Created by Marc Cherry, Desperate Housewives is a mystery comedy-drama TV series that had a good chunk of the female population (as well as male audiences) glued to their screens for eight seasons. The show was on air for eight years. The series focused on secrets, deceit, love, friendship, blackmail, drama and controversies, which left every fan wanting more.

Desperate Housewives set was in the fictional street of Wisteria Lane. The show followed the lives of a group of women through the eyes of their deceased neighbor. Each cast member faced his or her fair share of trying times and that is what made the show worth watching.

Cherry obviously enjoys writing about compelling and complicated female characters and he does it so well. That is why the main characters ranged from total sweethearts to manipulative and conniving women (and men). Here are 10 cast members who were sweethearts and 10 who just acted like jerks.

20 Eva Longoria As Gabrielle (Gaby) Solis - Total Sweetheart

Gaby Solis was one of the main characters. She did a lot of disgraceful things but was still considered a sweetheart. According to insider.com, Gaby was a spoilt unfaithful brat at the beginning who had to learn things the hard way. She got divorced and then remarried, had to deal with her husband’s temporary blindness, endure financial difficulties, which was hard for her but she persevered.

19 Teri Hatcher As The Clumsy Susan Mayer - Total Sweetheart

Susan Mayer's character was charming, sweet, kind, funny and a great mother and friend. She was just the girl next door and the most loved in the bunch. Her clumsiness provided comic relief, which was good for the show. She married Mike Delfino twice who left her heartbroken with his death, as insider.com reports.

18 Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo - Total Sweetheart

According to screenrant.com, Lynette Scavo was a sweetheart, she was the most sympathetic character on the show, except when she was cold and mean to her husband Tom. Lynette had a successful career but after having four kids, she had to give it up to become a stay-at-home mom. She eventually returned to her career but begins another battle with cancer.

17 Brenda Strong As The Deceased Mary Alice Young - Total Sweetheart

Mary Young was everybody’s favorite deceased housewife, she was kind and caring which left her fellow housewives wondering why she took her own life. Although it was very rare to see her on the show, her role was very crucial. She narrated the entire show through her eyes as HuffingtonPost.co.uk reports.

16 James Denton As Mike Delfino - Total Sweetheart

Mike Delfino was a kind plumber who moved to Wisteria Lane after the death of his wife Amy. According to fandom.com, he played detective when Noah Taylor hired him to investigate the neighborhood after his daughter Deidre went missing. Mike then met Susan Mayer; they fell in love and had a son. In the end, he faced a sudden death, which left Susan devastated.

15 Andrea Bowen as Julie Alexander Mayer - Total Sweetheart

Julia Mayer, daughter of Susan Mayer was a total sweetheart and every parent's dream child, at least at the very beginning. She was bright, affectionate, considerate and helpful around the house. But as fandom.com reports, something in her childhood triggered her wild behavior thereafter, she dropped out of medical school, had relations with a married man and even got pregnant accidentally.

14 Alfre Woodard As The Overbearing Single Mother, Betty Applewhite - Total Sweetheart

Alfre Woodard got the role of Betty Applewhite. She had never watched the show before, but after catching up, she enjoyed it and took on the role. According to fandom.com, her character was an overbearing single mother with strong religious beliefs who did everything to protect her sons including locking them up when they did bad deeds.

13 Doug Savant as Tom Scavo - Total Sweetheart

Tom Scavo was a total sweetheart who deserved a better wife than Lynette. He was an amazing dad who once quit his job to be a stay-at-home dad so that his wife can go back to work. Because he wanted to be a cool dad, he constantly took a back seat in parenting and their marriage, which led to their separation. Fortunately, they reconciled after a year-long separation.

12 Madison De La Garza As The Mischievous Juanita Solis - Total Sweetheart

Juanita Solis was the legal daughter of Carlos and Gabrielle, born in the five-year gap between seasons four and five. Even though she was always being mischievous and making life hell for her mother, she was a total sweetheart and provided comic relief. Juanita was switched at birth with Grace Sanchez as wiki.org reports.

