Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry. 
> She's the Martha Stewart of Wisteria Lane -- the perfect hostess, friend, wife and mother. However, underneath the polished exterior lies a damaged, imperfect woman who will stop at nothing to protect her family and friends. Her relationship with her children Andrew and Danielle is been volatile over the years, but it looks as though Andrew and Bree are finally on the road to much happier times, especially now that she has accepted his homosexuality. When Danielle got pregnant, Bree sent her away and faked a pregnancy in order to pass off the baby as her own. After losing her husband Rex at the end of season one, Bree married Orson Hodge, a dentist with a few secrets of his own.
>Being a mother of four is difficult in of itself, but imagine three of those children being the next thing to the devil's spawn? That's the hand Lynette Scavo was dealt and I don't think she'd trade her three boys and little girl for perfect children. After getting her husband Tom fired from his job, Lynette headed back to work and Tom decided to use their life savings to open a pizzeria and Lynette quit her job to work with Tom. In season three, Tom learned he had fathered a child from a previous relationship. When the girl's mother died, she went to live with the Scavo's and soon made their boys look like angels. She was promptly shipped off to live with relatives. Lynette spent season four battling lymphoma and is now cancer-free.
>This beauty queen knows exactly what she wants in life and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Although Gaby's husband Carlos provided her with a luxurious lifestyle, it didn't take long before she began a torrid affair with their teenage gardener. After their divorce, Gaby and Carlos found their way back to each other, despite the fact that he is blind and has no money. Now that the show has jumped five years into the future, Gaby is now the mother of a precocious little girl. Will she survive motherhood? Or better yet -- will Carlos survive Gaby's motherhood?
>Easily one of the most entertaining housewives on Wisteria Lane, Susan Mayer and her daughter Julie spent many years taking care of each other after she divorced her first husband Carl. One can always count on Susan getting into some sort of hilarious and/or sticky situation. During the first four seasons, Susan and her neighbor Mike were a couple (on again, off again). They finally married and she gave birth to their son, Maynard. As the series jumped ahead five years, Susan is no longer with Mike and has a hot new lover in her life!
>Every neighborhood must have that man-stealer, and Wisteria Lane is no different. Edie Britt has gone after all those desperate husbands -- and even bedded most of them! After blackmailing her way into the ladies weekly poker game, Edie managed to form quasi friendships with most of the leading ladies. Once it was revealed that she was blackmailing Bree, Edie was run out of town. Skipping ahead five years, Edie is back on Wisteria Lane and married to a very handsome man.... with a major secret.
All characters are represented in both negative and positive ways as the family life for these housewives are far from perfect.
However these representations are not fair and accurate as there may be many negative feelings as women today are more free and are not all housewives due to the fact that they are now more independent.
Media Languages and Forms
What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
When Gabrielle is shown wearing a bikini during the show instead of her clothes, this is shown that the representation of her is a sex symbol due to the fact that she is trying to impress her husband.
What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
This therefore shows that the significance of this is to show that 'housewives' are always looking good for their husbands, as that is part of their jobs showing they should cater for their partners needs.
What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?
The clothes are very important in the show Desperate Housewives as this outlines each of the characters personality, for example, Bree is always looking presentable and smart- this therefore portrays her character as a tidy and a clean housewife.
Moreover Gabrielle is always dressed 'sexy' – as she used to be a model and has affairs, the use of less clothes give away her personality.
Thirdly Lynette is the worn out housewife- her clothes are mostly baggy and her hair is tied up and not done to the best of her ability as she is always at home is looking after the children, and therefore does not have enough time for herself to look good.
What work is being done by the sound track/commentary/language of the text?
The commentary is important throughout the show because the narrator who is dead, used to be the characters' friend, so she used to be one of the housewives, therefore she comes across as knowing the characters well as they were her friends and she is watching whilst telling the story making the audience feel like she there amongst them. This may also make the audience seem secure about what she is saying as she also talks about what the characters do, however it is not a bias point of view because she just basically tells the story.
Narrative
How is the narrative organised and structured?
The narrative is in chronological order, however, there are also some flashbacks now and again.
How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
The narrative is easy to follow for the audience, especially as there is a voice over who guides us along the storyline and also adds humour.
How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
Edie and Gabi both create humour to the episodes as they are both portrayed as 'drama queens'. Bree is seen as the villain because she is very cruel to her children but in a sly way as she also blackmails them. In some episodes the villains seem to be the women because they act malicious towards their husbands, for example Gabi and Carlos, when they were going through their divorce, Gabi did all she could to keep the house. Also Lynette being the control freak makes the audience sympathise with her husband. However, even though the women are portrayed like this, the audience also sympathise with them because we hear their troubles and are not shown the point of view of the men or them talking about their feelings, unlike the women who we all understand the reasons for their actions.
Genre
To which genre does the text belong?
Comedy Drama
Does the text feature a star, a director, a writer etc who is strongly associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?
Eva Longoria Parker plays Gabrielle Solice in this show; she is a famous actress and strongly associates her role in the show. Due to the fact that she is a glamour model in real life she plays the same glamour model throughout the show, she acts in a very mature way with her role that she plays and therefore successfully works with the acting ability she has.
Media Institutions
Desperate Housewives original channel is ABC however is shown in England on Channel4.
American Broadcasting CompanyABC has influenced desperate housewives in many ways such as the fact that the headquarters are based in America, therefore the ability to truly show what life is like in America, making the drama more real life based.
Media Audiences
In April 2007 it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 120 million viewers.
The target audience for the show will mainly be for women as they can relate to the storylines much more than men can also the title of the show “desperate housewives” also may connote the audience is for young women.
However it could be argued that there is really no target audience here; that this show has something to appeal to almost every one (including men). Moreoover it is more likely to be for adults as the show is scheduled to be watched after 10.
