SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

I’m not sure why I even bother posting the first three highest rated shows for the week of April 14-20, 2008 because everyone knows their names.

But what is exciting is discovering that while some reports were saying the numbers for “Desperate Housewives” were disappointing when the series returned on April 13, you can see that the girls have made quite the comeback.

ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” – the girls are back and kicking ratings – ABC/DANNY FELD) FELICITY HUFFMAN, MARCIA CROSS, NICOLLETTE SHERIDAN, TERI HATCHER, EVA LONGORIA PARKER

And apparently people are interested in the presidential election – last week’s debate came in at an impressive No. 14. Check out where your favorite show comes up. Click (more) at the bottom to read the entire 98 list.

1 AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY 23650 8.3

2 AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY 23340 8.2

3 DANCING WITH THE STARS 17200 6.0

4 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 15750 5.5

5 DANCING W/STARS RESULTS 15420 5.4

6 NCIS 15130 5.3

7 TWO AND A HALF MEN 13940 4.9

8 CSI: NY 13430 4.7

9 LAW AND ORDER:SVU 13270 4.6

10 CRIMINAL MINDS 12980 4.5
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As regular blog readers already know, ABC is bringing back “Pushing Daisies,” but no more new episodes until this fall, and “Desperate Housewives,” which will be rushing back into production to bring you a few more episodes this May and June.

On Tuesday, ABC Entertainment announced pickups for nine of its most popular shows, returning broadcast television’s most successful fall series. “Men in Trees” and “October Road” were among the shows not mentioned and may be “on the bubble” for renewal.

“Desperate Housewives” stars Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, Marcia Cross as Bree Van De Kamp, Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, and Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt. (ABC/ANDREW ECCLES)

ABC Entertainment ordered episodes of “Brothers & Sisters,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lost,” “Private Practice,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Samantha Who?” and “Ugly Betty.”

“Big Shots,” the show starring Bay Area’s own Christopher Titus, has not yet gotten a pick-up and one is not expected. When Titus performed at Tommy T’s in Pleasanton for a New Year’s Eve show, he was hopeful the show would return, but indications from the network suggest otherwise.

“Big Shots” Christopher Titus and Michael Vartan, Photo: ADAM TAYLOR/ABC

Other ABC shows that aren’t expected to make an appearance on the new fall schedule are “Cavemen” and “Carpoolers.” And if ABC asks me, and I’m sure they won’t, I’d put that awful “Cashmere Mafia” on the endangered list too.

It was a bittersweet hour on Sunday when we had a fresh episode of “Desperate Housewives” only to know that it probably will end up being the season ender.

And if that happens, at least viewers were given answers to the Who died in the tornado question and a couple of juicy new storylines like Carlos being blind and Katherine’s secret out, at least to her husband and her daughter.

Of is Dylan really her daughter?

And even a spankin’ new episode of “Friday Night Lights” couldn’t woo viewers. We love this show, but as Bonnie Raitt warbled, “I can’t make you love me if you don’t…”

Here’s the list of 94 primetime network shows and how they ranked for the week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6 and their rating:

