Amas de Casa Desesperadas: a telenovela dramedy

Amas de Casa Desesperadas is a telenovela dramedy, which debuted on Univision on January 10, 2008. Set in the fictional Manzanares Street, the series follows the lives of four housewives and the domestic problems and daily mysteries surrounding their husbands, friends and neighbors, which can be more sinister than they appear. The series' tone combines elements of drama, comedy, mystery, farce, soap opera and satire.

Based on the United States' television series Desperate Housewives, it was developed for Latinos by Disney-ABC International Television and Pol-Ka Producciones.

Season 1 (2008-2009)

Season one began airing on January 10, 2008 and featured a total of 24 episodes. The show opens with the mysterious suicide of housewife Alicia Arizmendi on a beautiful day in the suburbs, on a street called Manzanares. Alicia, who narrates the show from the afterlife, had four friends: Regina Sotomayor, the seemingly-perfect mother of two teenagers struggling to save her marriage; Leonor Guerrero, the mother of four whose husband is always away on business; Susana Martinez, the divorced mother in search of love, who finds it in the form of her new neighbour Miguel Santini, who has a secret of his own; and Gabriela Solís, the materialistic ex-runway model who cheats on her husband. While trying to be good wives and mothers, the four friends also try to find out why their friend committed suicide. The discovery of a blackmail note among Alicia's belongings, a therapy session tape in which she admits her real name was Angela, and her widowed husband's strange behaviour really make them wonder about the mystery surrounding their deceased friend.

Origins

on May 14, 2007, Univision signed a deal with The Walt Disney Company and ABC to produce programs for the network, including Amas de Casa Desesperadas.

Cast and characters

This is a list of the major characters of the series, as well as their counterpart in the original, American, series and the actors portraying them.

Character	Original Character	US Spanish actor
Susana Martinez	Susan Mayer	Scarlet Ortiz
Leonor Guerrero	Lynette Scavo	Lorna Paz
Regina Sotomayor	Bree Van de Kamp	Julieta Rosen
Gabriela Solis	Gabrielle Solis	Ana Serradilla
Roxana Guzman	Edie Britt	Gabriela Vergara
Carlos Solis	Carlos Solis	Bernie Paz
Alicia Arizmendi	Mary Alice Young	Lucía Méndez
Antonio Guerrero	Tom Scavo	Diego Bertie
Roberto Sotomayor	Rex Van de Kamp	Riccardo Dalmacci
Miguel Santini	Mike Delfino	Diego Ramos
Marta Garcia	Felicia Tilman	Talú Quintero