I've just noticed there's no thread for Season 8.
Is anyone else watching at US pace?

Because Oh. My. God.

Watched Sunday's episode yesterday and can't say I'm all that shocked or bothered. Apparently Teri Hatcher didn't like the idea of that twist and tried to suggest something else? Weird.

Im not surprised.
I was really shocked and really bothered!

Susan's entire storyline is based around Mike, since Episode 1. Why make her miserable like that right at the very end? Such a waste of 176 episodes.

I thought it was a really shitty move. He's one of the few genuinley likeable characters in the show and to go out like that after everything the couple had been though sucked. I knew as soon as they said someone was going to die it'd be him, but pretty much hoped it'd be any other character in the show.

I think it's to do with the women coming full circle, Bree became an alcoholic again and now Susan a single mother. Although I think it's a silly move to kill him off, as long as they leave Bree and Lynette alone I'm happy.

Traumatised about Karen though, I love her.

This is a long running show - and people want to remember these sort of iconic shows with the characters having a happy and positive upbeat ending. The Sex and the City ending - with all the characters ending up happily with partners - was an example of how to close down a series. As much as I disliked Carrie Bradshaw you wouldn't have wanted to see Mr Big shot down in the street 5 episodes before the ending.

People don't want to say goodbye to a series with a bad taste in their mouth or negative feelings. Nor do they want to see a lead character mourning the death of her husband.

What more depressing stories do they have - will the four leads all end up on death row for their part in the murder, will Karen die or will Susan shoot herself. It seems like that is the sort of shock ending they want - which is not the way DH fans will want to remember it.

I was really shocked and really bothered!

They finished filming yesterday!

Not posting big spoilers but the finale sees a lot of familiar faces which sounds good. Apparently one person will die in the finale as well. What a shock.
16 days to go.

The pictures Eva and Felicity posted online didn't have Teri in them - they never have. So weird.##

I think Susan will leave the lane being as Mike died on the doorstep, Bree will take the fall for the murder and go to prison, Lynette and Tom will get back together, but I don't know about Carlos and Gabby. Nothing's really happening with them.

Just cried my eyes out watching Mikes funeral, I'm gutted

Could the reason they killed Mike off be because it was Teri Hatcher that announced she was leaving at the end of the season so the scriptwriters wanted to get their own back on her and make her character miserable as her leaving effectively finished the show?

I wondered if they will now say Mike killed off Gaby's father so everyone can walk away as how could they send Bree to prison as Gaby's father was an evil character? The picture of them all burying the body was taken in the woods and not where Mike moved it to. I'm sure they could find a reason for Bree's fingerprints being found.

On Twitter, Marcia, Felicity and Eva are always posting pics of them and the set and Teri hasn't been in a single one of them. I sense a bit of hostility between them, might have something to do with Teri saying she wanted to quit.

ABC cancelled the show anyway.

Promo for the final ever episode, next Sunday..

As part of my big catching up mission I finally started watching season 8.

One episode in and it's good fun as always.
-I don't quite get the problem with the murder cause it was clearly self defence and it's very unrealistic that everyone would just be dead certain the police will imprison Carlos.
- the new Neighbour isn't as hot as they pretend he is.
-Linette and Tom are annoying. Their separation is totally forced and it's clear they will end up together again anyway.
-Lynette is a total bitch
-Bree's boyfriend is hot. I still hope for an Orson reconciliation though.

Halfway through the season now.

- the main plot is so shit. Everyone annoys me. They covered up the murder of a really bad man. The whole moping and devastation might be comprehensible in a realistic drama but not in a soapy show where murder and dark secrets are an every day event. Even more ridiculous is the fact that the girls have been there before when they covered up the murder of Katherines Ex husband. Back then they were quick thinking and happy to help out. Nobody felt bad.
- blackmail letters, Susan naked in public, Bree becoming an alcoholic, Gabrielle realising how shallow she is, Lynette realising what a control freak she is...usually I would call out this repeat of done to death storylines a result of lacking ideas but given it's the last season I let them get a way with calling it an homage to the show itself.
- Tom is an utter cunt, not only is it totally cruel to Lynette to start dating while they're still trying to reconcile but the way he keeps shoving and shoving his relationship into Lynettes life/face is so over the top and out of character. They were my favourite couple, I stopped caring now.
- I may have judged Ben too quickly, he is pretty hot and knows how to work a pair of jeans
- So Chuck was a bad guy and we're supposed to be happy he's dead?
He was a cop who had a good sense for solving crimes and was researching a case the women are GUILTY off! He did nothing wrong!
- Seriously? Susans teachers steals HER painting and the only way she can get HER paintings back is to buy HER!!!! own painting from the gallery? Seriously???? Frigg off!
- all the negativity aside there are still moments in between that remind me why the show was once so great and it keeps me watching
- the mysterious letter sender is Orson right? It's gotta be Orson, it would explain why the letters only come to Bree and he also has a thing for hit and runs.

