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I am not Eva Longoria

Cannes Opening Ceremony & Screening of "Blindness" (5.14.08)

PILOT 1 vs PILOT 2

Original Pilot - Unaired
Guest Stars: Sheryl Lee (Mary Alice Scott) Kyle Searles (John) Michael Reilly Burke (Rex Van De Kamp) Doug Savant (Tom Scavo) Brent Kinsman (Preston Scavo) Porter Kinsman (Porter Scavo) Zane Huett (Parker Scavo)

Looking down on her friends and family isn't a way of life for Mary Alice Scott. It's a way of death. One day, in her perfect house, in the loveliest of suburbs, Mary Alice ended it all. Now she's taking us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors, commenting from her elevated POV. Her husband's acting suspicious, the neighbors are talking, and her girlfriends are wondering why one of their own would do something so rash… and so messy. From her unique vantage point, Mary Alice sees more now than she ever did alive and she's planning to share all the delicious secrets that hide behind every neighbor's closed door in this seemingly perfect American suburb.

Episode Notes:

In this original pilot of Desperate Housewives actress Sheryl Lee played the lead role (and narrator) of dead Mary Alice Scott. When the series was picked up she was released from the role. This would've been her second dead character after her famous role of Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks.

In this orignial pilot of Desperate Housewives the role of gardner John was played by actor Kyle Searles. After the series was picked up by ABC he was released from the role.

In the original pilot episode the role of Rex Van De Kamp played in this episode was actor Michael Reilly Burke but was let go after the series was picked up by ABC.

Original Pilot - Aired October 3, 2004
Guest Stars: Joy Lauren (Danielle Van De Camp) Shawn Pyfrom (Andrew Van De Kamp) Christine Estabrook (Mrs. Martha Huber) Doug Savant (Tom Scavo)

Looking down on her friends and family isn't a way of life for Mary Alice Young. It's a way of death. One day, in her perfect house, in the loveliest of suburbs, Mary Alice ended it all. Now she's taking us into the lives of her family, friends and neighbors, commenting from her elevated POV. Her husband's acting suspicious, the neighbors are talking, and her girlfriends are wondering why one of their own would do something so rash… and so messy.

From her unique vantage point, Mary Alice sees more now than she ever did alive and she's planning to share all the delicious secrets that hide behind every neighbor's closed door in this seemingly perfect American suburb.

Episode Notes:

In the screening pilot, Mary Alice's full name is given (both in conversation and in print) as Mary Alice YOUNG. The surname Scott (as it appears in all the early synopses, etc.) is never mentioned.

In the original pilot episode of Desperate Housewives actress Sheryl Lee played the title role of Mary Alice Young. After the pilot was picked up she was dropped from the series and was replaced by actress Brenda Strong. The show's creators replaced Sheryl Lee because they felt her voice-over narration needed "more of a comic lift" and "somebody more present and less ethereal". However, they still hope to bring Lee back to the show in a future guest spot.

The neighborhood block (studio set) that the neighbors live on in this episode is also the same block used in the 1989 Tom Hanks movie The Burbs.

In the original pilot episode of Desperate Housewives the role of the gardner John Rowland was played by actor Kyle Searles. He was let go after the series was picked up by the network and replaced by actor Jesse Metcalfe.

In the original pilot of Desperate Housewives the role of Rex Van De Kamp was originally played by actor Michael Reilly Burke, but left the role when the series was picked up by ABC and was replaced by actor Steve Culp.

Before Desperate Housewives actresses Brenda Strong (Mary Alice Young) and Marcia Cross (Bree Van De Kamp) both had recurring roles on the WB's Everwood. They never had any scenes together, but both had a relationship with lead character Andy Brown (Treat Williams).

Just like actress Sheryl Lee (the orginal Mary Alice Young), Brenda Strong (now Mary Alice Young) will play a dead character for a second series. She already plays one on a recurring basis on the WB's Everwood. Sheryl Lee played one for the first time in Twin Peaks.

The character Bree Van De Kamp (played by Marcia Cross) is based on series creator Marc Cherrys' mother in real life. In the pilot episode the character Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) is smoking a cigarette after having sex with gardener John Rowland (Kyle Searles), but creator Marc Cherry was asked to cut it out, but kept it in anyway.

In New York City, the pilot had an impressive 19.0/26 rating/share on WABC.

On its original airing this episode scored 21 million viewers for ABC and being the highest rated show in its timeslot and for the night among broadcast networks.

The original airing was the highest rated show of the week among all shows on every network.

Networks NBC, CBS, Lifetime and even HBO passed on Desperate Housewives.

Not only was it the highest rated show of the week, but it was the highest rated series premiere of the 2004-2005 season, besting highly anticipated shows CSI: New York and Joey.

Kyle Searles who played the original gardener John Rowland is actually in the pilot. He has no speaking role and can be briefly seen twice durning Mary Alice Young's wake (Once when Susan Mayer [Teri Hatcher] 'joins' the girls at the table; and twice where Lynette Scavo [Felicity Huffman] gets into the pool).

There was a few minor shots that was added to the aired pilot, besides the scenes with the replaced actors, a few new shots were added mainly in the "pool" scene, and where Rex Van De Camp (Steven Culp) "falls" onto the ground in the restaurant, the original pilot featured the table also falling to the ground. That's just other minor differences from the aired and unaired versions of the pilot.

Doug Savant (Tom Scavo) and Marcia Cross (Bree Van De Kamp) have previously worked together on the Fox hit primetime soap Melrose Place.

Music featured in this episode was from Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You."

Aired on Channel 4 in the UK on Wednesday 5th January. Proved a huge hit with 5.5 million viewers.

Draw in 4.4 million veiwers in the UK beating the Sex in the City Finale, the second higest programme on UK tv only being beaten by BBC news, which got 5.2 million veiwers

In Australia on channel 7 The show drew an audience of 2.5 million people for the premier.

Pilot Synopsis courtesy of TVtome.com

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