Hidden Details In Desperate Housewives Only Fans Notice

Do you know all of the hidden details in Desperate Housewives? Are you totally bummed that a Desperate Housewives revival will never happen? HuffPost referred to this popular television show as "a hybrid of Sex and the City-style comedy and Twin Peaks-esque mystery, with a wink at the Stepford Wives influences," and we couldn't agree more. 

More specifically, Desperate Housewives – which ended after Season 8 for this reason – followed the incredibly scintillating lives of a tight-knit group of suburban housewives on the fictional Wisteria Lane. Its pilot, a now-iconic episode that opened with a sudden suicide and closed with the promise of blackmail, led to what Huff Post referred to as the birth of a "pop culture moment." From that moment on, each episode continued to develop a bunch of incredibly complex characters, complete with a host of personality flaws. 

While those who've watched all eight seasons of this captivating program might be familiar with the characters and storylines, Desperate Housewives contains many hidden details that only true fans would have known about. How many of the below had you already noticed?

Did you ever get the feeling that you've seen Wisteria Lane before? Well, these's a good reason for that hidden detail. According to Nine.com.au, the iconic Colonial Street set at Universal Studios, which is where Desperate Housewives was shot, was used for several other television shows as well as movies. The set was originally built in the 1920s, but it looked very different until it was updated in the 1950s. Productions that filmed partially or wholly on this set include The Munsters (which has a reboot in the works), Leave it to Beaver, and Deep Impact.

Additionally, if you're an eagle-eyed connoisseur of early 2000s music videos, you may have noticed a very recognizable music video was shot on this set: "Dilemma," the timeless number by Nelly and Kelly Rowland.

Though the Colonial Street set has been used in many big-name productions, its stint on Desperate Housewives is perhaps the most high-profile. "When you open a door on Wisteria Lane you really are opening a door into the soul of the characters who live there," Thomas A. Walsh, the production designer for Desperate Housewives, shared with Los Angeles Magazine. 

The well-dressed, ever-glamorous Gabrielle (Gaby) Solis (played by Eva Longoria) led an incredibly fascinating life on Desperate Housewives – and was paired with some equally fascinating love interests with hidden details. On Season 1, she was shown having a highly-questionable, entirely illicit affair with her schoolboy gardener, John Rowland. John was played by Jesse Metcalf who, according to Glamour, got his big break on the show. He later went on to play a different John: John Tucker, the lead role in the silver screen hit John Tucker Must Die. 

During Season 3, after her divorce with Carlos Solis was finalized, Gaby was wooed by politician Victor Lang; the aspiring leader hoped having beautiful Gaby by his side would help him secure the Latin vote when he runs for Governor. The ambitious Victor was played by John Slattery, who juggled his roles on Desperate Housewives and Mad Men concurrently. "On Desperate Housewives, I'm sort of a hired hand," he told Nwi.com, "and for a finite amount of time. That show was wildly successful before, and will continue to be after I'm gone."

Did you notice that there were no full-length shots of Bree Hodge on Season 3 of Desperate Housewives? Did you find it strange that she suddenly departed Wisteria Lane, and didn't return untill Season 4?

The reason for these hidden details? Marcia Cross, who plays Bree, got pregnant with twins while filming Season 3. According to Good Housekeeping, the show's plotlines were finalized well in advance, so Cross' pregnancy couldn't be written into the show. Instead, everyone did their best to keep her belly hidden. "We have a lot of jokes about what to hide Marcia's pregnancy with," co-star Teri Hatcher revealed. "A few days ago, we used an entire gingerbread house."

According to Reuters, Cross was eventually put on bedrest by her doctors, so her scenes had to be filmed in her actual living room for the last few episodes. "They are painting the walls, moving in props and furniture from the set," a source shared at the time. "They're basically making Marcia's house into Bree's." Fortunately, Cross wasn't one of the stars who lost roles because they were pregnant!

Throughout its run, Desperate Housewives featured an ensemble cast of famous guest stars. According to Nine.com.au, there were at least 30 celebs who made guest appearances on the show, so you might have missed some of these hidden details. 

For one, supermodel Heidi Klum — who's undergone a stunning transformation — played herself in a Season 6 arc, during which she encountered Gaby and Angie while out and about. Klum appeared to be unimpressed, as she remembered all too well that Gaby played a joke that resulted in her losing a magazine cover. Additionally, Chloë Grace Moretz made a short appearance in Season 3, long before she was a household name. She played Sherri Maltby, who Gaby mentored for a beauty pageant. 

