Desperate Housewives (season 4)
The fourth season of Desperate Housewives, an American television series created by Marc Cherry, premiered on September 30, 2007, on ABC. Filming for the series was interrupted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike in November 2007, after production on the two-episode tornado storyline wrapped. The first part, "Something's Coming", aired on December 2, 2007.[1] "Welcome to Kanagawa", the second part and the last episode filmed before the strike, was originally going to be aired after the strike's resolution,[1] but aired on January 6, 2008.[2] Seven additional episodes were produced for the fourth season after the strike, the first of which aired on April 13, 2008. The final two episodes served as a two-part finale and were aired consecutively on May 18, 2008. A total of 17 episodes aired as part of the season, with one recap special airing on September 23, 2007.
| Desperate Housewives | |
|---|---|
| Season 4 | |
 ABC promotional poster for the fourth season of Desperate Housewives. From left to right: Bree, Edie, Susan, Gabrielle, and Lynette. | |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 17 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 30, 2007 – May 18, 2008 |
| Season chronology | |
The series continues to focus on Wisteria Lane residents Susan Delfino, Lynette Scavo, Bree Hodge, Gabrielle Solis and Edie Britt, with Mary Alice Young returning as the series' narrator. Katherine Mayfair and her family are introduced in this season and are the center of the season's mystery. Critical reception for the season was positive,[3] and ratings increased from the third season. The series drew in an average of 17.9 million viewers per episode during the 2007-08 American television season, becoming the sixth most-watched program of the year and the most-watched scripted program for the first time.
The series was released on a five-disc DVD box set by ABC Studios on September 2, 2008, in Region 1,[4] October 29, 2008 in Region 4, November 3, 2008 in Region 2, and March 17, 2009, in Region 5.[5]
Production
Joe Keenan, one of the three executive producers during the third season, as well as writer of the critically acclaimed season episode "Bang", did not return for season four as executive producer, but as consulting producer.[6] Replacing Keenan, and joining Marc Cherry and George W. Perkins as executive producers, is season three writer and co-executive producer Bob Daily, whose previous work include sitcoms Frasier and Out of Practice, as well as cartoon series Rugrats. Keenan will serve as Cherry's second-in-command for the next two years. Also joining as executives producers are writers and former co-executive producers John Pardee and Joey Murphy who have been on the show since its first season.[7]
This is also the first season the synthesized version of Danny Elfman’s main title theme was used, as it would be the rest of the series.
Cast
The fourth season had twelve roles receiving star billing. All eleven starring actors from the previous season returned for this season. The series is narrated by Brenda Strong, who portrays the deceased Mary Alice Young, as she observes from beyond the grave the lives of the Wisteria Lane residents and her former best friends. Teri Hatcher portrayed Susan Delfino, who is finally married after three seasons searching for a stable relationship. Felicity Huffman portrayed Lynette Scavo, who fights cancer during the first half of the season and deals with her step-daughter's behavior in the second half. Marcia Cross portrayed Bree Hodge, married for the second time and faking pregnancy in an attempt to protect her daughter. Eva Longoria portrayed former model Gabrielle Lang, now the wife of Fairview's mayor. Nicollette Sheridan portrayed Edie Britt, who faked suicide in the previous season finale. Ricardo Antonio Chavira portrayed Carlos Solis, now divorced from Gabrielle but still in love with her while involved in a relationship with Edie. Andrea Bowen portrayed Julie Mayer, the responsible and caring daughter of Susan. Doug Savant portrayed Tom Scavo, Lynette's husband and now owner of a pizzeria. Kyle MacLachlan portrayed Orson Hodge, Bree's second husband and the man that ran over Mike in the second season finale. James Denton portrayed Mike Delfino, now Susan's husband who starts using drugs. Dana Delany is introduced in the role of Katherine Mayfair, whose mysterious arc is the season's main storyline.[8]
Five out of six actors who received "also starring" billing from the previous season returned. Shawn Pyfrom, portrayed Bree's gay son Andrew Van de Kamp. Lyndsy Fonseca was cast in the new role of Dylan Mayfair, Katherine's daughter and part of the season's mystery.[9] Joy Lauren reappeared in the role of Danielle Van de Kamp, Bree's pregnant daughter. Brent Kinsman, Shane Kinsman and Zane Huett, played Preston Scavo, Porter Scavo and Parker Scavo, Lynette's troublesome children. Rachel Fox was promoted to regular after guest starring in several episodes in the previous season as Kayla Huntington Scavo, Tom's mischievous daughter and the result of an affair he had before meeting Lynette.
