The TV Zone

(HBO)

Good scoop by "EW's" Michael Ausiello:

Drea de Matteo is joining "Desperate Housewives."

I should add a few "!!!!" for emphasis.

And at least one "?"

As in, isn't she already in "Sons of Anarchy?" Did I miss something? Did she have a Silvio moment there too?

And another question: Why join "DH?"

Why not! Per "EW," "De Matteo, who will be a series regular, will play the matriarch of a new Italian family. Casting is underway for her landscape designer husband and their tightly wound son. "

I assume she/he/Tightly Wound are moving to Wisteria.

Yeah, he looked just fine - after last fall's devastating 'bike accident, there wasn't even a certainty he'd ever be back on TV, much less "DH" - and in case you missed last night's show, Jackson - spoiler alert! - asked Susan to marry him.

Because, he needed an American wife since his student visa had expired six years earlier and he was about to be booted back to Canada.

All in all, a good recovery for Gale Harold AND "DH," which had to really scramble when Harold was hurt (I believe his last episode was in January). Last night - per his explanation - he figured Susan had booted him out, and that he had to "heal his heart," or something like that.

And in true "DH" twist fashion, Jackson's return - and marriage proposal - literally saves Susan's life, and MJ's.

Good episode...

As you probably know - because it has been reported, on EW.com last week - Gale Harold's returning to "DH" on May 3. ABC just officially confirmed and here's the episode - entitled "Bargaining" - storyline:

"Bree sinks to a new low to retain the best lawyer; Gaby's vanity is put to the test when she makes a deal with daughter Juanita; Lynette and Tom negotiate sex; Katherine deceives Mike to win his heart; Jackson [Harold] walks back into Susan's life with a proposal; and an unexpected visit sends Dave to do some bargaining of his own.

As you're also aware, Harold was badly injured in a motorcycle accident last October. "DH" had to juggle the storyline - Jackson apparently went away to teach - and Susan's boy toy had to disappear. Where does it go from here? We're about to find out - and so, apparently, is Susan.

(Pix: ABC)

ZZZZZZZZZaaaaapppp!

Way to go, Edie - out in a blaze of sparks.

But you know, of course, that she's not deceased yet. That last little movement of the finger, that last little unfinished business with Crazy Husband No. 4 (or 5).

Nevertheless, I've noticed that the Curse of Wisteria Lane never means being able to predict your own death - it may be by tornado, it may be by falling power lines. The only only sure bet is that it won't be conventional.

A good episode, but I'm pretty certain next week's episode, the 19th of the season, will be the final denouement of Ms. Edie Britt - Nicollette Sheridan. Last night was just a warm-up.

So to speak.

(Pix: Randee St. Nicholas, ABC)

Femme Fatal?

This just in!

Or rather, in two or three hours ago on E!'s "The Awful Truth."

Edie Britt is gone from "Desperate Housewives." Or soon gone. She will be killed by someone, or will be in a car wreck. Or Dave will do it.

I didn't pay close attention to the details because Edie is the Cat Working on her Fourth Life. She has been killed off before, and again, before that. Nicollette Sheridan's characters are always killed off multiple times- until they come back again.

You don't believe me, do you?

Let's go to the videotape:

Paige Matheson in "Knots Landing:" Staged her own death...killed Peter ...then was shot...but not quite killed by Pierce...but she was still paralyzed...and not in good shape...and could have died...if the producers had wanted her too...And then...she moved to New York. I think the series was finally canceled after that.

Now..."DH:" Edie is nearly killed by wasps, a swarm off em, in the second season...she then commits suicide in the third...But she's back again in the fourth...and then she and Gab are fighting over a folder in the fourth, when Edie is nearly sucked up by the tornado...and she's kicked out of Wisteria Lane...forever!...but returns five years later...with Dave, a homicidal maniac...who is going to now apparently kill her...unless the car does...or a swarm of bees return...or Peter from "Knots" comes back to exact his revenge...

One of these days, Edie's dead.

(Pix: ABC, Randee St. Nicholas)

You know Gale Harold, right? He's Susan's - Teri Hatcher's - boytoy in "DH," Jackson Braddock. Now comes word, via TMZ, that he's been hurt in a motorcycle accident. Not many details, but here's pretty much the full post from the Web site: "He's being treated at the L.A. County - USC Medical Center in the Intensive Care Unit. We're told his shoulder was screwed up. Harold's rep just issued a statement saying his shoulder was fractured and he's in stable condition. And the slightly ominous words - 'Everyone is hopeful for a full recovery.'" Harold also starred in "Queer as Folk."

I just got off the phone with "DH" creative force and show-runner Marc Cherry - he's doing a round of press interviews with the, umm, press - to talk about this Sunday's big return, and he laid some very interesting stuff on me.

Will write about more fully in the paper Friday, but this is too good to hold so here we go.

First, he disputes some story making the rounds on the Internets that the show'll pick up five-or-whatever weeks (or years) in the future; in fact, he says, it picks up right were we left off last winter:

"We pick up almost immediately," he says, while adding that Edie - Nicollette Sheridan, natch - "who's recovering emotionally after being dumped by Carlos is going to do something fairly shocking involving the husband of another woman; this will lead to fury against Edie unlike anything we've ever seen...leading to a shocking conclusion to her time on Wisteria Lane."

Yes, friends. You read those last words correctly, we repeat: "leading to a shocking conclusion to her time on Wisteria Lane."

So, does this appear Sheridan is about to become one of the first core cast-members - one of the true card-carrying desperate housewives - to depart our happy little family?

It would seem to read that way, wouldn't it?

I press Marc on this question: "I like to shake things up in my neighborhood..."

Oh yeah. Anyway, this would also appear to reverse some of Sheridan's own declarations about her future on Wisteria.

He says all this takes place in the season's penultimate episode (seven to go); the two hour finale wraps the Katherine Mayfair storyline - and I DO think the casting of Dana Delany on "DH" this season was one of the stand-out decisions on TV anywhere this year.

Meanwhile, Marc says he's standing by an earlier decision he made - that he'll walk away from "DH" after seven years, and will wrap the show accordingly by then. Does, ahhh, ABC know about this? His answer...this Friday.