1 NBC NFL PLAYOFF GAME 2 9.0
2 NBC NFL PLAYOFF PRE-KICK2 8.3
3 AFC WILDCARD POST GAME 7.5
4 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 6.9
5 60 MINUTES 6.4
6 LAW AND ORDER 4.7
7 DEAL OR NO DEAL 1/3 4.7
8 CSI 4.6
9 EXTREME MAKEOVER 4.4
10 LAW AND ORDER:SVU 4.3
11 DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED 4.3
12 TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL 4.2
13 AMERICAN GLADIATORS 1/6 4.2
14 AMAZING RACE 12 4.2
15 FEDEX ORANGE BOWL 4.2
16 NCIS – SPCL 4.1
17 ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL 4.1
18 APPRENTICE 7 3.9
19 COLD CASE 3.8
20 CASHMERE MAFIA SP-1/6 3.7
21 WITHOUT A TRACE 3.7
22 BIGGEST LOSER 5 3.7
23 DEAL OR NO DEAL 1/6 3.6
24 E.R. 3.3
25 DEMOCRATIC DEBATE-ABC 3.3
26 NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN EVE ’08 3.2
27 SUPERNANNY SP-1/2 3.2
28 SUPERNANNY 3.1
29 WIFE SWAP 2.9
30 1 VS 100 2.9
31 WITHOUT A TRACE – 8P SP 2.9
32 AMER FUNN HOME VIDEOS 2.9
33 SIMPSONS 2.8
34 SHARK 2.8
35 CRIMINAL MINDS 2.8
36 WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB 2.7
37 ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL-PRE 2.7
38 20/20-FRI 2.6
39 ANALYSIS 1-ABC 2.6
UNIT, THE – SPCL 2.6
41 LAS VEGAS 2.5
42 ABC MON MOVIE OF WK-12/31 2.5
43 KING OF THE HILL 2.4
44 ANALYSIS 2-ABC 2.4
45 GHOST WHISPERER 2.4
46 48 HOURS MYSTERY 2.3
47 HOUSE-FRI 9P 2.3
48 POWER OF TEN 2.3
49 ROSE BOWL-POST GAME 2.3
50 CSI: NY 2.3
51 TWO AND A HALF MEN SPCL 2.3
52 FAMILY GUY 2.1
53 GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM 2.1
54 NUMB3RS 2.1
55 48 HOURS MYSTERY -SPECIAL 2.1
56 BONES-FRI 8P 2.0
57 AMW: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK 2.0
58 COPS 2 2.0
59 FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS 1.9
60 CSI: MIAMI SPECIAL 1.9
61 CBS MOVIE SATURDAY 1.9
62 AMERICAN DAD 1.8
63 ACCORDING TO JIM SP 1-1/1 1.8
64 UGLY BETTY 1.8
65 MOONLIGHT 1.8
66 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES-1/3 1.8
67 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT SP 1.8
68 ACCORDING TO JIM SP 2-1/1 1.7
69 COPS 1.7
70 BOSTON LEGAL SP-1/1 1.7
71 JUST FOR LAUGHS SP-1/1 1.7
72 FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN 1.7
73 AMERICAN DAD SP-1/6 7:30P 1.6
74 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER SP 1.4
75 GREY’S ANATOMY-FRI 8PM 1.4
SNL 90S POP NATION 1.4
77 FOX MOVIE SP-NY EVE 8P 1.4
78 BIG BANG THEORY, THE SP 1.3
79 AMERICAN DAD SP-1/6 7P 1.3
80 LAW AND ORDER:SVU 12/31 1.2
81 SMALLVILLE .8
82 GOSSIP GIRL .8
83 SUPERNATURAL .7
84 CROWNED .7
85 EV HATES CHRIS-NYEVE .5
86 CROWNED-NY .4
87 ONE TREE HILL-NY .4
88 ALIENS IN AMERICA-NYEVE .4
89 GAME, THE-NYEVE .3
90 GIRLFRIENDS-NYEVE .3
91 CROWNED-ENC .3
92 LIFE IS WILD .3
93 ALIENS IN AMERICA-SUN .2
94 CW NOW .2

Well, now we know who survived, and it was a bit anticlimactic we must say.

But still a good episode, and one that will have to last the fans a good long time. It was the last episode filmed, so it will be while to get back up to speed even if the WGA strike comes to an end soon.

So we’ll simply have to talk amongst ourselves. And judging from the last group chat, you might come up with even better scenarios.

We knew Victor died. We assumed Ida Greenberg was no longer among the living. But some adventuresome bloggers set out some cool scenarios, including the death of Tom.

No, we simply wouldn’t tolerate Tom getting mooshed in the tornado. FELICITY HUFFMAN, DOUG SAVANT

Lynnette handling that brood would certainly have been an interesting twist, but I simply don’t want to lose Tom over it. After all, they have the only normal relationship on Wisteria Lane.

The Scavo Clan survived the tornado on “Desperate Housewives.” But will the show survive the WGA strike? FELICITY HUFFMAN, SHANE KINSMAN, RACHEL FOX, BRENT KINSMAN – Photo by Craig Sjodin/ABC

The Ida storyline actually turned out nicely, with the discovery that she played competitive baseball in a sort of “A League of Their Own” deal. We could see the crusty Ida as one of those girls all grown old.

