When Desperate Housewives first aired in October 2004 on the ABC television network, the controversial pilot episode attracted the interest of more than twenty-five million viewers. On a seemingly quiet suburban street called Wisteria Lane, four women - Lynette Scavo, Gabrielle Solis, Bree Van de Kamp and Susan Mayer - were immediately connected by the suicide of Mary-Alice Young, a neighbor and member of the poker club. While the reason for Mary-Alice's death remained unknown for several seasons, the show began to unveil a juicy plot chock-full of stereotypical suburban drama; mixed between love triangles and tragic affairs, more unusual and mysterious events began to occur. Although Desperate Housewives seeks to portray gender equality and society's ever-changing perception of gender through the use of melodramatic jobs, relationships, and events, this façade does little to hide the traditional roles of each gender and as such roles complicate people's daily lives. Wisteria Lane families. Thinking traditionally, I can think of a few careers that women commonly choose. Curiously enough, the careers of the women of Wisteria Lane involve these very jobs. Susan Mayer, a young mother of a school-age boy, works sporadically as an art teacher. When she is fired from a conservative private school for being too outspoken, her family loses their home and Susan begins making soft-core porn to supplement her husband's income. Bree, a divorced and fiercely independent redhead, owns her own catering business. Don't be fooled by this apparent break in traditional gender roles; the writers try to give her more equal work by making her a powerful landlady, but the fact that she owns a food company, which is... the middle of the paper... the luxurious scandal of a middle-class life , but once all the drama is out of the way, the show's writer makes it perfectly clear that suburbia has its benefits and consequences. Despite 25 million weekly viewers, the show's producers decided to pull the plug on what has become an American pastime over the previous seven seasons. The story of the four main women – Lynette, Gabrielle, Bree and Susan – may be ending, but the character roles the actresses created will continue to represent gender roles for decades to come. Works CitedHill, Lisa. “Gender and Gender: Plight of Desperate Housewives.” Journal of Popular Film & Television 38.4 (2010): 164-72. Print.McCabe, Janet and Akass, Kim, eds. Reading "Desperate Housewives": Over the White Picket Fence. London: IB Tauris, 2006. Print.