August 2011, it was confirmed that the eighth season of Desperate Housewives would be the show's last; the series finale aired on May 13, 2012. By the end of the series, it had surpassed Charmed with the most episodes in an hour-long television series featuring all female leads. Premise The first season premiered on October 3, 2004, and introduces the four central characters of the show: Susan Mayer, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis, as well as their families and neighbors on Wisteria Lane. The main mystery of the season is the unexpected suicide of Mary Alice Young, and the involvement of her husband Paul Young (Mark Moses) and their son Zach (Cody Kasch) in the events leading up to it. Susan fights promiscuous neighbour Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan) for the affection of new neighbor Mike Delfino (James Denton), Lynette struggles to cope with her four demanding children, Bree fights to save her marriage to Rex Van de Kamp (Steven Culp) while dealing with her rebellious son Andrew Van de Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom), and Gabrielle tries to prevent her husband Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) from discovering that she is having an affair with their gardener, John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe). The first season is also marked by mystery surrounding the murder of a neighbour and some secrets revealed about Zach, Mike, and Paul. At the end of the season both Paul and Zach go missing. [[File:WisteriaLanePurpleHouse.jpg|thumb|left|The Applewhite house, focus of Desperate Housewives''' season-long mystery from 2005 to 2006]] The second season premiered on September 25, 2005, and its central mystery is that of new neighbor Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard), who moves onto Wisteria Lane with her son Matthew in the middle of the night. She keeps someone prisoner in her basement who tries to escape multiple times. Throughout the season, Bree tries to cope with being a widow, unknowingly begins dating the man who had poisoned her husband, fights alcoholism, and is unable to prevent the gap between her and her son Andrew from growing to extremes, and deals with her daughter Danielle's new romance with Matthew Applewhite. Susan's love life becomes even more complicated as she has serious conflicts with Mike, and her ex-husband Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi) who is engaged to Edie, also starts to lean towards Susan. Lynette goes back to her career in advertising while her husband Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) becomes a