Furthermore, Jeffrey Nordling and Drea de Matteo played husband and wife Nick and Angie Bolen. You may recognise de Matteo from The Sopranos, and would have seen Nordling play Renata's husband on Big Little Lies. Lastly, remember Maxine, who was arrested on charges of slavery in Season 2? She was played by Jane Lynch, who later acted as Coach Sue Sylvester on Glee.

You might not think you know who Stephen Sondheim is, but if you like watching television shows, movies, and musicals, it's quite likely you've come across his work, or references to his work. Sondheim is a composer and lyricist, who The New York Times refers to as "the American musical's supreme artist of ambivalence."

According to The Guardian, Sondheim composed the famous Broadway musicals Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and West Side Story. Though he is 90 years old now, and well and truly past the peak of his career, his work is still referenced often in popular culture. Examples include Jennifer Aniston singing one of his songs on The Morning Show, the inclusion of a few of his songs on The Politician, and references to his work on Marriage Story and Joker.

Sondheim has a unique link to Desperate Housewives, too. The New York Times reports that "every Desperate Housewives episode title is a Sondheim lyric," which is a fascinating hidden detail. Can you figure out which musical the titles refer to?

Across eight seasons of Desperate Housewives, 52 characters have died, mostly under suspicious circumstances. That's right, 52! Considering the series began with a death, perhaps we should have seen the other hidden details coming.

According to ScreenRant, some of these untimely passings include the death of Mary Alice Young, who ended her own life unexpectedly; the death of Rex Van de Kamp, who was killed as a result of his medications being swapped by pharmacist George Williams (who was in love with Bree); the death of Karl Mayer, due to a plane crashing into a house he happened to be inside of at the time; and the death of Edie Brit, who was electrocuted in a truly shocking way.

Arguably the most emotional death on Desperate Housewives is perhaps the murder of Mike Delfino. His character arc included a mysterious past, a son he didn't know existed, jail time, a coma, and so many more unfortunate incidents. His time on Wisteria Lane was ultimately cut short when he was shot to death outside his home, depriving him and Susan of a long, happy life together.

Hardcore fans of Desperate Housewives would have noticed the hidden detail that Season 4 has fewer episodes than the other seasons — only 17, as opposed to 23 or 24. Well, as it turns out, there's a reason for this.

Desperate Housewives was affected by the Hollywood writers' strike in 2007. ABC reported that the program was one of the first major series to be shut down as a result of the strike, which started after producers and writers couldn't come to an agreement.

Marc Cherry, who created the series, acted as a lead negotiator for the Writers Guild of America during this turbulent moment. Tensions were high at the time, to the point that writers were outside of a Desperate Housewives set in Los Angeles protesting. ABC also reported that Eva Longoria, who played the glamorous Gaby Solis on the show, supported the picketers, and even brought out some pizza for them to snack on while protesting.

Let's take a moment to examine two pivotal car accidents that involved the Van de Kamp/Hodge and Solis families on Desperate Housewives.

Fans who've watched the series from the very beginning might remember the very first of many car accidents on this show. This particular wreck was caused by Andrew, Bree's then-teenage son. According to The Spinoff, an intoxicated Andrew hit Juanita, a.k.a Mama Solis with his car, and Bree helped him lie and pretend he wasn't involved. The accident can be viewed on YouTube, if you need to refresh your memory, or if you're just catching up.

This scene is mirrored in Season 7, when Bree accidentally hits Gaby and Carlos' daughter Juanita with her car. This results in young Juanita being taking to the hospital, which sets the scene for a surprising storyline with hidden details. 

Remember the iconic opening scene in the pilot episode of Desperate Housewives? It follows Mary Alice Young's supposedly uneventful day, during which she tends to the garden, cooks, cleans, does laundry, and works on household projects. But it ends quite shockingly with her raising a gun to her temple and pulling the trigger, thus ending her life.

Fast forward to Season 7, when viewers saw another disturbing instance, a hidden detail that mirrors the shocking Season 1 passing of Mary Alice. It starts when Beth Young, Paul's new wife, is kicked out of her home after Paul discovers she's the daughter of Felicia Tillman. Upon finding out her kidney is a match for Susan's transplant, she heads to the hospital to sign the necessary paperwork. 

However, the events that followed are just plain eerie. Beth reaches inside her bag to pull out a pistol, and places it against her temple prior to taking her own life — the same way Paul's first wife, Mary Alice, did. 

