Desperate Housewives Series 8

[Perdita]

Scott Bakula has signed up for a role in Desperate Housewives.

The actor will star in several episodes of the show as an attorney working for Bree (Marcia Cross), TV Line reports.

His character is said to be conservative and forceful.

ABC has refused to reveal details of his storyline but rumours have suggested that he will help Bree to fight a charge of murder.

Bakula has previously had roles in shows such as Quantum Leap, Chuck and Men Of A Certain Age.

Other stars who have appeared in the current season of Desperate Housewives, which will be its last, include Leslie Jordan, Miguel Ferrer and Andrea Parker.

The show airs on Sundays at 9/8c on ABC.

[Perdita]

James Denton's character Mike Delfino has been revealed as the character to die on the upcoming episode of Desperate Housewives.

Denton, who has been a series regular since its debut in 2004, plays Teri Hatcher's (Susan Delfino) husband on the show.

He was approached by producer Marc Cherry in the winter of last year about killing off his character.

Of Mike's demise, Denton told Entertainment Weekly: "I was really surprised. Any other year, I would have been disappointed, but at this point I figured, well, we made it... As an actor, you just hope people care."

Denton described filming his final scene as surreal, recalling: "I remember lying in the threshold [while filming the scene] with the blood pouring out of me looking up at the top of the porch. I've been there for over eight years, and I've done so many scenes on that porch... It was a little creepy... It was sort of fitting."

News of the actor's departure was let slip during a court hearing today at the trial between show creator Cherry and former star Nicolette Sheridan.

Sheridan has sued Cherry for wrongfully terminating her from the series, and has also accused him of physically assaulting her while she was still a member of the cast.

There will be six more episodes of Desperate Housewives after Denton's departure. It was announced last year that the current eighth season of the series will be its last.

Denton's on-screen departure will take place during the episode 'You Take for Granted' at 9/8c on Sunday (March 11) on ABC.

[N.Fan]

Scott Bakula has signed up for a role in Desperate Housewives.

The actor will star in several episodes of the show as an attorney working for Bree (Marcia Cross), TV Line reports.

His character is said to be conservative and forceful.

ABC has refused to reveal details of his storyline but rumours have suggested that he will help Bree to fight a charge of murder.

Bakula has previously had roles in shows such as Quantum Leap, Chuck and Men Of A Certain Age.

Other stars who have appeared in the current season of Desperate Housewives, which will be its last, include Leslie Jordan, Miguel Ferrer and Andrea Parker.

The show airs on Sundays at 9/8c on ABC.

Quantum Leap was one of my favourite programmes,they should make a remake of it.
I will definately miss Desperate Housewives.

[Perdita]

The first pictures from the funeral of Desperate Housewives character Mike Delfino (James Denton) have been released.

The images, taken from the ABC comedy drama's March 18 episode, show Susan (Teri Hatcher) standing beside her late husband's coffin and apparently struggling to make it through her eulogy.


© ABC


All the main Desperate Housewives characters are seen at the service, while Karen's (Kathryn Joosten) husband Roy is noticeably absent and Tom (Doug Savant) is shown sitting with his girlfriend Jane (Andrea Parker) - likely fuelling their feud with Lynette (Felicity Huffman).


© ABC



© ABC


The snapshots also reveal that Renee (Vanessa Williams) will sing at the funeral and the Wisteria Lane men will serve as pallbearers.


© ABC


Mike was killed off in last Sunday's (March 11) episode of Desperate Housewives, getting shot by Ben's (Charles Mesure) loan shark.

Hatcher admitted afterwards that she thought Mike's death was "a bad idea".

Desperate Housewives continues Sundays at 9/8c on ABC.

[alan45]

Desperate Housewives continues Sundays at 9/8c on ABC.

For those of you unable to access ABC this programme is also available on C4 and E4 in the UK

[lizann]

For those of you unable to access ABC this programme is also available on C4 and E4 in the UK

And RTE 2 in Ireland

It is a damn sad shame Mike was killed off

[N.Fan]

I thought Bree would have been greatful to Orson for killing the cop,with him doing so the women have got more chance of getting away with what they've done.

[tammyy2j]

I thought Bree would have been greatful to Orson for killing the cop,with him doing so the women have got more chance of getting away with what they've done.

Spoiler:

Orson shops Bree and the girls into the police

[Perdita]

For eight years, the women of Wisteria Lane battled alcoholism, cancer, cheating husbands and direct attempts on their lives, but in the TV series finale on Sunday, four "Desperate Housewives" lived a fairy tale ending.

