Desperate Housewives

Well, last night the awesome Mr. Richard Burgi guest starred on the CW series Reaper. The series is about a young guy whose parents made a deal with the devil that now forces him to act as the Grim Reaper and send souls on their way to Hell. Burgi’s character, who is ironically named Mike, is one of those souls. Only thing is, he’s apparently got an in with the chick who takes the souls, because she keeps helping him escape.

He was pretty good in this part. The character starts off as a seemingly fun and harmless guy who likes to mess around with lots of women. Soon, though, he’s shown to be much nastier and doesn’t have too much of a conscience. Much dodging and a big fight later, he’s finally captured and sent back for good. Burgi managed to mix the fun, slightly wacky personality of the character (which made me think of Karl once or twice) with a more sinister undertone that I really enjoyed. Kudos for him!

By the way… there seemed to be a cute little shout-out to his regular gig in the episode. At one point, Mike is caught in a very nice neighborhood much like Wysteria Lane after being shoved out of a women’s house cause her husband has just gotten back. She even tosses a pair of pants at him, bringing to mind that famous scene of Gabby and John trying to hide what they’ve been up to from Carlos. If you want to see it for yourself, the episode will repeat on the 20th at 8 PM Eastern. That’s all for now! Check back tomorrow morning for more about what the cast has done outside of Wysteria Lane.

Good morning! Later on today, I’ll be dishing about Richard Burgi on Reaper, but for now… there’s plenty of news to talk about. Plus, a new promo! First off, everyone’s talking about Edie leaving Wisteria Lane and wondering if that means the end of Nicolette Sheridan on the show. Her reps aren’t talking and Marc Cherry is being a bit tight-lipped as well. The story’s so big, it even made the AP newswire. It seems to have done the ratings some good as well. The episode brought it over 15 million viewers.

Andrea Bowen is also in the news right now. I’ve read various reports saying that, like her TV parents, she has the music bug. She’s planning to record some songs over the summer. Look out, Teri and James! I’ll be looking forward to hearing what she can do.

Finally… I promised a look at the promo. I’m sad to see that the season is ending already, but at least we’re getting a two-hour episode! And what an episode it appears to be. It looks like Lynette’s in for some trouble thanks for Kayla’s phone call and Katherine appears ready to spill what’s going on with her and her family. My personal favorite moment of this promo is the housewives reaction to Susan’s choice in baby names. I have had that reaction many times myself… If you missed it, here it is:

What do you think of Susan’s choice? Will Edie ever return? And what on earth is Katherine hiding? Darned if I know, but maybe you do! Comment and share you thoughts.

Hello, again! As promised, I’m back to give you a little recap of James Denton and Marcia Cross being interviewed on a couple of talk shows.

First up was James Denton. He appeared last night on Last Call with Carson Daly. Carson introduced him by saying he stars on Desperate Housewives and, in the process, is keeping the show from reaching dangerously high levels of estrogen. Ok, kinda lame, but it still got a laugh out of me. Surprisingly, Housewives wasn’t the first thing they talked about. They started off the conversation by talking about James’ band called “Band from TV”. It features Bachelor Bob Guiney, Bonnie Somerville, Hugh Laurie and Greg Grunberg and others. James said that Teri Hatcher recently joined the band as well. He credits her as the reason that the band was featured on the recent Idol Gives Back special and that Band from TV actually helps raise money for a variety of charities. A new DVD they are releasing through the website will also contribute to these causes He also talked about how they convinced him to sing a couple of songs himself, even though he usually plays guitar. According to James, he made a point of choosing songs he can mostly talk through. He added that, while the band doesn’t sound selfish, it really is because “we get to pretend we’re rock stars.” I thought that was really cool. They don’t seem to take it too seriously. Carson actually played a clip of Bonnie and Hugh singing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. It didn’t sound half bad. Check out a picture of him performing with the band:

That wasn’t all they talked about, though. James also told a funny story about going to the Golden Globes one year. Apparently, a guy cornered him at the event, calling him “Lost”. Someone else with him said they don’t think it’s him, but a picture was taken of James anyway. Just in case he was actually Matthew Fox of the series Lost. They closed off the interview by playing a clip from this weekend’s Desperate Housewives and talking about Out and About with Allergies. It’s a free Zagat guide for people who have allergies that tells about the best places to go when you have them. It also tells people how to control allergies and things they should ask their doctor about. James is supporting it because he suffers from allergies himself. The free guide is available here. Now, we move on to Marcia…

She appeared on ABC’s The View this morning. She even came onto the set pretending to read Barbara Walters’ new biography. This interview seemed a bit shorter to me, and the ladies almost seemed to talk over her in some parts. They started the interview off by talking about Marcia’s twin girls and showing a picture of them. I really liked her for this because she admitted it was hard to get pregnant at her age and said she wanted to make people aware that it really isn’t that easy. She says she even turned down magazine covers because she didn’t want to be out there promoting a misconception about fertility. On a slightly less serious note, she talks about suffering “mom guilt” when she can’t be with them and feeling like a true success now that she not only has the career, but a family as well.