...I really want him to come back

Hehe I shared many of your opinions at the halfway point to be honest. Then I kind of just resigned to the fact that it was the series almost coming full circle on itself (the old behaviours proving that people never really change etc). It does get better towards the end, so stick with it.

That painting teacher storyline with Susan though - seriously, what the fuck? That made no sense at all, and was completely bloody pointless.

I'll definitely be sticking with it but good to know it gets better.
Just watched another episode and actually now that the angst and depressions seems to be gone a bit I already enjoy it more.

-Speak of the devil, Orson is back! and he is bad ass with his taser.
- Urgh I hate Julie. Why do they always make a point about how special she is? All the evidence to the contrary.
Bitch dated a psychopath when she was only 14, then she went on to date the male town pump, then she had an affair with a married man and now the tramp got herself knocked up by some random guy.
Oh boy she really is an exeptionally special girl.
- loved, loved Bree putting the Housewives into their places . They were proper bitches to her.

Apart from it wasn't just some random guy who got her pregnant... Yes Julie was a bit irritating in the earlier days, but she blossomed quite nicely. You learn to appreciate characters after eight seasons, plus she was one of the few younger characters to remain after the five year leap. This was the first season she has featured heavily in. The first few eps were fantastic. I thought it got a mediocre mid season onwards. Bree was the only thing keeping this series together.

No it's Porter!
It's so friggin disgusting.
It's not so much the age gap but the fact she knew him since he was baby, even sit him.
It's just all kinds of vile and wrong.

Porter is sexy, shame his twin hardly featured in this series. How old do you think Julie is? Early twenties I reckon, with Porter being in his late teens, so not much of an age gap. She was under the influence of alcohol when they had their off screen shenanigans. In earlier seasons she was upstaged by Danielle and then also by the arrival of Dylan. So can see why Julie has come across as annoying, I think Andrea has improved as an actress, but the poor storylines haven't helped the audience care enough about Julie. Her relationship with Zac worked because on face value they both seemed sweet and innocent. Her relationship with Danny was a way of bringing her character back into the series, it made sense that she'd go on to date an older man afterwards. Julie is quite a sensible, serious character, who wanted a more mature boyfriend. But age differences don't always work out. Her going to uni gave Julie the chance to finally be a teenager, she was always a rock to Susan. So she had a bit of fun and let her hair down for once. Even if she did get up the duff, lol. How can sensible Julie end up pregnant...well no one's perfect. The writers were looking for progression and the pregnancy touched on some good issues. I liked the scenes between her and Susan.

Julie is 6 to 7 years older than Porter who was 6 when the series started and she was 13/14.
Though you can't trust age information on that show which likes to take a liberty on that.
Lynette had like 3 different ages and Susan even more, 4 or 5 (she states 3 different ages alone throughout season 2). Tom also went from being 42 to still being 42 10 years later and can't decide whether he is older or younger than Lynette (it was once stated he was 2 years younger but than they went back to make it look like he is older)
Tom and Lynette also met when they were in their early 30, now with them being together apparently 20 years they must have been in their mid 20 since they're apparently still in their mid 40ies.
Juanita also managed the incredible miracle of being older than MJ who was in fact born at least a year before her (if not more).
According to the 17 years difference she had with her boytoy last season Bree should be 53 by now. I can't recall them ever being more specific about her age so she is probably the only one who stuck with one age throughout.
I don't think anything was ever mentioned about Gabrielles age but if she was the same age as the actress or near near that with the time jump she should be at least 40, which Eva Longoria is not. Makes a nice change given actors usually play younger parts.

As for Julie. I liked her in season one and I actually liked her with Zac (I have a soft spot for Paul and Zac anyway).
She just became annoying afterwards and as I said it's not the age gap as much as the fact she shagged someone she knew as a baby.
It's just wrong. Alcohol or not.
The Julie Nick (I assume you mean him when you said Danny who was in fact his son) thing was just bad writing. It didn't make sense. In the beginning of the season it was portrait like Nick really cared for her and then they completely scrapped that and made him a devoted and loving husband again.
Imo their affair was just a cheap attempt to connect him to Julie and the strangling, sorta to keep the mystery alive.

I was like who's Juanita, until I googled her. I thought Gabby adopted them because she couldn't have children of her own. I chose to ignore the arrogance of the writers who spoon fed us to believe she had them in a flashback. The five year leap was avoidable and unnecessary, yet they had us believe the housewives were drying up and this was the only way to inject new life into the drama. It took a while for me to adapt to season 5. Katherine was an additional ginger, too similar to Bree, the lesbian phase was ridiculous. No wonder Dana left the next season, by then her departure was no loss to the show because her character went from brilliant to having no substance.

