TVSquad

Here's some casting news that should thrill TV fans: Lily Tomlin has been cast on Desperate Housewives as Mrs. McCluskey's sister. The comic actress, a multiple Emmy award winner (not to mention a couple of Tonys and a Grammy), has been cast in a recurring role, fleshing out Kathryn Joosten's Emmy-nominated role as the nosy neighbor across the street from Lynette who's occasionally babysat for the Scavo kids. At least when they were still kids, cause now the show's jumped ahead five years, remember?

Writer Marc Cherry has got to be licking his chops to write for Tomlin. She's the kind of actress that can bring unique characters immediately to life. As a comic, using her own imagination and the words -- often -- of collaborator Jane Wagner, Lily's been legendary with what she can do.

In her early career, there were Edith Ann, the bratty five-year-old, and Ernestine, the telephone operator (when the phone company still had operators!). On stage in The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, a one-woman show, she brilliantly created numerous characters.

I wanted to wait a bit before I posted about the ABC showrunner panel, because a) I already posted about the "news" from Shonda Rhimes about Katherine Heigl's statements, and b) I wanted to think about why these panels seem to be so much more informative than the individual show panels?

We'll get to that more later. On the panel were Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Silvio Horta (Ugly Betty), Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (Lost), and Greg Berlanti (seemingly the rest of ABC's schedule). As you'd expect, Rhimes got the Heigl questions, Lindelof and Cuse got the most esoteric questions, and Chery made the most jokes. The funniest line, though, came from Horta.

Haircuts on TV shows are often a very big deal. Remember when Keri Russell had the audacity to cut her long, curl mane on Felicity? Some fans never forgave her or the character!

Well, be prepared for another cut to your psyche, Desperate Housewives' devotees. Eva Longoria Parker has cut her hair for the upcoming sixth season of the show. Unlike Keri, however, Eva's cut was done with the blessing of the producers.

As you can see, it's a very cute 'doo; not too blunt or pixie-ish. It's quite stylish and flattering. The idea is that with the five-year time jump that we saw in the finale last season, Gaby doesn't have the time or inclination to care for her long, flowing locks. (If you've ever had long, full hair like hers, you know what I'm talking about!)

One thing you have to say about the powers that be at Desperate Housewives, they're really great with casting. Great looking guys, beautiful women, quirky character actors; we've seen them all on Wisteria Lane and usually they leave a lasting impression.

The latest name to check in to Desperate Housewives is Neal McDonough. He'll be appearing in the new season and Hollywood Reporter is wondering how he'd do with Nicolette Sheridan's character, Edie Britt. Is that wondering or playing matchmaker? How do we know that Marc Cherry isn't setting him up as a mystery man from Bree's past? Cherry is nothing if not inventive, so good luck trying to anticipate his plotlines!

And yes there are MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! So turn back now if you don't want to be spoiled!

There's a big twist coming to ABC's Desperate Housewives. And it involves Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross wearing jetpacks and eating pills that will take the place of meals.

Well, OK, maybe they won't have any of that, but Desperate Housewives is taking a cue from Lost and will jump five years into the future in the last moments of the season finale in May. Cross let the news out on Ellen. But it's not going to do a back and forth in time like Lost, it's going to stay in the year 2013 (or will that be 2012, considering this season started in 2007?).

There's going to be a new lady swinging down Wisteria Lane this spring. Entertainment Tonight reported that Justine Bateman has signed onto Desperate Housewives for a few episodes. The actress, who will forever be remembered for playing Alex P. Keaton -- Michael J. Fox's -- sister Mallory on Family Ties, will be playing "a hip artist living with Gabby and Carlos."

(S04E02) "We better start coming up with better lies." - Katherine

After a controversial season premiere (in case you haven't heard, ABC had to apologize for a joke Susan made while in Adam's office), Desperate Housewives tries to have the Mayfairs, who moved to Wisteria Lane last week, settle in. In last week's TV Squad DH poll, 68% of the voters said they thought the Mayfairs were a good addition to the show. Based solely on last week's episode, I have to agree. But now that we are getting more backstory about the Mayfairs and seeing them interact more with their neighbors, have we changed our mind?

Oh, come on, do they actually expect us to believe that David Beckham and Robbie Williams will play the gay couple of ABC's Desperate Housewives this season?

