Fans of Desperate Housewives will be happy to know there’s a few juicy things in store on Wisteria Lane in the coming months. Michael Ausiello of TV Guide gives us the scoop on Andrew going evil again, and Edie going after Carlos.

Question: Anything big in store for Andrew on Desperate Housewives?

Ausiello: Not sure if this qualifies as big, but the little demon is going to return to his old ways when he suspects Orson of pushing Bree off a ladder. In related news, care to guess how producers plan to accommodate Marcia Cross’ mandatory bed rest?

I can’t TELL you how many times I’ve heard gay men whine that there isn’t enough Andrew anymore, so I’m sure they’ll be happy now.

Question: Can you give us some prattle on Desperate Housewives?

Ausiello: You probably already heard that Marc Cherry announced at press tour on Sunday that Nicollette Sheridan’s role on the show is getting beefed up, partly to fill the void left by bedridden Marcia Cross, and partly because, well, it’s about bloody time. What you may not have heard is that (Major spoiler alert) Edie’s gonna make a play for Carlos, which makes complete sense given what Nicollette told me in our red-carpet Q&A: “There are going to be a lot of people who are very unhappy with Edie on Wisteria Lane.”

It looks like Mike Delfino will also be getting a storyline upgrade thanks to Marcia Cross’ twins. James Denton who plays Mike says he’s getting out of jail earlier than expected.

After frantically turning the actress’ real-life home into a replica of her house on the show, in an effort to complete her scenes for the current series, Housewives creator Marc Cherry had to quickly revise storylines. And that was a big boost for Denton’s character Mike, who will be getting out of jail sooner than expected. He explains, “Because we’re losing Marcia mid-season, that mystery has to wrap up pretty quickly because we need her. So, it’s kind of fun, because it got me out of jail quicker!”

Many critics and even people within the show itself (Felicity Huffman, James Denton, Mehcad Brooks) admitted that the first season of ABC’s darling dramedy Desperate Housewives suffered a dip in the creative department during it’s second season–particularly at the beginning. Most say it had a lot to do with the weakness of its central mystery (which is why I’m boggled as to how Woodard landed an Emmy nom, but that’s another story)–others say it wasn’t as funny and that the storylines became too Melrose Place.

ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson was asked by a reporter Tuesday about the “creative collapse” of the hit show–and he begged to differ that “collapse” was the right choice of word. After all, Desperate Housewives was ABC’s most watched series this past season–it must be doing something right to have 22 million viewers coming back every Sunday night. McPherson says the show will get back to its “wicked comedy” that the viewers and critics alike so enjoyed the first season, once the show’s third year begins. He says:

“I think everyone including [creator Marc Cherry] admitted that at the beginning of last year we stumbled a little bit, [We] answered so many questions at the end of the first season that he really spent too much time, I think, setting up the mystery, setting up the new arcs, and this year we’re going to jump right in.”

Due to the departure of Executive Producer Tom Spezialy, the show’s creator Marc Cherry will have more creative control this season, and has more of it mapped out, McPherson assures. He goes on to add:

“Marc has, partly because of the responsibility of 100 percent falling on his shoulders, has really stepped up and gotten out ahead of it, and we have seen more arcing of the entire season from a specific story standpoint and soap standpoint than we’ve ever seen so far.”

Desperate Housewives garnered about 22.2 million viewers a week during its second season, off about 6 percent from the 23.7 million it got in 2004-05. Additionally, it was the No. 3 show on TV among adults 18-49, trailing only the two editions of American Idol–hardly a flop.

In regards to the Emmy snubs, McPherson said:

“Who wins the Emmys is one thing, but to have that kind of oversight just, to me, is remarkable, I think for one year [for Lost] to win it and then the next year to not be nominated, for one year one of the Desperate Housewives to win the best actress and then for none of them to be nominated the next year, there’s a problem.”

Don’t even get me started on the unforgivable snub of Marcia Cross. Well okay, I suppose I could forgive if Elizabeth Perkins walks away with a statue come August.