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline​ at​ 1-800-273-TALK (8255)​.

When watching Desperate Housewives, did you notice that each character's outfits seemed to suit both their personalities and their stages in life? Didn't it seem that one person's sartorial choices weren't similar to anyone else's? According to the show's costume designer, Cate Adair, all of these hidden details were carefully and deliberately planned. "When the clothes fit with the world that was created by both the set designers and the writers, which in turn are brought to life by the actors, it resonates with the viewers," she explained in an interview with Lucire.

The Emmy-nominated designer didn't work in a vacuum, either, when creating the sophisticated, trend-setting outfits on Desperate Housewives. "It is an amazingly written show, and in terms of my work as a costume designer, the process is definitely a collaborative art," she continued. 

Adair also paid careful attention to every detail, hoping "to bring out that sense of joy with the clothes." This is what ultimately resulted in the lively, fully-realized characters that viewers could identify with and adore.

If you've been having flashbacks to Desperate Housewives when watching shows from the Real Housewives franchise, you've actually discovered a hidden detail about the shows. "I'm a huge fan," Real Housewives of Orange Country star Gretchen Rossi told Hollywood.com, in relation to Desperate Housewives. "It inspired the Real Housewives franchise — and honestly, I feel I owe a lot to Marc Cherry for creating a show that inspired a real life version of housewives!" Sonja Morgan, from Real Housewives of New York, agreed, and said she aspires "to dressing like them and having beautiful homes like them," when sharing her thoughts on the popular program.

The Real Housewives series isn't the only show that was influenced by Desperate Housewives. According to Nine.com.au, several other popular suburban-set, women-helmed, dark comedy series graced our television screens once Desperate Housewives wrapped up. These include Weeds, Devious Maids, Why Women Kill, Santa Clarita Diet, Revenge, and Cougar Town, among others. The list also includes Pretty Little Liars – guess what things only adults notice on that show?

Though some aspects of Desperate Housewives seemed super progressive at the time, on the flip side, some of the show's hidden details have aged quite poorly. 

Insofar as aging well, take, for example, the main cast. Despite the fact that Desperate Housewives premiered in 2004, it had a primarily female-helmed cast — something that wasn't especially common at the time. The television show's empowering nature, when it comes to giving women positions of prominence, continues to be admired by viewers past and present.

However, Desperate Housewives has also featured a few storylines that seemed of poor taste back when they first aired, and that appear even more questionable now. Most notably, Gaby's secret affair with her teenage gardener isn't exactly in great taste, or really even legal. There's also the perpetuation of some stereotypes in the questionable storyline written for Betty Applewhite's family. The latter was particularly concerning in the context of the show's cast, which was primarily white.

If there was one thing Desperate Housewives did well, it was shock viewers. According to Nine.com.au, the show had tons surprising storylines full of hidden details, which included everything from murders and their cover-ups, children being replaced, and the impact of natural disasters.

Remember Mrs. McClusky? She went from pesky, nosy neighbor to the Scavo brood's reliable, dependable babysitter. But during Season 3, we found out she had an alarming secret of her own. In a weird turn of events, Mrs. McClusky was discovered hiding her dead husband's body in a freezer. We eventually learned she was not involved in his death — she had simply found him dead when she came home one day, and chose not to report it so she could keep receiving his pension checks.

The plane crash that occurred in Season 6 was also among the most memorable of storylines, as more people died in that disaster than in any other event in the series. The entire neighborhood was at a Christmas party on Wisteria Lane when a plane crashed into Santa's Workshop. Casualties included Karl, Mona, Jeff, Daphne, and Lynette's unborn son.

Stable marriages seemed to be few and far between on Desperate Housewives. And while many of the housewives went through multiple divorces and marriages on the show, only two of the main characters married the same man twice: Susan and Gaby.

Susan and Mike's love story was quite a rollercoaster throughout their arc, with so many tragic occurrences and hidden details, including Mike's eventual murder. But the couple still found time to tie the knot twice; they also had a child together, a son named MJ.

Insofar as Gaby is concerned, she's already married to Carlos when the series begins. But that marriage didn't last, as Gaby and Carlos later divorced, after which she married politician Victor Lang. Victor was eventually killed when he was impaled during a tornado by a white picket fence post. After that, Gaby and Carlos re-marry, have children, and enjoy perhaps had one of the most solid partnerships on Wisteria Lane — until a series of unfortunate events leads Carlos to rehab.