This season featured many established and new guest stars. Kathryn Joosten portrayed Karen McCluskey, one of the most prominent residents of Wisteria Lane, Richard Burgi appeared as Karl Mayer, Susan's ex-husband who is also married again, Pat Crawford Brown played elderly neighbor Ida Greenberg, whereas Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm made their debut in this season respectively as Bob Hunter and Lee McDermott, a gay couple from Chicago who move to the lane.[10] Part of Lynette's storyline were Polly Bergen in the role of Stella Wingfield, Lynette's mother who moves to the Scavo family home to support her daughter in her battle against cancer, and Jason Gedrick playing Rick Coletti, who had feelings for Lynette in the previous season and now opens his own restaurant to compete with the Scavo Pizzeria. Part of Bree's storyline were Shirley Knight returning as Phyllis Van de Kamp, Bree's first mother-in-law, and Dakin Matthews appearing as Reverend Sykes, reverend at the local Presbyterian church. Part of Gabrielle's storyline were John Slattery playing Victor Lang, Gabrielle's new husband and the mayor of Fairview, Mike Farrell in the role of Milton Lang, Victor's father, Jeff Doucette portraying Father Crowley, priest at the local Catholic church, Justine Bateman playing Ellie Leonard, a drug dealer who rents a room in the Solises' house, and Jesse Metcalfe reappearing as John Rowland, Gabrielle's ex-lover and former gardener. Part of the main mystery arc were Nathan Fillion portraying Adam Mayfair, a doctor and Katherine's second husband,[11] Ellen Geer appearing as Lillian Simms, Katherine's aunt, Melora Walters playing Sylvia Greene, Adam's former patient and ex-lover from Chicago, and Gary Cole in the role of Wayne Davis, a cop and Katherine's abusive first husband. Additionally, Gale Harold was introduced as Susan's new lover Jackson Braddock during the five-year jump featured at the end of the season.
For the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Fillion, Joosten and Slattery were nominated along with the rest of the main cast for the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series award due to their many appearances this season.[12]
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 71 | 1 | "Now You Know" | Larry Shaw | Marc Cherry | September 30, 2007 | 19.32[13] | |
| Katherine Mayfair, an ex-neighbor and old friend of Susan, moves into her aunts house, which used to be Mike's house, with her second husband, Adam, a gynecologist, and her daughter Dylan, who all have secrets of their own. It is revealed that Edie staged her suicide to make Carlos stay with her, unaware of the fact that Carlos was having a secret affair with Gaby and planned to run away with her. Edie complicates things when she finds out about Carlos's illegal offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands. Lynette tells her friends about her cancer. Bree tries to hide her fake pregnancy from the neighbors. Susan worries she might be in menopause, but finds out that she is actually pregnant, much to Susan and Mike's delight. | |||||||
| 72 | 2 | "Smiles of a Summer Night" | David Grossman | Bob Daily & Matt Berry | October 7, 2007 | 17.82[14] | |
| Susan tries to involve Mike as a parent in her house, which includes decision making, but causes a problem with Julie. Lynette bans Tom from her chemotherapy sessions and asks Gabrielle to accompany her, but finds out she hates the prospect of visiting Lynette because her father died of cancer too. Bree is infuriated when Katherine refuses to give her secret lemon meringue pie recipe to her and decides to sneak into her house and take it, but is shocked when she overhears Katherine slapping Dylan for questioning about her birth father. Edie blackmails Carlos with the Cayman Islands account and forces him to get engaged to her. | |||||||
| 73 | 3 | "The Game" | Bethany Rooney | Joey Murphy & John Pardee | October 14, 2007 | 18.89[15] | |
| Julie and Dylan break into Dylan's old room where they find Dylan's old toys, but Katherine catches them and forbids Dylan to ever meet Julie again. Susan and Mike have a charades party at their house, which turns into a total disaster due to the following reasons: 1) Stella drugs Lynette's brownies, with Andrew's help, causing her to dance around like a maniac at the party; 2) Gabrielle is unhappy when she hears about Carlos and Edie's engagement and tries to flirt with Adam which makes Carlos furious; 3) Katherine accuses Gabrielle of flirting with her husband and brings up the John Rowland news again, upsetting Victor; 4) Gabrielle in turn reveals that Bree heard Katherine slap Dylan, which causes Katherine to reveal that her first husband tried to "do the worst thing to their daughter"; 5) Susan and Bree get into a fight when Bree tells her to go to a gynecologist who lives in a bad neighborhood, which makes Susan suspicious about Bree's pregnancy; and 6) Victor scares Carlos when he hints that he would murder the man who would have an affair with his wife. | |||||||