This week’s Video Clip of the Week is the first episode of one of my favorite show’s ever Weeds, which of course stars the Goddess Mary Louise Parker and the divine Elizabeth Perkins (whoo! Emmy nominee). Check it out. There’s four parts.

Desperate Housewives hunk James Denton has Teri Hatcher and Nicolette Sheridan fighting over him in the hit show - but he’s flattered most of his fanmail is from gay men.

The 42-year-old sex symbol can tell most of the letters he receives are written by amorous male admirers, and he’s grateful they don’t send him any underwear.

He says, “Most of my fanmail’s actually from gay men. I’m surprised I’ve become a pin-up, but it’s all very flattering. Sometimes they’re honest and tell me they’re men and sometimes I have to guess…

“I haven’t had any saucy presents or underwear yet though!”

Two weeks ago, I said that Desperate Housewives had returned. After months of lagging storylines and a mystery that put us all to sleep, the writing team over at Desperate Housewives gave us back that snappy dialogue and nail-biting drama that we so hungered for most of the season.

It’s no secret that the show’s writing has been nearly a disaster this season–even the cast have chimed in on their characters’ lackluster stories. James Denton says “Our cast grew too much this year and some of the characters got lost in the shuffle”. Which is true. We’ve hardly seen any of Mike Delfino this season which doesn’t make much sense. Susan and Mike are the Meredith and McDreamy of this show. Instead we get some crappy (and may I add, not as attractive) doctor who’s wet behind the ears.

And Edie Britt, quite possibly the juiciest villian you love to hate, got limited screen time this year, especially when we were promised a story about her 6 year old son we’ve yet to meet, and her alleged sister played by Sex & The City’s Kim Cattrall.

Marcia Cross, meanwhile complains about the sensational storylines for her character that have sent Mrs. Van De Kamp (my favorite Housewife) to the nuthouse. She says “I’ve been at Marc Cherry’s door going, ‘You’ve got to be kidding’.”

And then the infamous Applewhites, who I would argue, have nearly singlehandedly ruined season 2 of Desperate Housewives. Mehcad Brooks, who played Matthew Applewhite up until this past Sunday seems to agree. Brooks says his onscreen family have been “marginalised and segregated from everyone but the Van De Kamps”.

But luckily the show has come full circle and revamped its limp mojo, which was flawlessly displayed in Sunday’s 2 hour season finale (Full video can be found here. We got to revisit some of our favorite past characters on the series such as John the gardener (Jesse Metcalfe), Rex Van De Kamp (Steven Culp), and even our beloved narrator Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong).

In a mix of flashbacks and unfolding of current impending dramatic storylines, we were given a fantastic 2 hours of television, that you almost didn’t want to end.

I must say, this finale was slightly better than that of its soon-to-be-separated sister show Grey’s Anatomy, which showed in the ratings as well (after months of Housewives being behind Grey’s in the ratings, its finale edged it out by a few million viewers). With the entrance of a few new mysterious characters, and the exit of a few we didn’t like anyway, it looks like Wisteria Lane is getting the reorganization that it needs.

The look on Kyle Maclachlan’s face in the close-up after he ran over Mike was creepy enough to have me running back and forth across my basement floor (that and the fact that Mike was laying unconcious in the middle of the street).

Finally Susan and Karl are over, even after he tried to win her over with a big house and a pool–a shameless attempt to thwart Mike’s proposal plans. We find out that Matthew was actually the one who killed Melanie Foster (who was an annoying little bitch anyway), not Caleb, Gabrielle has kicked Carlos out of the house for having sex with the newly pregnant Xiao Mei, and Lynette and Tom now have to deal with Nora, the mother of Tom’s 11 year old daughter.

And to top it all off, the creepy as hell Orson gives Bree flowers as a romantic gesture at the end of the episode–and as a friend pointed out–the same flowers no doubt that Mike was holding when he was hammered by Orson’s car and triple-axeled into the street. It should be an interesting season 3.

