Critic Reviews

Moving the story ahead five years didn't so much reinvent the show as it recharged and refreshed the scintillating mix of domestic comedy and sudsy intrigue that we've always enjoyed.

Funnier than all of the new sitcoms combined, featuring the strongest ensemble of dramatic actresses around and able to leap genre cliches in a single jump cut, 'Desperate Housewives' is the superwoman of the new fall season and is easily the most delightful and intriguing hour to come along on ABC in years. [1 Oct 2004]

One of the fall season's most purely enjoyable new series is also one of the very best. [1 Oct 2004]

Deliciously written ... this is the most compelling and original television series, and [Marc] Cherry our most gifted auteur, since The West Wing and Aaron Sorkin burst upon the scene five long years ago. [1 Oct 2004]

It is not enough to say that Desperate Housewives is the best new series of the fall. In a season of forgettable sitcoms, the hour show is the funniest newcomer. In a largely predictable lineup, it is a shrewd mystery with involving twists. In a medium that often shortchanges women, it is a grand showcase for accomplished actresses. [1 Oct 2004]

The smartest and most entertaining new series on the fall schedule. [3 Oct 2004]

A brilliantly conceived and relentlessly entertaining new drama. [1 Oct 2004]

Serving up the kind of dialogue that leads to tears and cackles, it may be the most joyfully scathing look at stifled lives network TV has ever seen. [1 Oct 2004]

Refreshingly original, bracingly adult and thoroughly delightful, Desperate Housewives is like the answer to a TV prayer you didn't know you'd made. You just know life was much duller before it arrived. [1 Oct 2004]

What makes Desperate Housewives so intriguing -- and, in a broadcast universe that feels cookie-cutter homogenous, so different -- is the risks it takes. [3 Oct 2004]