Desperate Housewives (2004)

Comedy · Drama · Mystery

Looking down on her friends and family isn't a way of life for Mary Alice Young... it's a way of death. One day, in her perfect house, in the loveliest of suburbs, Mary Alice ended it all. Now she's taking us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors, commenting from her elevated P.O.V.

IMDb rating: 7.7 (156,656 votes)
Episode average: 8.0 ↑ +0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 8
Streaming (US): Hulu · Amazon Prime Video
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

Browse shows by rating shape → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 8 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (2004)

7.97 avg 23 episodes 8.4 → 8.8 43 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Pilot	8.4	1,898
2	Ah, But Underneath	7.9	1,307
3	Pretty Little Picture	7.9	1,241
4	Who's That Woman?	7.8	1,164
5	Come in, Stranger	7.7	1,104
6	Running to Stand Still	7.8	1,073
7	Anything You Can Do	8.1	1,071
8	Guilty	8.4	1,101
9	Suspicious Minds	8.0	1,015
10	Come Back to Me	8.0	1,000
11	Move On	7.9	983
12	Every Day a Little Death	7.9	983
13	Your Fault	7.7	961
14	Love Is in the Air	8.0	962
15	Impossible	8.0	952
16	The Ladies Who Lunch	7.9	952
17	There Won't Be Trumpets	7.8	976
18	Children Will Listen	7.8	950
19	Live Alone and Like It	7.7	943
20	Fear No More	7.9	923
21	Sunday in the Park with George	7.8	919
22	Goodbye for Now	8.1	934
23	One Wonderful Day	8.8	1,112

Season 2 (2005)

7.91 avg 24 episodes 8.0 → 8.7 46 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Next	8.0	943
2	You Could Drive a Person Crazy	7.7	869
3	You'll Never Get Away from Me	7.6	843
4	My Heart Belongs to Daddy	7.6	841
5	They Asked Me Why I Believe in You	7.6	833
6	I Wish I Could Forget You	7.7	840
7	Color and Light	7.8	834
8	The Sun Won't Set	7.8	833
9	That's Good, That's Bad	8.3	849
10	Coming Home	7.6	819
11	One More Kiss	8.1	830
12	We're Gonna Be All Right	7.6	804
13	There's Something About a War	8.0	802
14	Silly People	7.8	799
15	Thank You So Much	7.7	792
16	There Is No Other Way	7.8	772
17	Could I Leave You?	7.7	791
18	Everybody Says Don't	7.8	786
19	Don't Look at Me	7.9	791
20	It Wasn't Meant to Happen	8.1	857
21	I Know Things Now	8.2	816
22	No One Is Alone	8.2	810
23	Remember: Part 1	8.5	874
24	Remember: Part 2	8.7	928

Season 3 (2006)

8.04 avg 23 episodes 8.1 → 8.6 43 min avg

Mid-peak

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Listen to the Rain on the Roof	8.1	952
2	It Takes Two	8.0	832
3	A Weekend in the Country	7.8	799
4	Like It Was	7.8	787
5	Nice She Ain't	7.8	791
6	Sweetheart, I Have to Confess	8.0	813
7	Bang	9.5	2,467
8	Children and Art	7.8	799
9	Beautiful Girls	7.7	776
10	The Miracle Song	8.1	813
11	No Fits, No Fights, No Feuds	7.9	777
12	Not While I'm Around	7.9	767
13	Come Play Wiz Me	7.7	789
14	I Remember That	8.0	788
15	The Little Things You Do Together	8.6	884
16	My Husband, the Pig	8.0	811
17	Dress Big	7.8	796
18	Liaisons	7.8	780
19	God, That's Good	8.0	771
20	Gossip	8.1	764
21	Into the Woods	8.0	779
22	What Would We Do Without You?	8.0	773
23	Getting Married Today	8.6	909

Season 4 (2007)

8.15 avg 17 episodes 8.4 → 8.8 43 min avg

Rebound

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Now You Know	8.4	951
2	Smiles of a Summer Night	8.0	798
3	The Game	8.2	815
4	If There's Anything I Can't Stand	8.0	780
5	Art Isn't Easy	7.9	769
6	Now I Know, Don't Be Scared	8.4	851
7	You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover	7.9	771
8	Distant Past	7.9	778
9	Something's Coming	9.2	1,492
10	Welcome to Kanagawa	8.5	871
11	Sunday	7.8	758
12	In Buddy's Eyes	7.9	719
13	Hello, Little Girl	7.9	710
14	Opening Doors	7.8	709
15	Mother Said	7.8	718
16	The Gun Song	8.2	759
17	Free	8.8	1,014