| 74 | 4 | "If There's Anything I Can't Stand" | Larry Shaw | Alexandra Cunningham & Lori Kirkland Baker | October 21, 2007 | 18.21[16] | |
| Susan tries to get along with Bob and Lee, the new gay couple on the block, but fails miserably when she ruins Bob's coat for which Mike has to pay $2000. Lynette tries to buy a new set of wigs to spice up her sex life when she finds out Tom gets turned off when she is bald from the chemo. Edie gets diagnosed with crabs, a sexually transmitted infection, which gets transferred to Carlos, Gabrielle and ultimately Victor. Bree is thrown a surprise shower and meets Phyllis, who finds out about her fake pregnancy. Phyllis takes Danielle from the convent and decides to care for the baby herself. Aunt Lily Sims tries to talk to Dylan about the "incident" that happened during her childhood, but Katherine prevents her from doing so. Aunt Lily writes Dylan a secret note and dies. | |||||||
| 75 | 5 | "Art Isn't Easy" | David Grossman | Jason Ganzel | October 28, 2007 | 18.28[17] | |
| Lynette runs against Katherine for president of Wisteria Lane's homeowners' association because she wants to protect her children's tree house, while Katherine wants to remove Bob and Lee's noisy fountain, which doesn't let anyone sleep at night. Susan votes for Katherine, giving her the win, but Katherine decides to not remove the tree house when Adam asks her to be friendly with the neighbors. Bob and Lee refuse to remove the fountain and threaten Katherine by revealing that they know about her husband's secret with the help of a few contacts. Bree convinces Danielle to raise the baby on her own and invites Phyllis to babysit on weekends. Gabrielle is confronted by John, who is in a rough marriage and wants to resume the affair, but she refuses, causing Carlos to discover that he is the "new John". Edie gets suspicious and hires a man who catches Gabrielle and Carlos making out just before ending their affair. | |||||||
| 76 | 6 | "Now I Know, Don't Be Scared" | Larry Shaw | Susan Nirah Jaffee & Dahvi Waller | November 4, 2007 | 18.58[18] | |
| Susan finds out that Mike's father, Nick, whom he claimed was dead, is actually in prison for murder. Susan meets Nick, who shows no remorse or guilt and tells her that Mike was always unhappy when he got arrested. Lynette tries to hunt down an opossum in her garden when she finds out she has been cured of cancer. Danielle gives birth to a baby boy, named Benjamin Tyson Hodge, and Bree is asked to take care of him when Danielle leaves for college. Gabrielle decides to leave Victor, but is bribed by his father, Milton Lang, to stay married to him for 13 more months. Carlos tells Edie to marry him and they could use the Cayman Islands money, which makes her even more. Carlos dumps Edie for good and she decides to take revenge by telling Victor about the affair between Gabrielle and Carlos. | |||||||
| 77 | 7 | "You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover" | David Warren | Chuck Ranberg & Anne Flett-Giordano | November 11, 2007 | 18.63[19] | |
| Bree discovers that Mike may be doing drugs by regularly consuming pain relief pills and tells Susan about it, who finds a big packet of the pills hidden in his flashlight. Mike explains to her that he was taking pills to relieve stress and flushes them down the drain, but secretly removes them when Susan is asleep. Katherine tries to keep Dylan from the truth about her father. Stella leaves after learning none of her daughters want her to live with them. Bree gets her grandson, Benjamin, circumcised despite Orson's objections because she feels it's her "blood". Gabrielle knocks Victor overboard when they are in a boat because she thinks he is planning on murdering her for having an affair with Carlos. when she finds out otherwise, she tries to find his body, but fails. | |||||||
| 78 | 8 | "A Distant Past" | Jay Torres | Joe Keenan | November 25, 2007 | 18.64[20] | |
| Adam is haunted by Sylvia, an ex-patient with whom he might have had an affair. Susan tries to set up Julie with Barrett, unaware that he is Mike's drug dealer. Mike tries to obtain pills with a prescription from Adam or Orson, to which Orson agrees when he finds out that Mike is having pain because of the hit and run he caused, but Susan discovers the pills hidden in the car. Lynette tries to find Stella and receives help from her stepfather, Glen, only to discover that Glen left Stella because he is gay. The police question Gabrielle about Victor and find his body washed ashore. Victor pretends that he has suffered memory loss but instead hints to Gabrielle that he will take revenge. Bree makes Benjamin sleep on the bed with her and Orson, disrupting Orson's sex drive. Andrew moves out into a apartment where he decides to lead a new life. | |||||||
| 79 | 9 | "Something's Coming" | David Grossman | Joey Murphy & John Pardee | December 2, 2007 | 20.65[21] | |