Hopefully the recent dynamism of Housewives can stay afloat through to the next season, which I’m assuming by the intrigue of the Orson storyline will be the case. Listen to your cast, Marc Cherry, if you won’t listen to us! And can we get some more hot guys with their shirts off? Honestly–without Jesse Metcalfe and the lack of James Denton, we’re left drooling over the slovenly Lee Tergensen. Sheesh.

Hit series Desperate Housewives will see massive cast cuts at the end of season two, according to actor James Denton. Denton, who plays Wisteria Lane’s hunky plumber Mike Delfino, claims many of the show’s major characters, including himself, have had to take a back seat among too many new faces, but this is about to be remedied.

He explains, “You’re watching the second season and Mike doesn’t have much to do… but I just got the main storyline for season three and I’m pleased that Mike features more prominently. “Our cast grew too much this year and some of the characters got lost in the shuffle. But we’ll be losing a handful of actors at the end of this series and I don’t think they’re going to be replaced.”

Source: Film Stew

Wisteria Lane’s hunky plumber James Denton takes his shot at the big screen with the comedy Wanted: Undead or Alive, co-starring Chris Kattan.

When you were a kid did you ever play cowboys and zombies? Future generations just might, if a new project from Odd Lot Entertainment catches on. The Hollywood Reporter notes that James Denton and Chris Kattan have been signed up to co-star in Wanted: Undead or Alive for Odd Lot.

Denton and Kattan will co-star as a pair of cowhands fleeing from a sheriff and his posse of zombies. Following that description, it seems almost redundant to mention that it’s a comedy. Glasgow Phillips wrote the screenplay and gets his first shot as director on the film when shooting begins next month in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Odd Lot’s releases have been an odd lot themselves. Founded in 2001, they’ve produced Green Street Hooligans with Elijah Wood, the Jennifer Lopez vehicle The Wedding Planner, and they’re currently in pre-production on The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing and a remake of The Lavender Hill Mob.

Denton’s regular gig is Desperate Housewives, and Kattan is a veteran of Saturday Night Live.

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Talk about a show exploding.

Boosted by a Super Bowl launch pad and a bazooka-bomb-in-the-belly plotline, Grey’s Anatomy has rocketed into record ratings and much more intense attention. And it has done so without straying from its chosen path: The deft blend of comedy, drama, sex and romance has turned this show into one of the most enticing hours on TV.

Grey’s heightened success could not come at a better time for ABC; the network’s biggest hit, the once-white-hot Desperate Housewives is showing signs of cooling. We shouldn’t read too much into last week’s ratings, which found Grey’s on top of Housewives for the first time: Housewives is still a vastly popular show, and deservedly so. But there’s no doubt that the buzz is off the rose, which is what generally happens to an instant phenomenon.

It’s possible, of course, that many of the folks who were hooked into Grey’s Super Bowl special will now go on their way. Those who return Sunday, however, will be treated to an incredibly appealing episode that is more in tune with the show’s low-key norm.

Odds are, thanks to the promo, Grey’s most sharp-sighted fans have figured out some of what happens. But in deference to those who haven’t, and to creator Shonda Rhimes‘ admirable attempts to keep her secrets intact, I won’t give away any plot points.

At any rate, the impact of events on Grey’s isn’t always immediately evident. So let’s just say that major secrets are revealed as some desires are fulfilled and others are frustrated. Love isn’t always smart on Grey’s and it isn’t always enough, as much as we might wish it were.

The real constant on this show is the warm embrace in which it envelops its characters: Burke (Isaiah Washington, who is pretty McDreamy himself), who is so perplexed by his love for Cristina (Sandra Oh); George (T.R. Knight), the quintessential nice guy who can’t get the nice girl to notice him; Izzie (Katherine Heigl), who is drawn to Alex (Justin Chambers); and our beloved Bailey (Chandra Wilson), whose role this week is mostly a baby-carrying cameo.