Season 5 (2008)

8.00 avg 24 episodes 8.0 → 8.4 43 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	You're Gonna Love Tomorrow	8.0	905
2	We're So Happy You're So Happy	7.7	720
3	Kids Ain't Like Everybody Else	7.8	721
4	Back in Business	7.7	691
5	Mirror, Mirror	8.3	749
6	There's Always a Woman	7.9	698
7	What More Do I Need?	7.8	676
8	City on Fire	8.6	799
9	Me and My Town	7.9	675
10	A Vision's Just a Vision	8.1	695
11	Home Is the Place	7.8	674
12	Connect! Connect!	7.8	665
13	The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened	9.3	1,961
14	Mama Spent Money When She Had None	7.7	664
15	In a World Where the Kings Are Employers	7.6	644
16	Crime Doesn't Pay	7.8	654
17	The Story of Lucy and Jessie	7.7	652
18	A Spark. To Pierce the Dark.	8.3	728
19	Look Into Their Eyes and You See What They Know	8.7	978
20	Rose's Turn	7.8	650
21	Bargaining	7.7	669
22	Marry Me a Little	7.8	652
23	Everybody Says Don't	7.9	658
24	If It's Only in Your Head	8.4	786

Season 6 (2009)

7.87 avg 23 episodes 7.8 → 8.6 43 min avg

Big finale

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Nice Is Different Than Good	7.8	772
2	Being Alive	7.8	676
3	Never Judge a Lady by Her Lover	7.8	667
4	The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues	7.7	657
5	Everybody Ought to Have a Maid	7.6	656
6	Don't Walk on the Grass	7.7	628
7	Careful the Things You Say	7.5	645
8	The Coffee Cup	7.7	640
9	Would I Think of Suicide?	7.9	655
10	Boom Crunch	8.5	825
11	If...	7.9	918
12	You Gotta Get a Gimmick	7.5	631
13	How About a Friendly Shrink?	7.7	621
14	The Glamorous Life	7.8	640
15	Lovely	8.3	723
16	The Chase	7.8	632
17	Chromolume No. 7	7.6	624
18	My Two Young Men	7.6	635
19	We All Deserve to Die	7.8	628
20	Epiphany	8.3	725
21	A Little Night Music	8.0	636
22	The Ballad of Booth	8.1	631
23	I Guess This Is Goodbye	8.6	788

Season 7 (2010)

7.90 avg 23 episodes 7.9 → 8.6 43 min avg

Rebound

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Remember Paul?	7.9	717
2	You Must Meet My Wife	7.8	623
3	Truly Content	7.8	610
4	The Thing That Counts Is What's Inside	7.8	599
5	Let Me Entertain You	7.8	614
6	Excited and Scared	8.0	607
7	A Humiliating Business	7.8	609
8	Sorry Grateful	7.6	591
9	Pleasant Little Kingdom	7.9	621
10	Down the Block There's a Riot	9.0	998
11	Assassins	7.8	602
12	Where Do I Belong?	7.8	609
13	I'm Still Here	7.5	604
14	Flashback	7.6	592
15	Farewell Letter	7.7	591
16	Searching	7.9	612
17	Everything's Different, Nothing's Changed	7.9	589
18	Moments in the Woods	7.9	587
19	The Lies Ill-Concealed	7.7	579
20	I'll Swallow Poison on Sunday	7.7	573
21	Then I Really Got Scared	8.0	582
22	And Lots of Security...	8.2	619
23	Come on Over for Dinner	8.6	741

Season 8 (2011)

7.97 avg 23 episodes 8.2 → 9.1 43 min avg

Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Secrets That I Never Want to Know	8.2	789
2	Making the Connection	7.6	623
3	Watch While I Revise the World	7.6	608
4	School of Hard Knocks	7.5	599
5	The Art of Making Art	7.7	594
6	Witch's Lament	7.8	603
7	Always in Control	7.9	587
8	Suspicion Song	8.0	600
9	Putting It Together	8.3	641
10	What's to Discuss, Old Friend	8.1	618
11	Who Can Say What's True?	7.5	592
12	What's the Good of Being Good	7.7	593
13	Is This What You Call Love?	7.7	584
14	Get Out of My Life	8.0	591
15	She Needs Me	7.9	591
16	You Take for Granted	8.2	721
17	Women and Death	8.3	741
18	Any Moment	7.7	607
19	With So Little to Be Sure Of	7.8	602
20	Lost My Power	7.8	614
21	The People Will Hear	8.0	613
22	Give Me the Blame	8.9	892
23	Finishing the Hat	9.1	1,277