| The residents of Wisteria Lane prepare to protect themselves from the oncoming tornado. Susan and Mike get into a fight about his intake of pills, causing Susan to fall down a flight of stairs. Susan threatens to leave Mike if he doesn't attend rehab, to which he agrees. Lynette and Karen hold themselves off in a bathtub when Tom, Ida and the kids get buried in Karen's basement. Bree invites Sylvia inside for a cup of tea when Katherine spits on her and finds out about Adam's supposed affair. Sylvia barricades herself in Bree's bathroom, causing Katherine, Adam, Bree, Orson and Benjamin to be trapped in a closet, where Katherine discovers from Bree that the affair is true. Edie and Gabrielle fight for the single copy of the Cayman Islands file but lose it because of the tornado and get stuck together in a crawl-space. Victor pursues Carlos with a gun, but dies when he is impaled by a flying fence post and Carlos suffers a serious injury from flying debris. | |||||||
| 80 | 10 | "Welcome to Kanagawa" | Larry Shaw | Jamie Gorenberg & Jordon Nardino | January 6, 2008 | 19.78[22] | |
| Lynette finds out that Ida Greenberg sacrificed her life to save her children and Tom and tries to pay her back by scattering her ashes on the baseball field where she used to play, but gets caught by the police. Adam leaves Katherine when he finds out that she had been hiding the truth about her ex-husband as much as he had been hiding about the affair with Sylvia who is found dead. Bree who intends to repair her roof tries to secure the services of a gay contractor by "pimping out" her son Andrew while staying with Susan, who schemes to make Bree stay longer in her house because she adores her housekeeping skills. Gabrielle discovers she will not inherit a dime from Victor's will because Milton owns all of it and refuses to give her anything because she had an affair. However, she decides to remarry Carlos who hides from her that he may permanently lose his eyesight. Dylan finds Aunt Sims half-burned note which contains the words "Your father was murdered". | |||||||
| 81 | 11 | "Sunday" | David Grossman | Alexandra Cunningham & Lori Kirkland Baker | April 13, 2008 | 16.37[23] | |
| Two weeks after the tornado, Mike is about to finish rehab. Gabrielle learns from Edie that Carlos's blindness is permanent and decides to punish him for thinking that she would leave him because he is broke and blind. Susan's hunky male cousin has sex with Katherine and reveals he had sex with her once 12 years ago but left abruptly when he saw Katherine hit her ex-husband with a candlestick when they got into a fight. Dylan talks to Julie about the note and asks Adam, who lies to her to prevent Katherine from going to jail for murder. Lynette decides to attend church under Bree's guidance who tells her she should not question faith. Later, Bree finds out she is wrong when the pastor tells her that faith is strengthened when you question it. | |||||||
| 82 | 12 | "In Buddy's Eyes" | Larry Shaw | Jeff Greenstein | April 20, 2008 | 15.75[24] | |
| Orson starts sleepwalking because of feeling guilty about running over Mike and blurts out the truth in front of Julie. Bree and Katherine join forces for the Founder's Ball, but Bree starts to feel that Katherine is trying to steal the spotlight and tries to poison her. Gabrielle takes advantage of a blind husband by parking in handicapped spaces. Rick Colleti opens a pizzeria across the street from the Scavos', which angers Tom who throws a brick through his window. Lynette finds out about a fire at Rick's restaurant and thinks that Tom is responsible for it. Julie convinces Dylan to come to the Founder's Ball to enjoy and stop thinking about her father. A suspicious stranger intends to find Dylan when he sees her photo in the newspaper. | |||||||
| 83 | 13 | "Hello, Little Girl" | Bethany Rooney | Susan Nirah Jaffee & Jamie Gorenberg | April 27, 2008 | 16.35[25] | |
| Bree and Katherine decide to start a catering business together. Lynette and Tom have trust issues over the fire and Rick's feelings for Lynette, causing a fight between Tom and Rick at the pizzeria. Mike and Susan learn the truth about the hit and run, causing Susan to forbid Orson from coming near her family and Bree to throw him out of her house. Carlos feels bad that he is demanding a lot from Gabrielle so he adopts a female dog guide called Roxy who causes issues for Gabrielle and she decides to get rid of her. Wayne Davis, Katherine's ex-husband catches up to Dylan and Dylan starts meeting secretly with him. | |||||||
| 84 | 14 | "Opening Doors" | David Grossman | Dahvi Waller & Jordon Nardino | May 4, 2008 | 16.76[26] | |
