Alfre Woodard is joining the cast of the ABC hit Desperate Housewives.
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Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives had a celebrity-laden crowd purring when she helped open a new lounge featuring the famous Pussycat Dolls at Caesars Palace hotel-casino. Eva said she had always been desperate to be a pussycat…
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Latest news, now that Grey’s Anatomy will continue to air Sundays at 10, April 24 is not a rerun either now! The DH special will air then. It is called: “Desperate Housewives: Sorting Out The Dirty Laundry.” It’ll air 9pm, in the regular DH slot. Then the final 4 episodes of the season will air May 1, 8, 15 and 22. Season finale could be 2 hours, ABC still doesn’t know the duration on that.

They may appear sultry and ready for summer on the May cover of Vanity Fair, but according to the magazine, the stars of ABC’s Desperate Housewives were actually steaming angry. Vanity Fair’s cover proclaims: “You wouldn’t believe what it took just to get this photo!”
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Andrea Bowman, who plays Julie on Desperate Housewives will step in for an episode next week, while Elisabeth Hasselback is away on maternity leave. Check your local listings for more information.

ABC has ordered second seasons of Desperate Housewives, Lost and Boston Legal, while lining up a fifth season of Alias. Desperate Housewives and Lost were two of the most buzz-worthy pilots of the last development season and became out-of-the-box hits for ABC.
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Catch Ricardo Antonio Chavira (Carlos Solis) on [bGeroge Lopez[/b] on Tuesday, May 3 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on ABC in the episode George’s Extreme Makeover: Holmes Edition.

ABC looks like it has another drama hit on its hands. “Grey’s Anatomy” held up extremely well in its second outing Sunday behind another highly rated installment of Desperate Housewives. Grey’s Anatomy pulled in an impressive 18.2 million viewers and 7.9 rating/19 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, coming out of 24.4 million viewers and 10.7/24 for “Housewives” in the 9 p.m. hour, according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. “Anatomy” crushed the competition from a repeat of NBC’s Crossing Jordan (9.5 million, 2.7/7) and the final hour of CBS telecast of the 2002 Denzel Washington starrer John Q, which averaged 7.6 million viewers and 2.2/5 in adults 18-49.- Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter

This month watch for Patrick back on NBC in the limited-run series Revelations.

Melinda McGraw, who starred on CBS’ Center of the Universe, has been cast in a recurring role on ABC’s Desperate Housewives. Details about her role on the show have and for how many episodes she was contracted are not available.- Variety

Today, the latinamerican forum All Series announced their first All Series Awards Nominations and Desperate Housewives got sixteen nominations, the biggest nominee this year, including Best Comedy Series, Best Actress in a Comedy Series, Best Actor In a Comedy Series, among others. The nominations were selected by a group of members of the forum. The winners will be announced on April 19. To vote, click on the link above (you’ll have to be registered).
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Crossing Jordan was among other NBC show to be given another season this week. ER, Las Vegas, West Wing, and Joey were also picked up. There is no word if Michael T. Weiss will make another guest appearance.

The Pretender Lives On by David Martindale

Fans of the series can now indulge on DVD

As Michael T. Weiss sees it, he pretends for a living. “The great part about being an actor is that one day you portray a lawyer and the next project you’re a doctor,” he says. “In one movie, you play a hero; in the next, you’re the bad guy. It’s liberating. It’s always interesting. It’s a lot of fun.” It’s also fitting that Weiss, given his fondness for an actor’s “who am I today?” existence, is now perhaps best known for his four seasons on television as Jarod, the title character of The Pretender.

Jarod was a man of exceptional intelligence, so brilliant he could master any profession virtually overnight. Having escaped from a lifetime of captivity at the ominous Centre (which now had pursuers forever on his heels), each episode featured Jarod in a new line of work, from surgeon to test pilot, using his gift to help others and to right wrongs. The series was a cult favorite during its original run (1996-2000); now it lives on in reruns and on DVD (thanks to the March 22 release of a season-one set).

“When the producers were pursuing me pretty intensely to do this,” Weiss recalls, “I didn’t particularly want to do television again — because I had done it for a while and I had kind of gotten away from it. But it intrigued me that the character was so multifaceted and that basically he gets to play a different character every week. It kind of struck me as the best of both worlds: a complex character to flesh out over an extended period, but at the same time the character gets to play other characters, so I’d get lots of variety.”

And lots of devoted fans. Although The Pretender was never a ratings-topping hit on NBC, its cadre of fans are still fiercely loyal. “I like to think of it as the little show that could,” Weiss says. “It’s an odd phenomena, our little show. It’s amazing how many people come up and say it’s their favorite show. I’ll always be proud of that.”

The same goes for his former costar, Andrea Parker, who says the below-the-radar success of The Pretender “fills me with pride, gratitude and elation.” It’s worth noting, though, that not as many hard-core fans as you might expect recognize her as Miss Parker, Jarod’s chain-smoking adversary from the Centre. “People don’t recognize me,” she says, “because I don’t look or behave like Miss Parker in any way. People don’t recognize me with teeth.” Which is to say that people don’t recognize Andrea Parker with a smile.