Someone should tell Nicollette Sheridan that she was lucky to stay long enough to have a naft storyline where Edie drove in to a lamp post. The character should have died when she hung herself, yet she amazingly survived. Whereas had she had died at the end of season four, the character would have been spared the downfall that was later to come. However to be fair I couldn't have imagine them pairing psycho Dave with anyone else. I couldn't stand that man, and the climax to that stryline was awful. Edie was more of a match for him and yet she became needy and sucked into his lies. He could have killed her, instead they chose to hit her down by lightning. Karen and her sister playing dectives was comedy gold though, one of the highlights.

I would say Gabby was mid thirties, she was far younger than the rest of the housewives. So even with the five year leap she wouldn't have aged that much. Although they made her fat which was annoying. I was glad when her character became sexy again. Men age more than women, the housewives are so glamorous for thier age, thanks to make up and hair extensions, lol. I felt Lynette was older than Tom but then out of the blue came Vanessa Williams, the woman bought with her the curse of the axe. She was awesome on Ugly Betty but they clearly didn't know what to do with her on DH. Just another name to add to the cast. They tried to correct that during this season but she ended up just being a reoccurring character. Didn't Renee say she dated Tom at school. So they must have been similar ages. I always thought the twins were younger than Parker, he seemed to have more presence in the earlier seasons. Yet they didn't really do anything with him since the recast. When the leap came the twins looked so much older whereas Parker didn't. The sister seemed to be favoured by the writers this season, to act as a go between Tom and Lynette. She was a bit of a Daddy's girl, so didn't think she'd side with her mother, although understandably she wanted her parents to get back together. They missed the opportunity of getting her half sister back to cause trouble. I was glad when Kayla left but felt she was a much stronger actress.

The ending is questionable because Susan and Lynette share a grandchild together. It's hard to recall some of Julie's boyfriends, I forgot the married man turned out to be Danny's father. I thought she was dating her lecturer or was that her cover story. I remembered they set it up as though Danny was the one who strangled Julie. I really felt it was him up till the end of season 6. Suppose the spark in that marriage had gone so he had a little fling with young Julie across the road, but when John Barrowman turned up, I guess he was always going to flee with his wife. Like you say, most of Julie's storylines come out of convience. They turned her into Susan. Perhaps Danielle was meant for that storyline, I can't even remember what happened to her. But funny how her and Julie mirrored each other.

Is Bree a vunerable woman underneath that perfect housewife exterior she puts on. I do think she's tough to the core and not as cold as they like portray her. I think she is strong but they took her to new lows this season and showed that old habits die hard, but why cover old ground. I found it hard to believe Bree would be a suicidal person yet alone go back on the booze. She should have stayed with the hunk she bedded last season. Orson's return was exciting, even though I loathe him, I think they wasted the potential of his return. It's difficult to have a favourite but Bree stands out the most long term. This season kinda revolves around her, I just think they should have rounded the plot up a bit sooner and then focused on a good send off.

The ending to the finale sort of reminded me of Will & Grace's in that the major theme of the show most of the time was unity and showing positive, unbreakable friendships between the housewives. Then they all split at the end... Just seemed really limp.

I would've probably had some sort of flash forward scene with them all reunited after 10-20 years, looking much older and making jokes about it. Then either do a happy happy end, or tease a mystery like they did with the random woman.

I guess people drift apart when they move and eventually lose contact with one another. Most of the housewives were busy with their careers and probably would have formed new friendships. However email, texts, instant messaging etc it's hard to believe that these girls wouldn't have remained in touch. Ok maybe Bree and Gabby might have not bothered. But Lynette would have always been in contact with Susan because they share a grandchild. Her character was very family orientated so Marc Cherry lost the plot and went into six feet under mode with the ending. Susan didn't even have a flashforward thing. That new woman should have shot herself at the end case did we really care what she had in the box, probably her husbands ashes seeing as she told Susan that they always wanted to move to the Suburbs. I wouldn't like the show to come back with a new set of characters, so glad it won't be continuing. Suppose the message at the end was that secrects will never stay secrets for long on Wisteria Lane. So no matter who comes and goes there will always be drama on Wisteria Lane.

The ghosts at the end were annoying. There was no need at all. A lot of them didnt die on the street and would have no reason to watch Susan drive away. And since Edie wasnt there it didnt even make sense. I dont remember seeing Rex either.

I gave up on this season two thirds of the way through. I just... lost interest, which is astonishing because I've been a devoted fan for the entire run - even through the dodgy series! - and you'd think I'd want to see the ending at any cost. But I missed one episode by chance, and I didn't even realise! Then I missed two... three... and now I've no desire to catch up having read the spoilers above. Some of the storylines have been utterly ridiculous and I just can't be bothered with it.

I think the ghosts were for nostalgic reasons. I think everyone watching must have thought wtf. However it was nice to see some faces from the past. Especially Beth Young, what an amazing character she was, even up to the point where she shot herself. Nicolette ruined any chance of a re-appearance when she took Marc Cherry to court, I doubt she wanted to be a ghoul anyway, lol. Cyan I think you should watch the end one day, considerin you've watched up until mid season. I read lots of things but it's not the same as watching it.