| Lynette finds out who was responsible for starting the fire at Rick's restaurant: the twins, Porter and Preston, but learns that Kayla was the one who inspired them to do so. She decides to take Kayla to a therapist to sort out her troubles, but Kayla threatens to go to the police and tell them who committed the crime. Bree gives Orson an ultimatum to turn himself in for running over Mike but he refuses and moves in with Edie who kisses him during a drunk act and Bree sees them through a window. Susan meets Karl at a Lamaze class. Karl is now married to Marisa, a law professor, and tries to show off until Mike declares that he went to rehab. Gabrielle joins forces with Bob and Lee to catch her new renter, Ellie, in the act when she starts suspecting that she is a hooker. Ellie later confesses to Gabrielle that she is using her room as a tattoo parlor, but is shown hiding drugs in her drawer. Katherine finds out that Dylan is secretly meeting Wayne and gets ready for a confrontation. | |||||||
| 85 | 15 | "Mother Said" | David Warren | Chuck Ranberg & Anne Flett-Giordano | May 11, 2008 | 15.43[27] | |
| Adele Delfino, Susan's overbearing Southern mother-in-law, arrives for a visit and continuously insults Susan for not being a "complete" housewife. Susan asks Mike to make Adele apologize and goes into labor, delivering a beautiful baby boy. Carlos and Gaby find out their tenant, Ellie, has a dark secret of selling drugs, and worse still, the police want them to pretend everything's fine so they can get to her dealer; in return Carlos's probation would end. Bree tries to sabotage Edie's real estate business to get revenge on her for kissing Orson. Edie finds out the truth about Benjamin and blackmails Bree, causing Bree to tell her friends the truth. Susan, Gabrielle, Lynette and Bree decide to never talk to Edie, causing her to go and live with Travers on Mother's Day. Tom persuades Lynette to give Kayla a second chance, but Kayla threatens Lynette, forcing Lynette to slap her. Kayla gets back at Lynette by lying to their therapist about being physically abused. Wayne finds out that Dylan is not his biological child and may not be the girl he raised. | |||||||
| 86 | 16 | "The Gun Song" | Bethany Rooney | Bob Daily & Matt Berry | May 18, 2008 | 16.84[28] | |
| The ladies of Wisteria Lane meet Susan and Mike's new baby, who Mike names Maynard after his dead grandfather whom he really loved. Susan despises the name and secretly tries to change it to Connor, but decides to keep Maynard when she finds out what a wonderful person Mike's grandfather was. Gabrielle forms a strong bond of friendship with Ellie and saves her from the police by telling her to leave when she finds out Ellie resorted to drug dealing due to a bad childhood. Lynette is arrested by Child Protection Services for abusing Kayla who aggravates the situation by faking a burn. Tom forces Kayla to confess, leading her to move away to live with her grandparents. Bree tries to fake that she is dating Reverend Green so that Orson stops stalking her for forgiveness, but gets injured when he gets into a fight with Reverend Green who tries to publicly humiliate Bree for "leading him on for a kiss". Wayne kidnaps Adam to find out the truth about Dylan's biological father. | |||||||
| 87 | 17 | "Free" | David Grossman | Jeff Greenstein | May 18, 2008 | 16.84[28] | |
| Susan finds it difficult to let Julie go for a summer internship before college because she depends on her for almost everything. Wayne brutally injures Adam and goes after Katherine and holds her hostage with her gun until she tells him the whereabouts of his daughter. Meanwhile, Gabrielle and Carlos come across Ellie's money in her teddy bear and decide to hide it from her. Ellie comes to retrieve it, but gets tailed by the police. She takes cover in Katherine's house, where she is shot dead by Wayne to provide him an alibi after he murders Katherine. Lynette and Tom understand how strong their marriage is when they give advice to Bob and Lee Hunter before their engagement party. Bree tries to take over the work of the party, catering it all herself when Katherine bails on her, but Orson helps her out and tells her he would keep doing so to earn her forgiveness. Bree tries to look for Katherine but Wayne takes her as a hostage while Adam comes in the nick of time to save both of them. Katherine reveals the dark secret about Dylan and shoots Wayne when he threatens to ruin her life, but is not arrested when her friends give false information as witnesses to protect her. Some great surprises are revealed in a 5-year-later flash forward including that Gabrielle now has 2 children, Bree's business is extremely successful and she is still married to Orson, and Susan has a new love interest, having split up with Mike. | |||||||
Reception
Season four was met with critical acclaim. Adam Geller of Rotten Tomatoes wrote "While the last two seasons of Desperate Housewives definitely suffered to live up to season one's standards (especially season two), season four improved not only from seasons two and three, but also from the critically acclaimed first. Delivering great storylines such as Bree's fake pregnancy, Lynette's cancer, Gaby's affair and even Susan's real pregnancy, season four was considered a vast improvement.