Whoopie then asked her about the period between Melrose Place and Housewives. Marcia says it was a time when she was trying to figure herself out. She wasn’t getting roles that really interested her and wasn’t quite fulfilled personally, so she decided to take time out to get her psychology degree.

One of the cuter moments came when she was asked how she plays the uptight Bree, since she’s nothing like her in real life. Marcia responds that she has no idea how she manages it, it’s just some magic that happens when she gets those clothes on. She said she even starts straightening crooked pictures on the set and stuff like that. Now, that, I want to see!

To close things off, they talk about Marcia’s support of the skin cancer takes friends project and how important it is to protect your skin from the sun. She said her husband only started listening to her when he needed to get something frozen off his face during a doctor’s visit. She also talked about the misconceptions that darker skinned people don’t get the disease. The project has a website where people can sign themselves and a friend up for a free screening.

Well, that’s all for now. Look for another recap next week when Teri Hatcher also appears on The View. I’ll see y’all again on Monday with a recap of the latest episode. Have a great weekend!

Again, sorry for the lack of story in the last week.  It doesn’t look to be any better this week, what with the illness that has befallen this house and the fact that there is no new episode to talk about!  Yep, the American Music Awards preempted last night’s episode so we’ll get to see it next week instead.  Good news is:  It’s the tornado episode so it’ll be well worth waiting for.

In the meantime, what’s been happening in the world of “Desperate Housewives” that I’ve neglected to share with you?  Plenty!

Rumors are rampant that Nicolette Sheridan is pregnant.  This is because apparently she asked Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman some questions about how they were affected by their pregnancies.  Oh, and she’s “glowing”.  Shoot, I’m pregnant and I can tell that isn’t a glow.  It’s acne.  But whatever.

Speaking of babies, Eva wants to have children and plans to leave Hollywood when the time comes to put children into the picture.  She dreams of being home in Texas and taking care of her family.  Some of the rumors would love you to believe that she hopes to quit within the year, but I doubt that’s the case.  I think she’ll stick it out a while longer.

Contrary to this news, there are reports that Eva wants to open a restaurant in Hollywood serving Mexican-American food.  That would give her yet another tie to the West Coast which seems to go against all reports  of her wanting to settle down in Texas but I take it at face value.

Eva has rounded up the rest of her co-stars to attend the Spice Girl’s reunion concert in Los Angeles on December 5.   She and Teri Hatcher, Nicollette Sheridan, Felicity Huffman and Marcia Cross will all be in attendance.  This is no surprise for Eva, as she has become close friends with Victoria Beckham, and it’s nice that she was able to get her castmates to join her for a night out.  Should be a good show, if Mel B’s dancing is any judge!

I know I haven’t posted since earlier in the week and I’m sorry.  As most of you may already know, Hollywood is currently being KO’d by a writer’s strike and “Desperate Housewives” is certainly not immune from the effects.  I’m definitely upset to hear this, as I am to hear about the fate of my other favorite shows, but I do understand what the writers’ beef is and hope they prevail.  I just hope they prevail sooner rather than later.

Production on new episodes supposedly halted on Wednesday because of the strike and is one of the first shows to fall victim to the strike.  Writers picketed the show as it was being filmed on location in Toluca Lake, CA on Tuesday.  Eva reportedly emerged with pizza for the strikers and offering her own support.  “Desperate Housewives” halting production is little surprise since executive producer and creator Marc Cherry has been on of the Writers Guild of America’s lead negotiators during the dispute.

All predictions state that this strike could last for months, well into 2008.  If this is the case, we’ll definitely see a drawback in our television programing (and perhaps more reality television shows).  I hope that things can be settled quickly and easily but it’s just not looking that way.  It’s such a shame when there is a dispute like this and the big companies get greedy.

I’m not sure when we’ll start going back into reruns and when we’ll stop seeing the new episodes.  I hope at least we have enough new episodes finished that we are set through the winter hiatus, but I honestly have no idea.  So I’ll keep you all up to date on this as I come across new information.  In the meantime, enjoy the new episode airing on Sunday night (I’ll be recapping as usual!) and appreciate it while we’ve got it!