"This street is a lot of things. Boring is not one of them," Teri Hatcher's Susan Delfino told the new owner of her home as she packed up and said goodbye to her infamous street as the ghosts of Wisteria Lane looked on.

Fans didn't see what lies ahead for Susan, but they did catch glimpses into the future of her three best friends, Marcia Cross's Bree Van de Kamp, Eva Longoria's Gabrielle Solis and Felicity Hoffman's Lynette Scavo. The ladies are no longer desperate, having found personal and professional success.

After being exonerated on murder charges, cookbook mogul Bree finds love with her unreasonably kind lawyer, moves to the south and becomes a politician.

Gabrielle is relieved that neither Bree nor her husband Carlos (the real killer) went to prison for murdering the stepfather who abused her as a child. In the future, she runs a successful shopping website, and she and Carlos move to a California mansion.

Lynette's happy ending sees her back together with husband Tom and moving to New York, where Lynette becomes a CEO, and years into the future, plays in Central Park with her grandkids.

When "Desperate Housewives," created by "Golden Girls" writer Mark Cherry, premiered in 2004, it helped rejuvenate ABC, resuscitate Teri Hatcher's career and prove that viewers would tune into TV to watch women over 40-years-old in leading roles.

The show was an instant hit with audiences and critics, averaging more than 20 million viewers an episode and being called "the best new drama of the season and perhaps the best new comedy, too," by the Washington Post.

In the years since, the show has experienced its highs and lows. This season, it averaged just over 8 million viewers. Of the seven Emmys the show won, six were in the first year.

EMOTIONAL RESCUE

Sunday's final episode was filled with emotional moments including Susan's daughter Julie and Lynette's son Porter welcoming a baby. The women of Wisteria Lane also said goodbye to elderly neighbour Karen McCluskey who died of cancer shortly after taking the wrap in Bree's murder trial.

Dana Delany, who appeared in seasons four through six as Katherine Mayfair, returned to offer Lynette the job that inspired her move to New York, and Renee Perry (Vanessa Williams) also found a happy ending when she married her dashing Australian boyfriend.

But over the years, the show's storylines weren't all so nice. They included one betrayal after another, and dramatic events like murder, freak accidents and natural disasters were commonplace.

At times, the behind-the-scenes drama has rivalled that of the scandal-plagued Wisteria Lane. In season six, Nicollette Sheridan's Edie Britt was electrocuted when her car crashed into a telephone pole.

Sheridan filed a lawsuit against ABC alleging Marc Cherry struck her during an argument and then killed off her character. In March a judge declared a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict. A retrial is set for September.

In 2005, the cast clashed on the set of a Vanity Fair magazine cover shoot, and even in recent weeks talk of a rift between Hatcher and her cast mates persist.

Unfortunately, "Desperate Housewives" isn't actually filmed on the fictional Wisteria Lane. If it were, we could count on a happy ending.

[alan45]

US TV actress Kathryn Joosten, best known for her roles in Desperate Housewives and The West Wing, has died.

Joosten, who was 72, died in California of lung cancer, 11 years after she was first diagnosed with the disease.

The actress won two Emmy Awards for playing nosey neighbour Karen McCluskey in suburban drama Desperate Housewives.

She had previously portrayed Delores Landingham, the secretary to fictional US President Josiah Bartlet, played by Martin Sheen, on The West Wing.

Joosten's family said in a statement that the actress was "surrounded by love and humour 'til the end", adding: "We are laughing through our tears."

Joosten did not begin her acting career until the age of 42, having worked as a psychiatric nurse at a medium security hospital unit in Chicago.

But after getting divorced and hearing her mother's deathbed regrets at not having pursued her dreams, Joosten decided to revisit her childhood passion for acting and became involved with her local community theatre.

She then worked as a street performer at Disney World in Florida before moving to Hollywood in the mid-1990s and winning small roles in shows including Murphy Brown, Frasier and The Drew Carey Show.

'No master plan'
The West Wing brought wider recognition. "Some people in Hollywood think of me as a model for dramatic mid-life transitions - from suburban housewife to Emmy-winning actress," she said.

"But I never plotted out a master plan for following my dreams."

Her other roles included one of the recurring Gods in Joan of Arcadia and Claire in Dharma and Greg.

Her part in Desperate Housewives earned her the Primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series in 2005 and 2008, and she was nominated again in 2010.

She encouraged the show's creator Marc Cherry to give her character lung cancer in order to raise awareness. The show ended in the US just three weeks ago after eight years on air.