Ratings
United States
| Episode number Production number |
Title | Original airing | Rating | Share | 18-49 (ratings) | Total viewers (in millions) | Rank per week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 4-01 | Now You Know | September 30, 2007 | 12.2 | 18 | 7.5 | 19.317 | #4 |
| 72 4-02 | Smiles of a Summer Night | October 7, 2007 | 11.7 | 17 | 6.8 | 17.817 | #5 |
| 73 4-03 | The Game | October 14, 2007 | 11.8 | 18 | 7.4 | 18.892 | #4 |
| 74 4-04 | If There's Anything I Can't Stand | October 21, 2007 | 11.5 | 17 | 7.3 | 18.214 | #4 |
| 75 4-05 | Art Isn't Easy | October 28, 2007 | 11.8 | 17 | 7.2 | 18.280 | #3 |
| 76 4-06 | Now I Know, Don't Be Scared | November 4, 2007 | 11.8 | 18 | 7.0 | 18.579 | #6 |
| 77 4-07 | You Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover | November 11, 2007 | 11.9 | 18 | 7.2 | 18.632 | #5 |
| 78 4-08 | Distant Past | November 25, 2007 | 11.6 | 17 | 7.0 | 18.638 | #4 |
| 79 4-09 | Something's Coming | December 2, 2007 | 12.7 | 18 | 7.8 | 20.650 | #4 |
| 80 4-10 | Welcome to Kanagawa | January 6, 2008 | 12.1 | 18 | 7.3 | 19.782 | #5 |
| 81 4-11 | Sunday | April 13, 2008 | 10.1 | 15 | 5.9 | 16.371 | #8 |
| 82 4-12 | In Buddy's Eyes | April 20, 2008 | 10.0 | 15 | 5.5 | 15.746 | #2[29] |
| 83 4-13 | Hello, Little Girl | April 27, 2008 | 10.2 | 16 | 5.9 | 16.346[30] | #5 |
| 84 4-14 | Opening Doors | May 4, 2008 | 10.8 | 17 | 6.3 | 16.757[31] | #4 |
| 85 4-15 | Mother Said | May 11, 2008 | 9.7 | 15 | 5.6 | 15.427[32] | #5 |
| 86 4-16 | The Gun Song | May 18, 2008 | 10.7 | 17 | 6.2 | 16.837 | #6 |
| 87 4-17 | Free | May 18, 2008 | 10.7 | 17 | 6.2 | 16.837 | #6 |
Season debuts
| Date | Country | Channel | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 30, 2007 | USA | ABC | 9:00 pm/8.00pmc |
| September 30, 2007 | Canada | CTV | 9:00 pm/8:00pmc |
| October 15, 2007 | Poland | n (Poland) | Video on Demand |
| December 4, 2007 | Turkey | CNBC-e (cable TV) | Tuesdays 9:00 pm |
| December 5, 2007 | Italy | FOXlife (Sky Italia - SAT TV) | 9:00 pm |
| January 7, 2008 | Arab World | Showtime Arabia | 9:00 pm |
| January 8, 2008 | Ireland | RTÉ Two | 9:50 pm |
| January 8, 2008 | Portugal | Fox Life | 9:00 pm |
| January 31, 2008 | South Africa | M-Net | 8:30 pm |
| February 4, 2008 | New Zealand | TV 2 | 8:30 pm |
| February 11, 2008 | Switzerland | SF2 | 8:00 pm |
| February 11, 2008 | Austria | ORF1 | 9:00 pm |
| February 11, 2008 | Australia | Seven | 8:30 pm |
| February 13, 2008 | Germany | Pro7 | Wednesdays 8:15 pm |
| February 13, 2008 | Latin America | Sony Entertainment Television | 10:00 pm |
| February 14, 2008 | Poland | FOXlife | 9:00 pm |
| February 19, 2008 | Norway | TV 2 | 9:45 pm |
| March 10, 2008 | Finland | Nelonen | 9:00 pm |
| March 25, 2008 | Malaysia | 8TV | 10:30 pm |
| March 26, 2008 August 27, 2008 | United Kingdom (excluding Wales) | Channel 4 | 10.00 pm - main UK showing See notes below. |
| March 27, 2008 August 27, 2008 | United Kingdom (Wales) | S4C | 2:20 am See notes below. |
| March 30, 2008 | Israel | yes stars 1 | 9:15 pm |
| March 30, 2008 August 31, 2008 | United Kingdom | E4 | 9.00 pm - repeat 10.00 pm - premiere UK showing See notes below. |
| April 2, 2008 | Spain | La 2 | Wednesdays 10:15 pm |
| April 25, 2008 | Hungary | TV2 | Wednesdays 10:15 pm |
