Like millions of other viewers, I have been watching “Desperate Housewives” for years, long before Gaby had children, before Mike and Susan were parents, and when Bree was married to Rex and the couple still had two grumpy teens at home. Back then, Lynette’s boys were little kids and her youngest baby hadn’t yet been conceived by the writers.
For eight seasons, every Sunday night (except during the off season), I would sit down in front of my television with a glass of chardonnay and a bowl of buttered popcorn to catch up with the gals on Wisteria Lane. When we hosted a foreign exchange student from France last year, she confessed that she also watched the show in France with her mother and sisters. It seems that even the French, with their dark humor and fondness for satirical movies, also appreciate the antics of the Wisteria Lane gang.
Now, with “Desperate Housewives” in its final season, it is a good time to reflect on our favorite moments throughout the show’s eight seasons and remember why Gaby, Bree, Lynette and Susan have become so popular with television viewers, and to remember why we will miss it when it’s gone.
Here are four favorite moments from “Desperate Housewives” through the years.
Season 1 – Oprah visits Wisteria Lane. OK, this wasn’t an actual episode, but after Season 1 and going into Season 2, the cast visited the Oprah show, and Oprah in turn visited the set of Wisteria Lane. Writers created a whole little skit for Oprah, which aired on her show. It features Oprah as Karen, a Chicago business woman in need of a simpler life, moving to Wisteria Lane. Bree, Gaby, Susan, Lynette and, of course, Eddie greet her and Karen soon finds herself in the middle of a dramatic plot of her own as she drops in on some of the scenes that Season 1 became famous for. At the end of the day, when she is beginning to have second thoughts about living on Wisteria Lane, she says to her husband, “Have you noticed nobody on this lane has a butt?”
Season 5 – Carlos regains his eyesight. In Season 4, Carlos lost his eyesight in a tornado, and much of Season 5 centered around his blindness. During this season, Gaby, now a mother of tw0 children, worries about her weight and her appearance. She worries that her husband would no longer love her if he could see her. When Carlos does get his sight back, the scene has everything we love in a good “Desperate Housewives” plot. He loves his wife and thinks she and the children are beautiful, but he is distressed when he realizes that Gaby sold many of their precious belongings to pay the bills.
Season 2 – Lynette changes her baby’s diaper during a job interview. This scene found Lynette hunting for a job while juggling the various issues of motherhood. During one job interview in which she had to take her baby daughter with her, she changes her baby’s diaper in the office during the interview. The scene was hilarious, well written, and seemed to tap into the frustration many working mothers feel trying to juggle job and kids.
Season 4 – Eddie returns to Wisteria Lane. After being gone for a season, Eddie returned to Wisteria Lane and immediately began antagonizing our favorite characters. Gaby had given birth to her two children and was struggling with losing weight. Upon seeing her again after five years, Eddie said to Gaby, “What happened to you?” She responded: “I had two children.” To which Eddie asks, “For what, breakfast?” The scene was classic because it showed Gaby at a rare weak moment and Eddie, true to form, being mean and spiteful.