“Desperate Housewives” had quite a bit to contend with, ratings wise, on Sunday night.  Instead of being up against other sitcoms or dramas, they were up against football.  And not just one football game either, but two.  While “DH” easily beat out the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints game on NBC for it’s timeslot, it had a harder time vanquishing the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys game over on CBS.  The CBS game won the evening, what with being a showdown between two undefeated NFL teams and all.  Plus it went into overtime.  So that game ended up with a 10.4 rating/30 share for the evening (oh, and if you were wondering, the Patriots ended up winning the game).  The good news, however, is that “Desperate Housewives” was the top non-football program of the evening, bringing in a 7.3/17 for the evening and up quite a bit from last weeks bumpy ratings dip.  Last week, “DH” was crushed by the football game on NBC against the Bears and the Packers.  Those ratings even served well for “Brothers and Sisters” who gained some of the “Housewives” viewers and had decent ratings as well.

In other  “Desperate Housewives” news, the Filipino flap continues with a group of angry Filipinos (a chapter of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations or NFFAA) wants to sue ABC for $500 for what they consider to be a racist slur.  Not to diminish anyone’s feelings, but I’m surprised as heck that this is still news (and big news too, judging from my Google News alerts).  I thought apologies had already been made but apparently that isn’t quite enough.  Boy, I bet those writers are really regretting ever sticking that “joke” in there now.

This gets filed under: Be careful what you joke about on TV, because someone is going to get upset.  On Sunday night’s episode of “Desperate Housewives”, there was a joke made regarding the quality of a Philippine medical education.  Only, no one is laughing now because now we’ve got some angry Filipinos who want an apology from ABC and the show’s creators.

In case you’re missing what scene I’m referring to, think back to when Susan went in to see the gynocologist (who ended up being her new neighbor, the fabulous Nathan Fillion).  She was told by him that he thought she might be entering menopause as an explanation for her strange hormone levels.  Susan was enraged at the mere suggestion and fired back with, “OK, before we go any further, can I check these diplomas? Just to make sure they aren’t, like, from some med school in the Philippines?”

This prompted many viewers to call in to ABC to complain and as of last night, there were no less than 30,000 names attached to an online petition calling for ABC  to apologize.  Part of the petition read, “A statement that devalues Filipinos in healthcare is extremely unfounded, considering the overwhelming presence of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the medical field.”

ABC responded on Wednesday with a statement, “The producers of `Desperate Housewives’ and ABC Studios offer our sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference in the season premiere. There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines.”  There was even rumblings about the episode being edited to remove the “joke”.

Sounds like a good plan, as this got quite a few people riled up.  The story even topped the news shows in the Philippines and was splashed on newspaper headlines.  Sounds as though ABC made some big mistakes indeed and maybe a more substantial apology is in order.

The ratings were good, but not great. Last year, “Desperate Housewives” saw some of the worst ratings the show has ever seen. In fact, all of ABC was losing ground on Sunday night. And Sunday’s premiere night was little different. While there was a boost in the ratings and ABC led the night with “Desperate Housewives” at the forefront, the ratings were notably down across the board when compared to the ratings from last year’s premieres.

The numbers from Sunday were as follows: “Desperate Housewives” had 19 million viewers and a 7.4 rating/17 share among the 18-49 demographic that those advertisers love so much. Sounds good, but those numbers are down 23% from last years 9.6 rating/21 share. However, these ratings are still the best “Desperate Housewives” has seen since November 26 of last year.

“Brothers and Sisters”, which airs directly after “Desperate Housewives” saw a similar trend with their premiere. They were down 15% from their premiere last year, but also saw the best ratings since November 26 of last year.

Is this a disturbing trend for the network?  Is this the beginning of the end for ABC’s rule of Sunday night television?  I take a little comfort in knowing that this trend doesn’t seem to be isolated to just “Desperate Housewives”, but still hope that this doesn’t bode ill for our little show.  ABC insists that we won’t really know the status of “Desperate Housewives” and the other shows until the ratings come out in October.  I can only hope the numbers improve.

It seemed like a good idea on paper.  Promote the new season of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” in a cheeky manner by paining special “parking spaces” around Los Angeles and New York and declaring they are for “Desperate Housewives” only.  The problem?  Some women don’t appreciate being called a housewife (even if that is what they are) and pretty much everyone doesn’t care to be labeled as “desperate”.  NPR even did a blip on this yesterday morning, pointing out the fallacy in this particular ad campaign.  This has sure drawn attention, however, it might be the wrong sort of attention.  Still, isn’t it true that they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity?  What do you think?  Would you be offended by “Desperate Housewife” parking?