At the center is TV’s most complex and convincing romantic triangle as Derek (Patrick Dempsey) tries to find his way between his love for Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and his obligation to Addison (Kate Walsh). It’s a tribute to all three actors that each side seems equal and that each can make a valid claim on our sympathy while equally taxing our patience.

In the end, that rooting interest is what separates Grey’s from Housewives. It’s easier to believe in Grey’s characters and to care what happens to them. To its fans’ relief, Housewives has overcome an awful seasonal start and turned back into an entertaining, over-the-top camp romp. But the problem with romps is that they can become tiring.

There’s no question that Housewives lost something essential when it let go of last year’s central mystery, the suicide of a suburban mother. That plot allowed the show to tap into a zeitgeist angst that has eluded it so far this year, as it wanders between unconnected plots and unbelievable incidents.

Still, though it has faltered a bit, Housewives is still big and brassy and fun. Grey’s is a softer, smaller show with a very different feminine energy — one that is just as sexual and competitive but far more nurturing. Last week, Grey’s compared the male fantasy of a ladies-shower-a-trois with the female reality. Housewives exists in a colorful, bangle-beaded world of its own beyond fantasy and reality.

That can be a nice place to visit, but in the long run, you might rather live with Grey’s. The occasional bomb notwithstanding.

“Crash,” a racial drama that hinges on unexpected turns of events, scored a major upset on Sunday over Oscar favorite “Brokeback Mountain” when it won the ensemble cast award from the Screen Actors Guild.

For weeks, “Brokeback” had been collecting one film award after another, draining any suspense out of the race for the March 5 Academy Awards.

Its latest award came on Saturday night when its director Ang Lee won best director’s award from the Directors Guild of America, often an Oscar barometer.

But “Brokeback” may have hit a bump in the road with the unexpected victory for the cast of “Crash,” an ensemble drama of 36 hours in Los Angeles when a minor traffic accident triggers a series of racial confrontations that ends in murder.

The film has more than 70 actors, including many A-listers who worked for scale, including Sandra Bullock and Don Cheadle.

One reason for its success at SAG may be that its distributor, Lionsgate, sent members of the Screen Actors Guild DVDs of the film, which had been released in May and pretty well forgotten as the awards season started.

Its director and co-writer, Paul Haggis, said on Saturday that he thought he was just a lucky man to be nominated for anything and said making the film was a touch-and-go effort in which the producers frequently ran out of money and had to use Haggis’ own home for rehearsals.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was named best actor for his role as writer Truman Capote in “Capote” and Reese Witherspoon best actress for her role as June Carter Cash in the Johnny Cash biography “Walk the Line.”

“Sometimes I just really can’t shake the feeling that I am really just a little girl from Tennessee,” Witherspoon said.

The prizes bolster both Hoffman’s and Witherspoon’s chances of winning an Oscar when the Academy Awards are presented in March.

Paul Giamatti, an often ignored character actor, won the best supporting actor award for his role as the manager in “Cinderella Man,” about the life of Depression-era boxer James J. Braddock.

British actress Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress for her role as the doomed activist wife of a British diplomat in “The Constant Gardener,” a film based on a thriller by spy novelist John Le Carre.

ABC’s hit series “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” won top acting honors for television.

The “Lost” cast won the best ensemble performance award for a dramatic television series while “Desperate Housewives” received the ensemble award for best comedy series.

It was the first nomination and win for “Lost,” a castaway thriller that has helped reinvigorate ABC’s prime-time schedule.

S. Epatha Merkerson won the award for best actress in a television movie for her performance in “Lackawanna Blues,” and had the audience erupting in laughter and applause when she thanked her divorce lawyer.

Felicity Huffman was named best actress in a comedy series for her work as one of the “Desperate Housewives.”

Sandra Oh was named best actress in a television drama for her work as a fledgling doctor in “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC while Kiefer Sutherland was named best actor in a dramatic series for his work as a U.S. agent out to foil terrorist plots in “24″ on Fox.

Breathless and in tears, Oh, who also won a Golden Globe for her role, thanked her fellow Asian American actors. She said: “I share this with you … be encouraged and keep shining.”

