Desperate Housewives is a television series.
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama and mystery series created by Marc Cherry , and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions . From the 2004 -- 05 through the 2008 -- 09 television seasons , its first five seasons were rated amongst the top ten most-watched series . In 2012 , it remained the most-watched comedy series internationally based on data from Eurodata TV Worldwide , which measured ratings across five continents ; it has held this position since 2006 . By the end of the series , it had surpassed Charmed as the longest running hour-long television series featuring all female leads by two episodes .