Thomas Scavo /ˈskɑːvoʊ/ is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, played by actor Doug Savant.

Early storylines often focused on Tom's position at an advertising firm and his need to travel often, usually leaving his wife Lynette alone to run the family.

Five years later, it becomes apparent that Tom is experiencing a mid-life crisis when he purchases and restores an early model convertible.

[22] Lynette met Mary Alice Young, Bree Van de Kamp, and Susan Mayer, shortly after discovering she is pregnant with twins, and they became friends.

Lynette became a mother to five children with Tom: twins Preston and Porter born in 1998, Parker in 1999,[16] Penny in 2004 and Paige, in 2015.

Tom has been keeping his one-night stand with Renee a secret from his wife, and only his father, Rodney Scavo, knows about it.

He then tries organizing a surprise for their ninth wedding anniversary, but it goes wrong, leaving Lynette out in the woods at night, and he rushes to find her.

Lynette hires a new chef, Rick Coletti (Jason Gedrick), as well as Mrs. McCluskey to look after Tom and the children when she is at work.

One night, Tom and the kids come to the pizzeria to surprise her, and Kayla sees Lynette and Rick flirting together.

After Lynette and Rick are locked in the freezer during an armed robbery, they cuddle to keep warm, and Tom sees the CCTV tape of them eating dinner before the theft.

The doctor performs a CAT scan on Lynette, finds swollen lymph nodes, and suggests a biopsy, as it could be a sign of lymphoma.

When a tornado hits Wisteria Lane, the Scavos take shelter in Mrs. McCluskey's basement with Ida Greenbberg.

When Lynette and Mrs. McCluskey hide from the tornado in a bathtub, Tom falls unconscious after having an asthma attack, due to a cat allergy.

While the Scavos and Mrs. McCluskey survive the tornado, Ida is killed while saving Tom and Lynette's kids.

Eventually, Tom is forced to send Kayla away to live with her maternal grandparents after he finds out what she did, and she threatens to continue causing problems if Lynette comes back.

In the present, he tells Lynette his plan to sell the pizzeria, buy an RV and spend a year traveling the country with his family.

When Tom contacts one of Porter's friends' mothers, realtor Anne Schilling, she finds him a rehearsal space for the garage band he and some of the other Wisteria Lane men have started.

He spends a lot of time there, and Lynnette confronts him about him allegedly having an affair with Anne, who has 'dropped by' with some items for the rehearsal space, among them a futon.

After much deliberation, Lynette decides to pay Anne off, but this backfires when Porter disappears, claiming that he wants to be with her.

Thinking this is part of his middle-age syndrome, Lynette attempts to sabotage Tom by getting him drunk the night before his entrance exam.

These twins are Tom's sixth and seventh children, but Lynette loses one of them to a miscarriage when she pushes Celia Solis out of the way of a plane crash-landing on Wisteria Lane.

He is eventually forced to drop out of college and take over Lynette's job working for Carlos while she is on maternity leave.

In the episode "Let Me Entertain You", Tom decides to hire his own mother, Allison, as a nanny for the new baby.

Tom and Lynette finally discover Allison's dementia on Halloween, after she collapses outside the Solises' house after going out to buy more candy, despite Penny telling her they had plenty.

Renee finally confesses to Lynette, revealing that the affair occurred when she and Tom were engaged but had one of their regular "break-ups."

Lynette is naturally upset, but keeps it quiet and begins a series of pranks against Tom as payback.

Back home, Tom snaps at Lynette that after so many years supporting her, it hurts that she can't do the same for him.

After revealing to Susan her suspicions, Lynette walks into her house, finding Tom chopping up salad ingredients.

The two talk for a while and Lynette confesses that when she thought Tom had left, she felt relieved, leading the pair to decide to separate finally.

Later, Tom and Jane plan to go on a trip to Paris, although Lynette stops him at the airport and confesses to him that she is involved in the murder of Gabrielle's stepfather.