Sean Hayes, named best actor for his role in the gay-themed NBC comedy “Will & Grace,” joked about the publicity around Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” as he accepted his award.

“First of all, I would like to thank Ang Lee for taking a chance on me,” he said. “I know everyone in Hollywood knows it’s such a risk to play a gay character.”

“Brokeback” has won major craft guild awards from Hollywood producers and directors and a victory at SAG for best ensemble cast — the top award given by actors — would have made it virtually unbeatable at the Academy Awards.

Not everyone is comfortable with the film, whose theme is a forbidden romance between two cowboys.

President George W. Bush ducked a question last week on whether he planned to see the film, and no movie whose theme is a gay romance has won a best-picture Oscar, the symbol of mainstream success.

Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday.

Walk the Line burned burned burned the competition at the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards.

The Johnny Cash biopic announced itself as a serious Oscar foil to the Brokeback Mountain buckaroos, snapping up a trio of trophies Monday night: Best Picture, Musical or Comedy and Best Actor and Actress honors for leading duo Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who portrayed Cash and June Carter Cash in the film.

Phoenix offered his thanks to “John and June for sharing their life with all of us,” while Witherspoon said the film was “about where I grew up, it’s about the music I grew up listening to, so it’s very meaningful.”

Brokeback Mountain continued its awards season winning streak, scaling yet another lofty pre-Oscar peak with four Golden Globes: Best Picture, Drama; Best Director for Ang Lee; Best Screenplay for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana; and Best Original Song, “A Love That Will Never Grow Old.”

Entering the night with a field-best seven nominations, the gay cowboy romance fell short in several key categories, including Best Actor, Drama (Heath Ledger) and Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), something Lee chalked up to stiff competition.

“I think this has been an amazing year for American cinema,” Lee said. “So, I just want to give my first thanks to my fellow filmmakers for strengthening my faith in movies.”

Felicity Huffman’s turn as a cross-dressing man desperate to become a woman in Transamerica earned her the award for Best Actress, Drama, while Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of author Truman Capote’s obsession with the murders of a Kansas family in Capote earned him the Best Actor, Drama prize.

George Clooney, a triple Globe nominee, walked away with the Best Supporting Actor award for Syriana, while Rachel Weisz earned the Best Supporting Actress prize for The Constant Gardner.

On the small-screen side, the HBO miniseries Empire Falls was the lone contender to notch multiple wins, earning the awards for Best Miniseries or Movie and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Newman.

ABC’s plane-crash-survivor saga Lost was found worthy of the Best Drama Series hardware. Hugh Laurie took the Best Actor, Drama prize for his work as a grumpy but highly skilled doctor on House, while Geena Davis won Best Actress, Drama for playing the president on Commander in Chief.

Though four out of five of the leading ladies nominated in the Best Actress, Musical or Comedy television category were Desperate Housewives stars, Mary-Louise Parker, the lone nominee not featured on the ABC show, took home the award for her work on Showtime’s Weeds. Backstage, Parker expressed surprise that Huffman didn’t repeat her Emmy success and win the Globe, too.

But some solace for the ladies of Wisteria Lane came in the form of the award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, won by their show for the second straight year in spite of its questionable comedic status. (Ironically, the Golden Globes moved this year’s show from Sunday to Monday to avoid a showdown with Housewives.)

Less in dispute were the comic talents of Steve Carell, who won Best Actor, Musical or Comedy for playing an incompetent boss on The Office.

Notable shutouts included Good Night, and Good Luck (four nominations, zero wins), Match Point (four nominations, zero wins), The Producers (four nominations, zero wins), The Sopranos (four nominations, zero wins) and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (yup, four nominations and, you guessed it, zero wins).

The night’s only sure winner, Anthony Hopkins, was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by his pregnant Proof costar Gwyneth Paltrow, who called him “the greatest actor of our generation.”

“Ready when you are, Mr. DeMille,” Hopkins quipped upon accepting the award.