Ida was Karen McCluskey’s best pal, and the one who found Mr. McCluskey’s body in the Mrs. McCluskey’s freezer. Guess that was all forgiven, since Karen invited Ida over to weather the storm. Ida saved the Scavo kids by putting them under the stairs. This meant there was no room for her, and she died in the collapsed house.

We’ve got two new storylines set up: Carlos is broke and blind, and doesn’t think Gaby will stick around after she discovers he’s blind. She’s coping well with the broke for right now, which is more than we would have expected from her.

And while we’ve suspected something shady happening in the Katherine-Dylan-Adam triangle, things came to a head when Katherine kicks Adam out of the house and he discovers a note that fills him on a mystery. Is the real Dylan dead? Was this Dylan snatched as her replacement? Did somebody die and there’s a cover-up?

Nah. Not on DH.

If anyone missed the episode, go to www.abc.com and watch it online.

According to my “DH” producer pal, who should be downing egg nog and taking advantage of the mistletoe, Mary Alice says in the teaser that “one of the women will lose a husband, and they all will lose a friend.”

We already know, or think we know, that the husband refers to the obviously dead Victor. Could the friend be Ida? I’m not so sure I’d call her a friend to the Wisteria women. Let’s try someone more imaginative. I don’t want to lose Tom, but he would certainly fall into both those categories.

And thanks blog reader Rene for commenting on the sad demise of a main character: The ugly, noisy fountain.

Could Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) fill the bill as the “husband and friend” on “Desperate Housewives”? We already know the fate of Victor (John Slattery), who was no friend to anyone on Wisteria Lane. (photo Danny Feld/ABC)

Talk among yourselves while I check on those Christmas cookies.

OK, I’m sensing a need for some picket fence chat time. We know there’s only one episode of “Desperate Housewives” in the can, and that one according to an inside source, will answer most of the cliff-hanger questions when it airs on Jan. 6 on ABC.

But after that, we’re going to have to face the fact that there won’t be an end of the strike before January and we’ll all be facing a very bleak winter without new episodes of DH.

So what’s a fan to do?

Let’s hark back to the baseball strike of who-gives-a-crap, when baseball fans were forced to live without the game. They decided to start fantasy baseball leagues. Playing off the notion, I say we form a fantasy TV League for Desperate Housewives.

Tom, say you aren’t gone! We’d be “Desperate Housewives” indeed if that’s true.

We’ll all put in our thoughts as to what we think happened. Did Tom and the kids perish? Did Ida go to the cat house in the sky? What about Carlos? I think that Victor biffed it, primarily because he got that new gig on AMC’s hit series “Mad Men” playing the head of a New York ad agency.
Oh, and I base it on the fact that he got staked like a vampire.

Looks like Victor’s bit the big one on “Desperate Housewives”

OK, let the fantasy begin. Who do you want to be gone? Who do you want to see back? And better still, how would you like to see the season continue?

Well, at least the hideous fountain is now a moot point on Wisteria Lane as Bob (Tuc Watkins) surveys the post-tornado damage.
Photos by ABC/CRAIG SJODIN

When last we saw our “Desperate Housewives,” Lynnette emerged from her house with Mrs. McCluskey only to discover that Mrs. McCluskey’s home – where husband Tom and her children were staying – had been razed.

“Desperate Housewives” wait to see who survived on the Jan. 6 episode. KATHRYN JOOSTEN, TERI HATCHER, NICOLLETTE SHERIDAN, FELICITY HUFFMAN, MARCIA CROSS (photo: ABC/CRAIG SJODIN)

We suspect that Tom and the kids are just peachy, and that Ida Greenberg may or may not have survived. But we won’t know for sure until Jan. 6, when we see the conclusion. This episode of “Desperate Housewives” will be available on ABC.com the day after airing so you can watch it online.

In “Welcome to Kanagawa,” Lynette faces the possibility that her family and Ida Greenberg may not have survived; Katherine finds out that someone knows the truth about her mysterious past; and the residents of Wisteria Lane begin to rebuild their lives after the deadly tornado.

The good news is that we get some closure. The bad new is that this episode is the last original produced before the WGA strike. Depending on whether the strikers return soon or not, the episode may just have to last us until the spring.