afflicted with cancer.
  

  The Van De Kamp family

• Bree Van De Kamp: described as "Martha Stewart on steroids," Bree is a deeply religious, ultra-conservative control freak who's trapped in a sterile marriage with Rex, her fed-up husband, and her rebellious children. Bree is obsessively concerned with perfection, keeping up appearances, and showing as little emotion as possible, much to the displeasure of her family. She is fiercely determined to save her marriage and would do anything to protect her family, as evidenced by her cover-up of son Andrew's hit-and-run.

• Rex Van De Kamp: the doctor husband of Bree, it was found out that he had an extra-marital affair with local homemaker/prostitute Maisy Gibbons. He also wanted to divorce Bree because he could no longer "live in this detergent commercial" and because of his inability to ask his wife to "dominate" him. Rex recently had a near-fatal heart attack, however, because his pharmacist is in love with Bree and jealous of their marriage, Rex is not receiving the proper medication to prevent further heart complications.

• Andrew Van De Kamp: the highly troubled and possibly sociopathic 16 year old son of Bree and Rex Van De Kamp. He was expelled from school for smoking marijuana on school grounds and was involved in a hit-and-run while under the influence that landed Juanita Solis in the hospital. It has also been revealed that he is gay (or bisexual) following his 'escapades' with John Rowland's roommate Justin. After using his sexuality to manipulate his way out of a juvenile delinquent bootcamp, Andrew vowed to play the perfect son for his mother until the day he gets his revenge and destroys her world.

• Danielle Van De Kamp: seemingly the most normal member of the family, 15 year old Danielle was the head of her school's abstinence club , but Bree discovered she had planned to give up her virginity to her ex-boyfriend, John Rowland, in order to lure him back to her.
  

  The Solis family

• Gabrielle Solis: an ex-super model who married her husband Carlos for money, but found satisfaction with her teenage gardener John. She absolutely hates Carlos' mother.

• Carlos Solis: the husband of Gabrielle who has some trouble with the law and a very meddling mother. Carlos wants to begin a family, so much so that he secretly replaces his wife's birth control pills since Gabrielle is against the idea of getting pregnant. Due to apparent financial difficulties Carlos took a plea bargain which forces him to serve eight months in jail.

• Juanita Solis: the nosy mother of Carlos, who was convinced that Gabrielle was cheating on him with another man, she had obtained photographic evidence of the affair moments before being run over by Andrew Van De Kamp. She remained in a coma for five months before awakening, only to fall to her death down a flight of stairs at the hospital. Before dying Juanita told a nurse of Gabrielle's infidelity, however the nurse couldn't hear her because of headphones she was wearing.
  

  The Young family

• Mary Alice Young: The deceased wife of Paul Young, who one day decided to end her life by committing suicide, narrates the show from beyond the grave. Her real name has been revealed as Angela Forrest, and she worked with Martha Huber's sister Felicia Tilman at a rehabilitation clinic in Utah.