| May 20, 2008 | Mexico | TvAzteca | 10:00 pm |
| September 16, 2008 | Asia | Star World | 11:00 pm |
| Fall 2008 | Bulgaria | BTV | 9:00 pm |
| October 2, 2008 | Poland | Polsat (free-TV premiere) | 10:05 pm |
| Fall 2008 | Latvia | TV3 | Mondays, 10:00 pm |
| Fall 2008 | Lithuania | TV3 | 10:00 pm |
| October 14, 2008 | Republic of Macedonia | A1 Televizija | Tuesday 9:00 pm |
| October 20, 2008 | Singapore | Channel 5 | 10:00 pm |
| January 2009 | Serbia | RTS | 9:00 pm |
| August 28, 2008 | France | Canal + | 8:50 pm |
| February 2, 2009 | Slovenia | POP TV | 8:50 pm/11.15 pm |
| June 23, 2009 | France | M6 | 8:45 pm |
Note
The late season start in the United Kingdom was because of the strike. Channel 4 intended to begin showing season 4 in January, but it did not want to begin showing the season, only to have to take a break halfway through because of lack of episodes available.
Desperate Housewives was eventually forced to take a break because of Big Brother 9 in the summer. It was anticipated that Desperate Housewives would have finished by June, but this was not the case. Big Brother took up the 9 pm or 10 pm slot every day from June 5, 2008, until September 5, 2008, so there was not room for Desperate Housewives in the schedules. As there were still seven episodes left to show as of June, Channel 4 waited until Big Brother had finished to resume showing them. Episodes returned with "Sunday" on Wednesday, September 3 at the earlier time of 9:30 pm between two episodes of the Big Brother day 90 eviction.
As E4 is one episode ahead of Channel 4, but does not air the season premiere before the host channel, E4 did not begin airing the new season until four days later on March 30. Episodes after this were aired on E4 three days before the Channel 4 airing, with the exception of "Sunday", which was treated as a season premiere.
Desperate Housewives airs very late at night on Welsh channel S4C due to Welsh-language programming airing during prime-time.
DVD release
| Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fourth Season (Sizzling Secrets Edition)[33] | |||||
| Set details | Special features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
| DVD release dates | |||||
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| September 2, 2008 | November 3, 2008 | TBA | |||
References
- "Tornado to Bring Death to "Housewives" Sunday--Marc Cherry interview". Archived from the original on November 27, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- "Housewives" Back Next Month Archived February 7, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, New York Post, December 19, 2007
- "TV Review: Desperate Housewives". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- "Desperate Housewives - The Complete Fourth Season". Archived from the original on October 5, 2009. Amazon.com
- "Desperate Housewives - The Complete Third Season". Archived from the original on January 31, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2009. Empik
- Schneider, Michael & Adalian, Josef: Keenan not 'Desperate' any more Archived June 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Variety, March 29, 2007
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External links
- Desperate Housewives at IMDb
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