Tag: Desperate Housewives

‘Desperate Housewives: The Game’ unveiled

MUMBAI: Buena Vista Games, Inc. has Desperate Housewives: The Game is now available at retail stores throughout the United States. Desperate Housewives: The Game is a lifestyle simulation Windows PC game inspired by the Golden Globe-winning ABC-TV series produced by Touchstone Television.

In the game, the player takes on the role of a new housewife who moves to Wisteria Lane and unlocks the delicious scandals hidden in the seemingly “perfect” neighborhood, informs an official release.

“The global popularity and success of ‘Desperate Housewives’ is unsurpassed and provided the perfect inspiration for a Windows PC game that captures the essence of the series,” says Buena Vista Games senior VP Graham Hopper. “For the hours during the week between the Sunday night episode airings, Desperate Housewives: The Game is the ideal way for series fans to stay connected to the experience.”

Desperate Housewives: The Game is a lifestyle simulation game with a 12-episode story. The game enables Windows PC users to customize a housewife and her family. The new housewife will move into a house on Wisteria Lane and uncover secrets from her past through interaction with her neighbors – including both characters from the TV series and all new characters. With a script from series writer Scott Sanford Tobis, the game is a new narrative that incorporates both drama and dark humor – a combination of characteristics familiar to fans of the show, the release adds.

Brenda Strong reprises her role from the Desperate Housewives series as the voice of deceased housewife Mary Alice Young, who serves as the show’s omniscient narrator in each episode.
Developed by Liquid Entertainment, Desperate Housewives: The Game is rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and has a suggested retail price of $19.99.

October 5, 2006
NBC gets lukewarm Emmy ratings

MUMBAI: While the Emmy awards on Sunday gave US broadcaster NBC the win in the 18-49 demographic, the ratings were down by about 15 per cent as compared to the the year before.

Media reports state that 16.1 million Americans watched the broadcast. Whereas, last year 18.7 million watched the show on CBS. In 2004, 13.8 million viewers tuned in to ABC to watch the show.

On Sunday night ABC re-aired Pirates of The Carribean. The film got 10.2 million viewers and managed to grow its viewership with each half hour.

One reason for the decline in Emmy viewership compared to last year could have been the absence of television drama, Lost and Desperate Housewives from the nominees roster.

August 30, 2006
Star World concludes ‘Desperate Housewives’ season II on 27 August

MUMBAI: A murder – maybe two – a philandering husband, the discovery of a mysterious love child, an escape from a psychiatric hospital and a police sniper’s deadly shot ending a confrontation.

Wisteria Lane is becoming increasingly dangerous. The final episode of the second season of Desperate Housewives airs on 27 August at 10 pm on English general entertainment channel Star World.
There are several questions that hang in the balance. One issue is a showdown between the three men in Susan’s life. Susan is played by Teri Hatcher. There is also the issue of whether Susan and Mike get back together again. Another of Wisteria Lane’s housewives might discover that her husband is two timing her.

Interestingly a recent report in Entertainment News Network states that a child killer trial inspired writer Marc Cherry to create the show. Cherry recalls watching the harrowing trial of Andrea Yates, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in her second murder trial for the bathtub drownings of her young children, with his mother.

He says, “I was watching this horrific tale on TV and I turned to my mother and I said, ‘Gosh, can you imagine a woman being so desperate that she would hurt her own children?’

“My mother took her cigarette out of her mouth and said, ‘Yeah, I’ve been there.’ “

August 25, 2006
Gamelot gets the mobile game rights for ‘Lost’, ‘Desperate Housewives’

MUMBAI: Gameloft, a developer and publisher of games for mobile phones, has signed an exclusive multi-year agreement with Touchstone Television to develop, publish and distribute mobile games based on US broadcaster ABCs series Lost and Desperate Housewives.

Gameloft president Michel Guillemot says, “Gameloft is proud to partner with ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television to bring the popular Desperate Housewives and Lost series to mobile gamers. We are excited to develop and deliver games based on these shows to over one billion mobile users worldwide.”

The Lost and Desperate Housewives mobile games are scheduled for release in early 2007. In India, Lost airs on Star Movies while Desperate Housewives airs on Star World.

August 16, 2006
‘Lost’, ‘Desperate Housewives’ left out of Emmy Awards

MUMBAI: Nominations for the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in the US were announced by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Among the networks, HBO got 95 nominations. ABC got 64 nods while CBS managed to get 47 nominations. Surprisingly, ABC’s two hit shows Lost and Desperate Housewives failed to be nominated in the main categories.

The awards presentation telecast awarding Emmys in 27 categories before a black-tie audience will be televised by NBC on 27 August from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and will be hosted by talk show host Conan O’Brien.

The nominees for best drama series are Grey’s Anatomy, House, The Sopranos, 24 and The West Wing. Competing in the comedy series are Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office, Scrubs and Two and a Half Men.

Discovery’s The Flight That Fought Back is competing in the television film category along with A&E’s Flight 93, and three HBO films The Girl in the Cafe, Mrs. Harris and Yesterday.

The nominees for actor in a drama are Denis Leary for Rescue Me, Peter Krause for Six Feet Under, Christopher Meloni for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Kiefer Sutherland for 24 and Martin Sheen for the Presidential drama The West Wing.

The actresses nominated are Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer, Geena Davis for the now cancelled ABC show Commander in Chief, Mariska Hargitay for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Frances Conroy for Six Feet Under and Allison Janney for The West Wing.

The comic men who have ben nominated are Larry David for Curb Your Enthusiasm, Kevin James for The King of Queens, Tony Shalhoub for Monk, Steve Carell for The Office and Charlie Sheen for Two and a Half Men.

