Ranking the Desperate Housewives
8. Katherine Mayfair
The Desperate Housewives writers really took a deep dive when introducing this former Wisteria Lane resident in season four. As the central mystery of the season, Katherine Mayfair was hiding something with her surprising return to the famous street and the girls were ready to uncover her. After the time jump to season five, she became a lonely, desperate, jealous woman in the span of five years. This was a perfect opportunity for the writers to give Katherine a unique storyline, but they decided to maker her Susan 2.0 and if you’re making Susan look normal, then there’s a problem. It helps that Dana Delany gave her a very warm and kind portrayal but her character really had the worst journey.
7. Renee Perry
Renee Perry’s character seemed to be thrown into the mix as a direct response from Marc Cherry to the audience for not having a black actress in one of the leading roles. I’m not counting Betty Applewhite as she never connected to the other woman and her storyline aged to be racially insensitive and unnecessary. Vanessa Williams made Renee Perry very funny, but she was stuck at the end of Desperate Housewives’ run which was not up to par with the first few seasons of the show. At least she got her happy ending.
6. Mary Alice Young
Although her journey was cut short, Mary Alice was the central force of Wisteria Lane and she always managed to connect the four main girls together. As the narrator, she introduced us to the madness of this street and her season one central mystery is one of, if not, the best of the series. It was sad she was never really physical present but her narrations gave a unique quality to the show that made it timeless.
5. Susan Mayer
Susan was actually quite amusing. At times she was insufferable, but she would get these moments where her kind, naive humanity would come out and it seems like she enjoys her cringe behavior so she became fun to watch. The writers seemed to have a lot of fun with her, but I wonder how much they really liked Teri Hatcher because, considering all the speculation about her and her mistreatment towards the other women, it seems like they were punishing Susan until the very end of the series.
4. Lynette Scavo
Lynette had one of the strongest character development from Desperate Housewives. She dealt with some of the toughest situations and she always managed to stay strong and resilient through it all, which gave her a fierceness quite unique to her counterparts. Her relationship with Tom was the true love story of the series and Lynette was a strong woman that needed to be seen and understood. Felicity Huffman (outside of the college admissions scandal) did an excellent job giving life to Lynette.
3. Bree Van de Kamp
Bree was probably the most complex character of the core four. She was a woman obsessed with perfection in a world that was willing to give her everything but that. In the first few seasons, it was really easy to hate her but seeing what she had to put up with, a rewatch might make you root for her early on. As the series progressed, she became known for her iconic one liners and delivering some of the best feuds of the series. Overall, her journey really was, as she might say… magnificent.
2. Edie Britt
It’s interesting to come back to this show in 2021 and not wonder how anyone could hate this woman when this show was in its prime! She really was the best of the best. The writers obviously wanted to paint her as the villain to Susan’s hero story-arc, but with time, Edie Britt has become one of the most iconic characters of the series (and she only made it half way). The core four leading characters never really wanted her around and Nicollette Sheridan did a fabulous job at humanizing a kind of woman that society loves to hate. The character, and arguably the actress, deserved way better, but Edie did manage to always stay the center of attention.
1. Gabrielle Marquez Solis
The Latina takes the crown. Edie was really close to snagging it but Gaby had the most empowering developments of the series. Her character is the Brooke Davis-Rachel Green version of Desperate Housewives. She was introduced as a selfish, vain, cheating wife who never seemed to care about anybody but herself. Over the eight year run, she grew into becoming a caring, fearless mother and wife who protected the ones she loved at all costs. Although there are some aspects of Gaby that did not age well, Eva Longoria brought a sweet portrayal to this woman that made her shine above the rest.
