This article contains a summary of the fourth season of the American dramedy television series Desperate Housewives. The first episode aired on ABC on September 30 2007, and one special "Secrets and Lies", which aired September 23.

This season was affected by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which halted production after the tenth episode of the season. Initial plans called for a hiatus to begin in December 2007 following the ninth episode of the season ("Something's Coming") and to hold the tenth episode ("Welcome to Kanagawa") until further episodes were produced. Instead, that episode debuted on January 6, 2008, with encores of fourth season episodes shown since that date. The season's eleventh episode is tentatively set to air in the United States and Canada on April 13, 2008, more than three months since the last original episode. A total of seven episodes — five regular episodes, plus a two-hour season finale on May 18 — are expected to complete the fourth season , the shortest season to date.

Episodes have been broadcast in Canada on CTV concurrently with the U.S. broadcasts. Outside the U.S. and Canada, episodes began airing internationally in Poland in October, in Turkey and Italy in December, and in Ireland, South Africa and the Arab World on Showtime Arabia throughout January. The season debuted in central Europe and Latin America by mid-February of 2008. In the United Kingdom, adverts have recently begin airing stating that the season will premiere on March 26,2008 on Channel 4.