11 Tuc Watkins as Bob Hunter - Total Sweetheart

When Bob got tired of the city life, he moved with his boyfriend Lee McDermott to the suburbs and landed on Wisteria Lane. Bob was a sweetheart lawyer who everyone called when they needed legal help. As wiki.org reports, Bob and Lee were the first gay couple to live in Wisteria Lane. Like any normal couple, they faced challenges in their relationship but persevered through and decided to adopt a child.

10 Kyle MacLachlan as Orson Hodge - Acted Like A Jerk

Orson seemed to be living the perfect family life when he married Bree Van de Kamp until they have to hide a fake pregnancy and endure a terrible time of blackmail, assaults, and affairs, then he switched and became a jerk. He divorced Bree and became paralyzed due to a plain crush. He later discovered a secret about Bree, which he blackmails her with as wiki.org reveals.

9 Marcia Cross As Perfectionist Bree Van De Kamp - Acted Like A Jerk

Bree’s character fits the perfect description of a desperate housewife who acted like a jerk. She was a perfectionist, who wanted to be seen as just that, but in reality, she was cold, uncaring and a bad parent dealing with infidelity, divorce, fake pregnancy, alcoholism, and loss of business, which eventually all gave her a nervous breakdown. After accepting the faults in her life, she married the love of her life and moved to Kentucky as screenrant.com reports.

8 Shawn Pyfrom As Andrew Van De Kamp - Acted Like A Jerk

Andrew Van De Kamp was the son of Bree and Rex. According to wiki.org, Andrew was always a jerk; he once ran over Carlos Solis’s mother while driving under the influence and never faced the consequences. He did a lot of bad things and was just as wicked as his mother was, probably why they never got along.

7 Nicollette Sheridan Played Real-estate Agent Edie Britt - Acted Like A Jerk

Edie Britt was a mean and manipulative real-estate agent. According to screenrant.com, none of the other ladies liked her because she did everything in her power to fulfill her quest of finding a rich husband even if it meant dating their subsequent exes. She dated Karl, Mike, Carlos, and Orson. Edie died in a tragic accident.

6 Ricardo Antonio Played The Blind Carlos Solis - Acted Like A Jerk

Carlos Solis was the husband of Gabriella Solis. He wanted that picture-perfect family life and Gaby was not ready for it yet. He even switched her birth control so he can trick her in to have a baby as screenrant.com reveals. Carlos only becomes a little nicer when he temporarily goes blind. After recovery, he tried to turn his life around.

5 Vanessa Williams Starred As The Insensitive Renee Perry - Acted Like A Jerk

Renee Perry was a narcissistic diva who moved to Wisteria Lane to be close to her college best friend, Lynette. She was a jerk and very aggressive that the other housewives were reluctant about her joining their circle. Eventually, she was accepted and developed close ties with Bree and Gabrielle as insider.com reports.

4 Kathryn Joosten Played The Busybody Karen McCluskey - Acted Like A Jerk

Karen McCluskey was a meddling and preying person who babysat for the neighborhood. She loved to cause trouble. According to fandom. com, she was rivals with Lynette and had altercations with some of the women but as the series went on they became friends and she even helped them out when they desperately needed it. Unfortunately, she died in the last episode.

3 Dana Delany Played Mysterious Katherine Mayfair - Acted Like A Jerk

Katherine was a former victim of domestic abuse. According to HuffingtonPost.co.uk, she moved to Wisteria to forget her past only for her to pack again and leave the neighborhood for 12 years. When she came back, she was always competing with Bree for the title of the perfect housewife. She was also hiding a big secret.

2 Jesse Metcalfe Starred As The Gardener, John Rowland - Acted Like A Jerk

John Rowland was another character who acted like a jerk, the Solis hired him for a gardening job, but instead of gardening, he was busy having relations with Gabrielle who at the time was still married to Carlos as fandom.com reports. Eventually, Gabrielle came to her senses and broke things off. John had a hard time letting her go. He eventually got married and had a child.

1 Richard Burgi As Karl Mayer - Acted Like A Jerk

Karl Mayer might have been the biggest jerk on the show. While he was married to Susan he had an affair with his secretary and this was among the reasons that led to their divorce. He then remarried and had a son but that relationship did not work out and they divorced. He then started another affair with Bree who was still married to Orson. Karl died when a plane crashed at Wisteria.

Sources: insider.com, screenrant.com, huffingtonpost.co.uk, fandom.com, wiki.org, theodysseyonline.com