If the fact that it has won six Emmy awards and two Golden Globes isn’t enough to get you to tune in to Desperate Housewives, the American television dramedy that has achieved cult status in only its first season, perhaps the scandals and intrigue will.

Last month, Showtime began airing the hit series, which is currently being aired in over forty countries, about a picture-perfect neighborhood somewhere in suburban America where a handful of, yes, desperate housewives, and their families have plenty of skeletons in their closets — and under their swimming pools as well.

The writers make a noble effort at ensuring their viewers a steady dose of adultery, drug abuse, murders, hit men, S&M, white-collar crime, homosexuality, gambling, hate crimes, buried bodies and secret identities to keep them glued to the television and planning their schedules around the show’s airtime.

And besides including all of the taboo subjects that guarantee the show’s popularity, the writing is witty, the plots are fast-paced, and there’s always a cliff-hanger at the end of each show.

It’s enough to make the head spin — and viewers and critics alike applaud. So far, the series’ six Emmys include prizes for outstanding directing in a comedy series (Charles McDougall) and outstanding lead actress in a comedy series (Felicity Huffman), while its two Golden Globes were for best television series and best actress (Teri Hatcher).

As the show’s pilot rolls out, we see Mary Alice (Brenda Strong), a seemingly normal housewife, shoot herself in the head and then resurrect herself to become the show’s fulltime omniscient narrator, tracing the neighborhood’s quest to figure out why she did it.

Showtime Nicollette Sheridan as Edie, a sexy divorcee

The writers make a noble effort at ensuring their viewers a steady dose of adultery, drug abuse, murders, hit men, S&M, white-collar crime, homosexuality, gambling, hate crimes, buried bodies and secret identities to keep them glued to the television

In addition to Mary Alice’s husband and son, who get creepier and creepier as the season progresses, the show follows her four friends’ families, whose dirty laundry is aired throughout the season. There’s a man-conquering blonde bombshell who prances around the neighborhood dressed like an exotic dancer; a nosy, blackmailing neighbor who always seems to know a little too much about other people’s business; and the hunky neighbor guy who just moved in, whose mysterious ways keep viewers wondering if he’s a sinner or a saint.

The matriarchal quartet’s different styles of desperation always take center stage, even as the murder-mystery story line unfolds.

And, of course, any group of women in the media’s spotlight are sure to stir up plenty of gossip and scandalous fodder for the columnists and bloggers, some true, some invented. If anything, the whiff of scandal and actress-on-actress rivalries (including a cast fight over which Housewives actress would be front-and-center for a Vanity Fair cover earlier this year) has only enhanced its popularity.

Even talkshow queen Oprah made a point of visiting the series’ set during her 2004 season. (Oprah airs nightly at 21:00 on MBC 4.)

Teri Hatcher, a Golden Globe winner for her role as Susan, plays a single mom whose ditziness and desperation are enough to make her rely on her teenage daughter for guidance and emotional support. She competes with the voluptuous Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) for the attention of a mysterious man claiming to be a plumber who is new to the neighborhood, and after having discovered a gun and a cabinet full of cash in his house, she decides it doesn’t really matter, because, as the show suggests, she’s desperate. Meanwhile, her daughter starts dating their neighbor, whom she has to hide in her bedroom after he breaks out of a mental institution. Oh yeah, and Susan convinces her daughter to break into a different neighbor’s house to steal the evidence that would prove her guilt in burning down Edie’s house.

Showtime Teri Hatcher stars as single mom Susan

Hatcher is famous for her role as Lois in the American TV show Lois & Clark during the 1990s. She also starred in the films Soapdish and Spykids, and played a Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies. Among the real-life scandals with which she’s dealing: allegations she is now excessively thin (Is that the best the gossip columnists can do?), and the steady string of lovers she allegedly brings back to her Volkswagon Van parked in her driveway (That’s much better!).

Felicity Huffman plays Lynette, mother of four hell-raising, pre-teen boys. She was a successful businesswoman before motherhood sent her home. Even though she attempts to run her house with the instinctively aggressive, logical, take-no-prisoners attitude that worked so well in the business world, her little tyrants walk all over her and drive her to drinking, drugs and nervous breakdowns. As a consolation, however, her relationship with her husband is by far the most functional in the neighborhood, despite his sometimes carefree attitude and frequent business trips.

Huffman was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in television’s Sports Night, and also starred in the Showtime series Out of Order. Her film credits include Raising Helen, Christmas with the Kranks, Magnolia and The Spanish Prisoner. Unfortunately, for fans without a life of their own to talk about, Huffman has steered clear of the gossip radar. However, she recently starred in an award-winning independent movie, Transamerica, in which she played a pre-operational transsexual woman (one operation shy of becoming a woman, that is) on a road-trip across America.

Marcia Cross, famous for her roles in TV’s Everwood and Melrose Place, plays Bree, a redheaded beauty whose homemaking skills and cool demeanor bring to mind both Martha Stewart and Dr. Spock. Her dinners are nothing less than perfect, her house is always impeccably clean, and her appearance is flawless. Her obsession for excellence, though, drives the rest of her family to a breaking point that she strives to mask when outsiders are around. Her poise is tested when her husband is caught visiting a prostitute for a little S&M pleasure, while her son smokes marijuana and admits to being homosexual. Still, Bree manages to keep up her smooth demeanor as she deals with these issues in a not-so-motherly way.

She recently was the main subject in gossip columns claiming she was homosexual, although she rebutted the claim by producing a boyfriend of six months.

Showtime Marcia Cross is Bree, a perfect housewife in an imperfect world

Eva Longoria ensures that plenty of young men tune in to the show, hoping to get an eyeful of the only housewife under the age of 40. She plays Gabrielle, a sexy, former model who is married to a successful businessman who gives her everything she always wanted: a big house, a nice car, a wallet full of credit cards and plenty of jewelry. There seems to be something missing in her life, however, and that’s where John, the teenage gardener, comes in — literally.

Her passionate affair with the young flower-picker has its own ups and downs as the boy falls in and out of love with her — and neighbors discover the truth. Her husband Carlos’ own criminal activities eventually become the family’s main concern, but his suspicions never allow her to let her guard down.

Longoria is relatively new to acting, but she has managed to grace countless lists of “hottest,” “sexiest” and “sultriest” stars throughout the past year. Gossip columnists were quick to pin her to a range of Hollywood hunks until she finally admitted to a serious romance with the San Antonio Spurs’ basketball team’s French-born star, Tony Parker.

Nicollette Sheridan of TV’s Knots Landing fame plays Edie, the full-figured, blonde divorcee who’s always looking for the next man in her life, if only for a night. She battles Susan (Hatcher) for the new stud in town, but eventually goes down in defeat, although not without a few parting jabs in the form of Susan’s ex-husband. As her wardrobe makes clear, Edie has no shame in living by the principle: “If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” much to the chagrin, and oftentimes jealousy, of her not-so-voluptuous neighbors.

Karma, though, often catches up: Edie has lost her man, her house burns down, her friend is murdered, etc.

Showtime Felicity Huffman plays Lynette

In addition to spicing up Knots Landing during the 1980s, Sheridan also played major roles in The Sure Thing, Spy Hard, and Beverly Hills Ninja. While the other actresses just dipped their feet into the media’s cesspool of scandal and gossip, Sheridan got a running start and did a cannonball, getting everyone in an uproar, except for the ABC executives, who no doubt benefited from the attention it garnered. Before America’s beloved Monday Night Football game last fall, Sheridan was in a commercial with football star Terrell Owens in which she slipped into the locker room before the game wearing nothing but a towel (which soon fell off) — and seduced him into her arms. et