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'Desperate Housewives' Seeks New Energy As Wisteria Lane Ladies Jump Ahead 5 Years

By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 26, 2008

Is it "jump the shark" time for "Desperate Housewives"?

Just about every TV series eventually hits a creative slump. Sometimes the slump turns to a slide. "Housewives" isn't the blockbuster it used to be. But it's still one of the most-watched dramas.

In the fifth season debut Sunday night, the story jumps five years into the future.

And the ladies of Wisteria Lane have changed:

•Bree (Marcia Cross) has turned her perfect homemaker act into a business and is almost the next Martha Stewart. And her once wayward son, Andrew (Tampa's Shawn Pyfrom), has become her faithful manager.

•Katherine (Dana Delaney), once the newcomer with a shady past, is business partners with Bree.

•Gabby (Eva Longoria) has lost her glam and is raising two daughters.

•Lynette (Felicity Huffman) has to deal with her troublesome twin sons, who are now trouble-making teens.

•Susan (Teri Hatcher) is less needy, less clinging and less of a klutzy comic-relief character.

•Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) returns to Wisteria with a husband, played by Neal McDonough, the guy known for his steel blue eyes. He's a motivational speaker, but something is amiss. This will be part of the annual mystery story line.

Series creator-producer Marc Cherry says he was inspired by "Lost" to play with time.

"It's a chance to reset and get some new energy," Cherry told TV columnists at an interview session in Beverly Hills in July.

"The soap tends to build up, and I wanted to get back to where we were that very first season, where it's just the problems of some ordinary women and they were small and relatable," he says. "Of course, the ball will start rolling and pick up steam as the year goes on, but I thought it would be a good chance to do something interesting and give everyone some new challenges."

Joining the cast this season in a recurring role is Lily Tomlin, who will play nosey Mrs. McCluskey's (Kathryn Joosten) sister. Joosten recently won an Emmy for the role.

The cast gives thumbs up to the changes:

•"I was thrilled because I was really looking for Bree to get out of the house. I mean, she's going to get out of the house with her muffins, but at least she's getting out of the house." - Cross

•"I felt like it was a reset button and we got to really start from scratch ... I was excited, especially because how Gabby looks now, to play something other than glamour, it's going to be fun for me." - Longoria

•"I'm just glad to be back, because he Cherry tries to kill Edie every year." - Sheridan

•"For Susan, you've seen a person who is like, 'Please love me, please love me, please love me,' who now, for many reasons that will be revealed over the new season, is probably a person who's more closed off to love and not so searching and needy of it." - Hatcher

"Desperate Housewives" already has been renewed for two more seasons.

VIDBITS: British actress Billie Piper stars as Victorian sleuth Sally Lockhart in a new "Masterpiece" thriller, "The Shadow in the North," debuting Sunday on PBS. Piper, who starred in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" and co-starred on "Doctor Who," helps an elderly woman swindled by a crooked investor.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

The Presidential Debate,

9 p.m., PBS

If Sen. John McCain doesn't make it, Sen. Barack Obama plans to turn it into a town hall meeting. It's also on NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, C-Span, MSNBC, CNN and Fox News Channel.