In fact, during my interview with Parker, she made a most unusual request: She insisted on being misquoted. “Don’t tell anybody I’m nice,” she told me. “Tell them what they want to hear. Make something up. Say I’m vicious. Say I’m cruel. They don’t want to hear that I’m just some nice actress from California. They want something good and juicy.” Maybe she’s right, but she won’t get her wish. Consider the illusion shattered. Miss Parker (the character) might have been the nastiest vamp on television, but Ms. Parker (the actress) is warm and funny. “And I’m a lot more relaxed. I don’t have that armor of makeup and I would like to think that my personality is a little softer.”

Yet Parker always adored playing Miss Parker, a character she knew she had to play the moment she spotted her own last name in the script. She loved the role because “I’d get to be the villain AND the heroine. How unreal is that?”

Another former Pretender costar, James Denton (he was billed himself as Jamie Denton at the time), has only good things to say about the series and his experiences working as the evil Mr. Lyle. Until Desperate Housewives became such a huge hit this season, Denton’s recurring Pretender role was his biggest claim to fame. “I was this bad guy who had his thumb cut off by the Japanese Yakuza. I was bringing over Japanese mail-order brides and killing them. And then it’s implied that I might actually be eating them. It got crazier and crazier. It was very tongue in cheek. It was a great role and people seemed to respond to that guy really well.”

Well, most people. “I’ve had people get off of elevators that I was on,” Denton says. “Seriously! The woman told me, ‘I know you’re an actor, but I can’t be in the elevator with you,’ and she got off. That, to me, was very funny. And I felt like I must have been doing my job well. If Mr. Lyle was creepy enough to keep her off an elevator, I was doing my job.”

Remember, people. They’re actors. They’re just pretending.

So Monday I was at home sick and I didn’t change the channel when Oprah came on. Not that I would or wouldn’t have. I just laid there sick and watched. Of course, then I saw an ad saying the men of Desperate Housewives were going to be on Thursday and she was going to trick them or something like that… I was happy I stayed on Oprah. (Jamie was blushing a bit.) Look for it! If it isn’t this week I’ll let everyone know.

Yep, I bought it! Actually, I purchased it a month and a half ago through Amazon and it came out yesterday and I got it today! I was stunned, overjoyed and giddy. I can’t wait to take it home and break into it. I am going to Amazon for the next seasons and they better come out!

Sunday April 3rd, CTV will air a 90 minute episode starting @ 7:00 PM. This will be followed by The Juno Awards which in turn will start @ 8:30 PM, in all time zones for both shows.

TV Guide Canada for the week of March 26 – April 1 has an interview with Brenda Strong (the late Mary-Alice) and her thought/opinions on her character and the show. This issue is available on newstands today.

Want to meet Teri Hatcher, Jamie Denton, Marica Cross, Felicity Hoffman, Eva Longoria, and the rest of the Desperate Housewives Cast?
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It’s a girl for James Denton (Mr. Lyle, The Pretender; Mike Delfino, Deperate Housewives) and his wife, Erin O’Brien Denton who just gave birth to their second child, Malin O’Brien Denton who weighed 7-pounds, 5-ounces when she was born early Tuesday, March 22, 2005, at a Los Angeles area hospital. They also have a son, 22-month old Sheppard.
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ABC has found a way to squeeze a little more life out of frosh blockbusters “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives”– and possibly expand their already sizeable fan base to boot.

ABC has greenlit separate one-hour specials tied to both series, with the network’s marketing and current programming departments overseeing production of both. But rather than serving up simple clipfests catering to current viewers, ABC is designing the specials to serve as introductory guides to the serialized shows.

“There can be a reluctance on the part of the audience to invest in these kinds of shows,” said ABC current department toppertopper Lance Taylor. “What we’re trying to do is keep those tent doors open and invite as many people in as possible to enjoy the last part of the season.”

Added ABC marketing chief Mike Benson, “We want to do everything we can to make sure these series finish the season in the biggest way possible.”

The “DH,” special will “look very much like an episode” of the show, Taylor said.

“Mary Alice (the show’s narrator) will be our guide, and she’ll take us through the show,” he added. Focus will be on the four main housewives.

The “DH” hour — from Lynne Lussier Prods.– will air in the hour preceding the show’s season finale. ABC has not yet announced scheduling for the finale.

Benson said ABC is already talking with its sister companies about other uses for these specials, such as including them on DVD releases of the shows.

Ryan Merriman the actor who portrayed Young Jarod and Jarod’s clone, isn’t so little anymore. This Friday you will be able to see Ryan Merriman (Young Jarod, Clone) in his new film The Ring 2.

Apparently Less Than Perfect is ending their season earily. It seems this means there will only be 22 episodes instead of the promised 24, but time will tell. The season finale will air on April 15 (tax day here in the states).

“Claude the Expert” – Claude encourages Charlie to audition for a band, but then, when he makes the cut and has to leave town indefinitely, she realizes her relationship skills are better applied to Jeb and Lydia. Meanwhile, Owen and Ramona throw a surprise birthday party for Carl, but it turns out to be a much bigger celebration than they’d expected. And Jeb and Lydia, reunited, hold an impromptu wedding at Denny’s, performed by the waiter/minister, guest-starring Christopher Knight, on the season finale of “Less than Perfect.”

PHQ's Newsletter #7 is up for your reading pleasure. PHQ NL#7 contains price comparisons on The Pretender DVD set. Ryan Merriman new. Deperate Housewives DVD news. And information about The Pretender's Official Online Team.