There’s casting news off the “Desperate Housewives” and I’m loving what I hear! It sounds like Nathan Fillion and Dana Delaney will be moving to Wisteria Lane playing a new couple who are shrouded in mystery (of course!). Dana will be playing Katherine Mayfair, a woman who has lived on Wisteria Lane before but moved away with her daughter Dylan suddenly and mysteriously. 12 years later, she’s back with her new husband Adam, played by Nathan Fillion who has a some mystery in his past as well. I’ve heard that the sparks fly between Katherine and Bree, due to their similar personalities. Woo! Sounds great huh? Meanwhile, check out this cool promo for the new season, I know you’ll agree with me that it is very intriguing!

Of course, comedian and future “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien isn’t actually coming to Wisteria Lane or “Desperate Housewives”, but the “Tonight Show” might be moving to Stage One at Universal Studios which is where “Desperate Housewives” is currently being filmed.  Or at least, where it was being filmed until recently.  Apparently Wisteria Lane has been moved to the larger Stage 41, leaving Stage One open and available.  This would indicate that the “Tonight Show” would indeed remain in LA instead of moving to New York like many had speculated.  Of course, this won’t be until 2009 so it’s all speculation at this point.  But until I read this article I didn’t realize two things: a) That “Desperate Housewives” had moved filming locations or b) that it was being filmed at Universal Studios.  I guess it has been a while since I’ve been on the tour.

Never say that “Desperate Housewives” and producer Marc Cherry aren’t progressive thinkers!  I’ve just heard news that we will see the first gay couple (non-teenaged, of course, for those who remember) on the show this fall.  According to Cherry, “We’re going to have the first male desperate housewives.  They will move into the old Applewhite house and one of the gay men will just have a fractious, hateful relationship with Teri Hatcher. We just started writing the episodes so I probably won’t start casting for another few weeks.”  Apparently the idea for this storyline is somewhat autobiographical from Cherry’s own experiences in the suburbs so I will definitely be interested to see where they go with all this.  This brings to mind a question though:  Which one of the new couple will be the desperate housewife?  Or will they both be?  Neither?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Word is (according to Variety) that “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry wants to do a musical episode of “Desperate Housewives”.  This is a ploy that “Scrubs” has pulled off multiple times and that we saw (and loved) on the late, great “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.  Depending on how it’s done, I think this could be a great gimmick.  But it is just that, a gimmick.  And it can’t take itself too seriously.  That’s a cardinal rule right there.  It’s not set in stone just yet, but the news is that Teri Hatcher is game and has pulled out her singing voice a time or two before.  As has Nicolette Sheridan (but isn’t she dead??). Even Felicity Huffman has rocked the vocals before (with Tina Turner, even!).  I don’t know if Eva can sing or not, but I’m going to guess that, like everything else, she’d be decent at it.  I think it has potential.  I hope they can pull it off because I’d love to see what they do with it.  How about you?

Did you know that actress Dana Delaney was offered (and turned down, obviously) the role of Bree THREE times?  True story.  But currently, she’s being offered another role altogether.  Producers of “Desperate Housewives” are currently in talks with the former “China Beach” star about her signing a contract to play Bree’s sister this next season.  And it sounds like the character would be a pretty juicy one:

Katherine, a former neighbor who is coming home after being away for more than a decade married to a younger man (described as “the best-looking gynecologist in town”), comes back home to Wisteria Lane along with her 17-year-old daughter — who is said to be a bit of a troublemaker herself. In keeping with the always prim and proper character of Bree herself, Katherine is also described as a conservative Republican — but one with a “mastery of passive/aggressiveness.”

I, for one, hope the deal comes through and we see Dana coming to Wisteria Lane this fall.  A sister for Bree, that would be just wonderful.  I’d like to see a woman who can challenge Bree’s uptight-ness, wouldn’t you?

ABC and the Spanish speaking television network Univision have banded together to create a Spanish version of “Desperate Housewives”. The new show (which I’m assuming will also take place on the fictional “Wisteria Lane”) will be called “Amas de Casa Desesperadas”. And while Latin beauty Eva Longoria might seem a natural to help launch this new version, word is she will not be in it. There is no word as of yet on who will be cast in the Spanish version. This is just yet another sign that “Desperate Housewives” is poised to take over the world. It also highlights the universal popularity of the show and the show’s concept. Go “Housewives”!