The original pilot featured Sheryl Lee as Mary Alice Young, Michael Reilly Burke as Rex Van De Camp and Kyle Searles as John. Lee was later replaced with Brenda Strong, Reilly with Steven Culp and Searles with Jesse Metcalfe, and their scenes were re-shot for the broadcast pilot.

Creator Marc Cherry said he got the idea to write the pilot after a conversation with his mother. She told him that raising Cherry and his siblings with their father away most of the time made her feel "desperate" sometimes.

At first, the show was pitched as a female driven comedy. All the networks turned it down. It was then slightly rewritten and pitched as a nighttime soap opera and it sold.

In the Episode, "Anything You Can Do" Lynette's husband is pitching a sale on how to advertise a product to his clients and they are not very interested in his idea. Lynette suggests advertising on dry-cleaning bags because "they sit in your closet for months and are constant advertising". The clients loved her idea. To promote this show, ABC did just this, putting the slogan "Everyone has a little dirty laundry" on thousands of bags.

Teri Hatcher broke two ribs filming the scene where she stumbles into a wedding cake and insisted they not stop production.

Oprah Winfrey loved the show so much, she was invited to the set, and had an exclusive show in which she showcased a 15 minute "episode" where Oprah (as a new neighbor) learned of all the secrets of the housewives.

The first television series to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for a show that had not yet completed its first season.

Marcia Cross originally tried for the part of Mary Alice Young, but was cast as Bree Van De Camp. Nicollette Sheridan tried for the part of Bree Van De Camp, but was cast as Edie Britt.

The characters The Scavo Brothers (Parker, Preston, and Porter) were ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 10 Biggest Brats" (27 March 2005 issue).

The phrase "So here's the deal" is used at least once in each episode.

Bree's response when her son tells her he's gay is, "I'd love you even if you were a murderer," the same quote that Marc Cherry's mother told him when he came out.

The gown Eva Longoria wore to mow the lawn in the pilot episode was loaned to Philadelphia high schooler Melissa Saunders to wear to her senior prom when she asked for photos of it so she could locate a similar outfit; it still had grass clippings on it.

Producers believed 'Ricardo Antonio Chavira' to be too young and not suave enough, and almost didn't cast him as Carlos Solis.

Rex is allergic to onions.

Calista Flockhart, Heather Locklear, and Mary-Louise Parker were considered for the role of Susan.

The character of Mr Shaw, played by Richard Rowntree, works for the Hafts Detective Agency. "Hafts" is an anagram of "Shaft", who was played by Richard Roundtree in the 1970's film of the same name.

Bree is based on Marc Cherry's own mother; Rex was killed off because Marc's father had died.



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