Among the women, the nominees are Lisa Kudrow for The Comeback, Jane Kaczmarek for Malcolm in the Middle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus for The New Adventures of Old Christine, Stockard Channing for Out of Practice and Debra Messing for Will and Grace.

The nominations have received a mixed response from critics. Some feel that the snub of Desperate Housewives which is a non traditional comedy might mean less glamour. There seems to be some agreement though that the drama shows nominated are better than Lost.

July 7, 2006
ABC, Fox up on Upfront, CBS flat, NBC to drop: Merrill Lynch report

MUMBAI: Will it stay flat or will there be another fall? And how much longer will the annual highpoint event for television networks in the US – the broadcast upfront presentations – even matter to executives taking the call on where to put their advertising buck?

As new digital media options open up, these are issues that TV execs in the US are having to grapple with increasingly in the upfront season but a report just out from investment firm Merrill Lynch does offer a window into what the future could hold. At least in the near to medium term. And contrary to the doomsayers, it is not all gloom for the networks in an age where a new generation of consumers are increasingly getting their entertainment fix outside of the TV screen.

To quote from the report: “Generally speaking, we believe that traditional broadcasters may be better positioned for this market than credited given their multiple touch points with consumers, experience in content production, already large inventory of much sought after video content and strong relationships with advertisers.”

The report further said that if advertisers opted to shift their spends to new digital platforms like broadband or mobile, “broadcasters are primed to attract a significant share of that spending with their offerings in the new arenas”.

On the dollars gained front, the report predicts the major networks should wind up about flat or slightly lower than the $9.1 billion booked in 2005, when upfront spending fell 2 percent from the previous year. Among the networks, ABC again leads its rivals on the continued momentum delivered by its three big hit shows – Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. Upfront commitments are predicted to increase 7 per cent to $2.23 billion. News Corp’s Fox meanwhile, shows the biggest projected growth of 12 per cent to reach $1.78 billion.

Though CBS will only be up 1 per cent this year, by virtue of its having the largest ad pie share among the top four US networks means it will rack up $2.63 billion from the upfront.

NBC continues the slide after seeing its prime-time ratings drop 14 per cent over the last year. Merrill Lynch predicts that NBC will decline 3 per cent this year, to touch $1.84 billion. Some consolation for the ratings challenged former numero uno network is that it has somewhat bottomed out from the disastrous 33 percent free fall it suffered last year.

May 19, 2006
ABC online shows record 3mn viewers

MUMBAI: Walt Disney Co. Networks, ABC today claimed that over three million viewers have watched their online television shows, launched in May 2006. As part of a two month internet trial, the company offered full episode streaming of four of its most popular shows Desperate Housewives, Lost, Alias and Commander in Chief.

Reuters reports that the numbers provide an early sign of demand for television content on the Web and challenge the “ad-free”, but paid content available via Apple’s iTunes.

“The evolution of ABC.com is just one piece of our comprehensive, digital media multi-platform business initiative,” said Disney Media Networks co-chair and Disney-ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney.

These episodes are available online the day after they are broadcast on TV and only the last aired episode is currently available for streaming. Each online episode includes a 10-second sponsorship message from a single advertiser, followed by three commercials that air during breaks in the program.

This allows users to rewind, fast-forward and pause shows, however, they can not skip advertisements, which automatically play at certain segments. The same shows are also available to download through iTunes for $1.99 an episode without commercials.

May 19, 2006
US women’s channel Lifetime gets ‘Desperate Housewives’

MUMBAI: The women of Wisteria Lane have just found a second home! US women’s broadcaster Lifetime Television has acquired the basic cable rights from Buena Vista Television, along with the repurposing rights, for the show Desperate Housewives.

In India the show airs on Star World while in the US it helped turn around the fortunes of ABC.

Along with the repurposing rights starting in September 2008, Lifetime will begin airing the first season of Desperate Housewives on a weekly basis this August.

The show is in its second season on ABC and Star World. Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan star in this comedic look at suburbia — where the secret lives of housewives aren’t always what they seem. It averages 22.5 million total viewers and 8.3 million women ages 18-49 during its run on ABC and is the number one scripted series among that age group in the current 2005-06 broadcast season.

Lifetime Entertainment Services senior VP, planning, scheduling and acquisitions Leslie Glenn-Chesloff, , said, “This brilliant water-cooler series makes us laugh and makes us cry with its insightful windows into the lives, emotions, dreams and disappointments of diverse women. As a pop-culture icon with powerful appeal to women viewers, Desperate Housewives is a perfect addition to our schedule.”

Buena Vista Television executive VP, general sales manager Jed Cohen says, “We view Lifetime, the leader in women’s television, as the ideal partner for Desperate Housewives. Desperate Housewives has had a tremendous impact on the primetime landscape and we believe that Lifetime Television is the perfect environment to extend the success of this distinguished and popular series.”

April 10, 2006
‘Desperate Housewives’ to be made into a computer game

MUMBAI: US broadcaster ABC’s show Desperate Housewives is being turned into a computer game.

The game will give fans of the show the chance to play a fictional character on Wisteria Lane. The game will be released by Buena Vista Games later this year.

Talks are going on with the show’s stars Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Nicolette Sheridan to appear in the game.

The game puts players in the role of a new housewife who moves into Wisteria Lane – the central location for the television show – and sets about uncovering the scandals hidden behind the idyllic and seemingly perfect neighbourhood.

ABC is said to be continually looking to build upon this successful franchise. It believes that extending this program into the world of PC gaming will result in a fun new way for fans to connect more deeply with the series and its captivating collection of characters.

The game is currently in development at Liquid Entertainment and the move into gaming marks the latest merchandising extension of the television show. This includes a best selling DVD box set, a clothing range, board game, fragrance, online store, mobile personalisation tools, ringtones, graphics and a forthcoming cookbook.

March 25, 2006