TVSquad

Thanks to Marc Cherry and Shonda Rhimes, the ABC show-runner panel was a good way to start the afternoon. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there, as the panels for Dirty Sexy Money, Private Practice, and Desperate Housewives were surprisingly dull, especially considering the fact that Cherry and Rhimes returned for the DH and Practice panels, respectively.

Even something Cherry said that seemed like it would be news -- that he's going to end DH after the seventh season -- turned out to be old hat, as he announced the very same thing at the Winter 2007 tour. "Yeah, I've made the decision that after seven years, I will probably keel over in a hump and die," he said. "I love my baby, you know. I love working with these gals, but the idea of letting anyone else take the show from me kind of makes me sad and sick to my stomach."

Last season's Desperate Housewives' finale was pretty much a game changer. The denizens of Wisteria Lane jumped five years into the future and into completely different lives. Just to recap: Gaby (Eva Longoria Parker) is a mom, Bree (Marcia Cross) is the new Martha Stewart and is back with Orson (Kyle MacLachlan), Lynette's (Felicity Huffman) sons are juvenile delinquents, Susan (Teri Hatcher) has a new man and Edie (Nicolette Sheridan) is nowhere to be found. So basically things are a little ... different. Executive producers Bob Daily and Sabrina Wind discuss just how different life on Wisteria Lane is going to be this season.

Daily says that the five year jump has allowed them to wipe the slate clean, "We keep talking about this first episode likes it's another pilot. We're starting over and each woman has a new drive now." For more information on what to expect on Desperate Housewives this season, follow me after the jump.

WARNING: SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP

As the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tries to whittle the submissions down to actual nominees, it's interesting to take a look at who has made it to the semifinals. It's not a nomination, but it's one step away. Today comes word of the finalists for best comedy actress and best supporting drama actor. There are some surprises.

Chief among those for me is Sarah Silverman. I honestly hadn't even considered her in the running. I'm not much of a fan, but I do like that she is being considered for the simple fact that the base the nominees are drawn from can always use some expansion. And if she is the most surprising inclusion, the most surprising snub just might be Teri Hatcher. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman all made the cut, but not Hatcher. Ouch. The rest of the finalists, and the supporting actors from a drama, after the jump.

(S04E16/S04E17) "I'm Wayne Davis. We're about to have some fun." - Wayne

Answers. As ABC promised us, we've got them. The two-hour season finale of Desperate Housewives wrapped up the season-long Katherine/Dylan/Wayne storyline, sent Kayla packing, and paved the way for a revamped Wisteria Lane.

For ease of writing and reading, I'll be commenting the events of "The Gun Song" and "Free" in one slightly longer than usual post. I sadly can't comment everything that happened in this special two-hour event, so feel free to dish and comment about what I didn't pick on.

Michael Weinfeld of the Associated Press was able to sit down with television's most neurotic homemaker. Marcia Cross, who plays Bree Hodge on Desperate Housewives, dished about this Sunday's big finale event. The muffin-baking, rose bush-pruning domestic diva told all about what happens to herself and the other inhabitants of Wisteria Lane.

SPOILER ALERT: Marcia Cross talks about the Desperate Housewives finale after the jump.

(S04E15) "Do you love Kayla?" - Dr. Joshua Dolan to Lynette

"Mother Said" was quite the eventful episode since it pushed forward all of the ladies' storylines and dealt with two big secrets: Benjamin's and Dylan's parents. It also featured scenes of the four main characters together, which we haven't seen much lately.

(S04E14) "I thought you were a hooker." - Gaby to Ellie

Finally, after weeks of being almost useless to the series (those of you who read my reviews regularly know that lately I've been rooting for the Solises to leave Wisteria Lane), Gaby and Carlos got a meatier storyline thanks to the addition for a few episodes of Mallory Keaton, err, Justine Bateman. The downside? The storyline is too predictable.

One of the ongoing rumors about Desperate Housewives is that one of the ladies will be leaving the show at the end of the season. It's a rumor we actually heard almost every year. However, it's been growing lately, especially in light of the big twist set to happen at the end of the two-hour season finale and of recent cast interviews in which we learned that no one is safe.

Of course, it's pretty much a given that the four main characters (Bree, Susan, Gaby, Lynette) will be returning next season. Word on the street is that Katherine will also be coming back since fans have been responding positively to her addition. With that info in hand, fingers were pointed at one housewife: Edie, played by Nicollette Sheridan.

(S04E13) "Everyone has a reason for not following the rules." - Mary Alice

Things are definitely moving forward on Wisteria Lane. This week, we found out who set Rick's restaurant on fire, Mike finally discovered that Orson ran him over, Dylan met her father, and Edie actually made sense!

(S04E12) "A man is only as sick as his secrets." - Sign at the rehab center

When hearing that Bree and Katherine wanted to team up to plan the Founders Ball, Lynette said that she, someone who faced cancer and survived a tornado, was running from the situation. When I heard the idea of Bree and Katherine working together, I wanted to do only one thing: run towards it.

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?).

(S04E11) "A church isn't a place for questions. It's a place for answers." - Bree to Lynette

After months without new episodes of Desperate Housewives, I was like Lynette this week: I had questions and wanted answers. Sadly for me, Lynette's quest for answers and faith took precedent over my own curiosity and hopes.

As you know, I'm a spoilers addict, so my expectations for the remaining season 4 episodes of the series were pretty high since I was promised loads of answers about the mysteries surrounding Katherine and Dylan. Because of my wanting of answers, Lynette's storyline, which took most of the air time this week, felt flat.

(S04E09) "It was supposed to be a beautiful day." - Mary Alice

"The most elaborate episode ever produced in the history of the series" (per what ABC said in the episode's press release) finally aired. A lot of fans have been looking forward to Desperate Housewives' tornado episode for weeks (myself included), especially since two somewhat important characters were said to die. Did the episode deliver? Were expectations too high?

(S04E08) "If the cover has holes in it, the book is no good." - Susan to Julie when the latter tells her mother not to judge a book by its cover

It was blackmail time this week on Desperate Housewives. Okay, that's nothing new but this week, it played an important part of more than one storyline. "A Distant Past" also offered the conclusion of the Stella storyline and started a new chapter in the Victor/Gaby/Carlos triangle.

I have to agree with Whitney over at Pop Candy when she says she's confused that Marcia Cross made the list of TV Land/Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 TV Icons" list. I mean, seriously, Marcia Cross?! Imagine all of the people left off the list that could have gone in that spot. Maybe if Cross had found a cure for cancer she could go on the list. Then again, she'd be on a "Top 50 Scientists" list, not a TV icons one.

Anyway, she's on the list. The full list actually goes up to 100 (Cross is last, but that still doesn't explain anything), and she's not the only head-scratcher.