As Paul mentioned recently, a new gay couple will move into Wisteria Lane this fall. And now Digital Spy says that soccer star David Beckham has chosen singer Robbie Williams to be his partner on the show if it were to ever happen. The site also says that creator Marc Cherry says that Beckham picked Williams over new friend Tom Cruise.

Yeah, OK...

As mentioned in today's SA, in an interview with AfterElton.com, Marc Cherry confirmed that a gay couple will be the newest residents on Desperate Housewives next season.

The couple will move into the house vacated by Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) next door to Teri Hatcher's character, Susan. As you can guess, Susan gets off to a rocky start with the new neighbors by putting her foot in her mouth and inadvertently insulting them right away.

ABC had so much star and producer power attending its All-Stars party for the TV Critics at the Beverly Hilton last night, it had to have had to have two -- count 'em two -- tip sheets (one with stars; one with producers) for the media.

There was one typo, however For some reason, Marc Cherry was listed on the producers' list; sure, he's Desperate Housewives' top exec, but the man should have been put on the talent tip sheet, too. He knows how to tease a season and entertain a table full of reporters like no other!

Cherry gave the scoop on new characters played by Dana Delany and Nathan Fillion -- also, a preview of what's ahead for the other ladies of Wisteria Lane.

Yes, you read right. Desperate Housewives' creator Marc Cherry wants to do what other series (see Buffy and Scrubs) did before: a musical episode!

Variety reports that the Cherry is looking to keep ratings up next year and thinks that a musical episode may help create a buzz.

Hot on the heels of The Onion's list of title sequences that are perfectly meshed with their shows comes this story from the Christian Science Monitor, detailing what goes into creating the all-too-brief title sequences you see on today's shows. Believe it or not, there are still some shows that have title sequences, even though most of them are a minute or less. This article goes into detail about the creation of title sequences for two shows: the new David E. Kelley dramedy The Wedding Bells and Marc Cherry's hit Desperate Housewives.

The detail Garson Yu, who designed the Housewives sequence, goes into about how he created the mini-movie for the opening makes for an interesting read. It is filled with desperate women through the centruies, makes for an interesting read. He took inspiration from Terry Gilliam's animation from Monty Python's Flying Circus, among other influences, and wanted to tell a story about these desperate women. The results, as millions of you see every week, are in the video after the jump.

And before you say anything, that's the word used by show creator Marc Cherry, not me.

At a TCA Q and A (check out the reports from Joel and Kevin here), the Desperate Housewives creator says he spends $100,000 a week just getting rid of nipples that show through clothing because "I've got a couple of actresses who refuse to wear bras, and the Standards and Practices go 'Can't see that'...then I'll turn on Friends and it's a Nipplefest."

It's funny because I was just noticing the other day on a Friends repeat that Jennifer Aniston was, um, showing quite a bit. Personally I would have used the word "Nipplepalooza," but that's just me. Now, who are the actresses he's talking about?

[via TV Tattle]

For the last session of the day yesterday, ABC decided to do something a little different and put the executive producers of their biggest hour-long shows up on stage. On the panel were Jon Robin Baitz and Greg Berlanti (Brothers & Sisters), Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy), Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (Lost), Jenny Bicks (Men in Trees) and Silvio Horta (Ugly Betty).

They answered questions about what it's like to run their shows, from the pilot process to network notes to the writing process to Internet fan scrutiny. Because the reporters were so eager to ask them questions, no more than one or two EPs answered a question at any one time before the next one was asked (and, believe me, if you don't blurt out your question and just keep talking until everyone else stops, you'll never get your question out). The funniest panelist was Cherry, who had something funny to say at almost every turn. The best lines, funny and otherwise, are after the jump.

That's one of the revelations in this USA Today piece about the Desperate Housewives season finale (this Sunday) and plans for next season.

Denton was unhappy about what was happening to the character of Mike (nothing), so he approached producers about having Mike leave the show so he could pursue other projects. But producers assured him there were plans for Mike (and maybe Susan too? Hmmm ...)

Denton and others on the show agree that this second season has been a letdown, and hint that there are big changes in store for season three. One idea they had, which was eventually scrapped, was to have the dead Rex come back to narrate the show, a la the dead Mary-Alice. But she'll continue to be the show's narrator. Personally, I think having Steven Culp come back and narrate the show would have been a neat idea.