Today as i was on my Twitter, it was confirmed by Michael Ausiello on TVline.com that Desperate Housewives is Ending After Season 8. I have been watching DH since i was 14 years old and i was shocked to find that ABC Network had pulled it after saying they were contracted to go until 2013. But after thinking about it, this year i sort of neglected the ladies of Wisteria Lane. Granted i did get busy and watched most episodes on line, i found that the plot lines weren't "Must Watched TV" worthy. Desperate has always managed to grab the audience attention with crazy drama and unbelievable story lines. Probably one of the best plot lines creator Marc Cherry did was the five year time jump back in season 5. That jump managed to give a fresh vibe to a series that was at the top but slipped after the '08 Writers Strike. But even with the resurfacing in season 7 of character "Paul Young", the ratings still continued to decline.
Networks have the "aging show" problem. Shows such as, CSI, Law and Order:SVU, Grey's Anatomy, and American Idol are facing a tough decision by the networks to keep going or to call a time of death. The addition of new characters and new writers may keep a show going (ER to point out). I always thought that if your main characters are gone, then its time to say bye and end it on a good note. Once your ratings have slipped and your audience is half non-existant why spend millions of dollars to keep the show on? With cable shows dominating, network television has a shaky future ahead. While we would love to see our characters live forever in our fictional TV Life, sometimes its ok to admit when its ran its course its time to let it go.
Its clearly the almost end of the, what i like to call "The Stephen McPherson"era. While i enjoyed having the Ladies of Wisteria Lane occupy my Sunday Nights, i can't wait to see what this last season has in store and i know that Marc Cherry will go out with a bang!
-Christina
Networks have the "aging show" problem. Shows such as, CSI, Law and Order:SVU, Grey's Anatomy, and American Idol are facing a tough decision by the networks to keep going or to call a time of death. The addition of new characters and new writers may keep a show going (ER to point out). I always thought that if your main characters are gone, then its time to say bye and end it on a good note. Once your ratings have slipped and your audience is half non-existant why spend millions of dollars to keep the show on? With cable shows dominating, network television has a shaky future ahead. While we would love to see our characters live forever in our fictional TV Life, sometimes its ok to admit when its ran its course its time to let it go.
Its clearly the almost end of the, what i like to call "The Stephen McPherson"era. While i enjoyed having the Ladies of Wisteria Lane occupy my Sunday Nights, i can't wait to see what this last season has in store and i know that Marc Cherry will go out with a bang!
-Christina
I'd think that dramas would have a shorter life than sitcoms. It's definitely harder to write 23 compelling 45-minute episodes of a show like DH compared to same amount of 22-minute episodes of a sitcom like 2.5 Men (and Men shows that they don't even have to be funny, ha). Sometimes you get a show like ER that bucks that trend. But I'd guess that ABC kept it around because they didn't have much better to put in its slot the past two years. Maybe now they do.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd be shocked this isn't American Idol's last season. There's no reason to have Idol and X Factor.