Globe recipients were determined by the 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization made up of foreign journalists based in Los Angeles.

While not infallible, the Golden Globes have a relatively strong track record when it comes to predicting the eventual winners of the Academy Awards. Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 31, and the awards will be presented Mar. 5.

Last night’s episode of Desperate Housewives was yet another great episode of the best show on television, but after watching a lot of the Season One DVD set almost all day, I started to realize a few things that this season is lacking.

First of all, there aren’t enough secrets. The first season every housewife had at least one secret. Bree’s marriage was falling apart, and her son killed Carlos’ mother while drunk driving and revealed he is gay (or at least attracted to men), Susan accidentally burned down Edie’s house, Gabrielle was having an affair, and Lynette was addicted to Ritalin, stealing nannies, and messing with Tom’s job behind his back. Not to mention the big secret that tied all of the characters together and made the show whole (and really, what kept people tuning in each week) was the Mary-Alice storyline of trying to figure out why she killed herself and who was black-mailing her. Everything was so perfectly well-crafted–almost like a screenplay.

The secrets are what drive Wisteria Lane, they drive the show. Because like Marc Cherry said, as opposed to Sex and the City where the group of friends tell each other everything, this show is centered around what four friends don’t tell each other. This season, the secrets aren’t as good.

First of all, we’ve got the Applewhite story which was revealed to the audience nearly half-way through the season in comparison to the Mary-Alice story which we didn’t even find out the answer to until the very last episode. Once we found out who was in the basement and why, the storyline died. It sparks interest everytime the women of Wisteria Lane get closer to finding out what’s going on, but it isn’t as interesting to see them figure out when we already have figured it out ourselves.

You’ve got Bree, who other than the fact that her son likes guys, doesn’t have many secrets anymore. You’ve got Susan who has no secrets at all now that Mike knows she sent Zach to Utah (which was completely out of character, by the way–Susan doesn’t intentionally do things wrong, if she’s done something bad it’s by accident). You’ve got Lynette who has no secrets at all, and then you’ve got Gabrielle who basically has served as a flighty comedic story for most of the season, despite her miscarriage.

Where’s the juice? Where’s the fire? Where’s the desperation? These Housewives are not desperate enough, Marc Cherry. Raise the stakes.

Another thing. There needs to be more use of suburbia. This season there hasn’t been enough desperate, but we’re also missing a little bit of Housewives too. What are the family dinners like at the Van De Kamp home now? What’s going on at the kids’ schools? Why have we hardly seen Lynette’s kids this season? And why have we still yet to see Edie’s 6 year old son?

One more thing before I go. Okay, look at the cast of this show. You have Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, and looking better than ever Teri Hatcher. These are all “desperate housewives”, yes, but they are all sizzling hot. Realistic? No. But that’s why its television, that’s why its Desperate Housewives. So when it’s time to not just add a new supporting character but actually add a new housewife to the mix, why then is the choice Alfre Woodard? Woodard, though a great actress, doesn’t quite fit in on Wisteria Lane. Mehcad Brooks, Betty Applewhite’s son, fits right in, and gives us the eye candy that got ripped away from us in Jesse Metcalfe. But c’mon Marc Cherry. Alfre Woodard? Why not add some more sizzle and spice to Wisteria Lane (and much better acting I should say) and cast sexy and sultry Angela Bassett? Now that would’ve been something.

Again I say, this show, by far, is still the best damn show on television. The writing, the directing, the acting, the music–everything comes together like magic. It’s just that the first season was so pitch-perfect, that it now faces the problem of living up to itself.

There’s a certain formula with episodic television. Most shows stumble through their first season, figure out who they are and then gradually become better. Remember the first episode of Sex and the City? Pretty different from Season Six. Remember the first episode of Will & Grace? Megan Mullally wasn’t even doing the voice then. But the problem with Housewives was that it knew exactly what it was the first season, and did everything perfectly, and now it has nowhere to go but down (not that it’s gone down enough to be considered bad).