'Desperate Housewives' To End After Next Season

The upcoming eighth season of Desperate Housewives will be its last, ABC executives announced Sunday. The drama, centered around the dark secrets of middle-American suburban housewives, premiered the same month as Lost in 2004 and became one of network TV's highest rated shows. "It's an iconic show that we're so proud of," said ABC programming chief Paul Lee. "We wanted to make sure that this show, which sort of put us on the map, had its victory lap."

Creator Marc Cherry, whose fledgling pre-Housewives career consisted of some writing credits on The Golden Girls, said that knowing this is the last season will mean having "a whole year to reflect on how lucky we've been." Cherry said "the only thing harder than creating a hit show is knowing when to end it," adding that he's "very aware of shows that overstay their welcome… and I just didn't want that to happen. We wanted the show to go out as a still viable and when ratings still strong."

Ratings, though, are not as high as they used to be. Housewives, which averaged about 13 million viewers last season (compared to 31 million at the end of its first season), is the sixth highest-ranked of ABC's shows, behind Dancing with the Stars and Grey's Anatomy, among others. The show remains profitable despite the hike in salaries for the show's big-name stars, Lee said.

As far as what's in store for the show's main cast, including Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross, there has only been talk of a spin-off for Longoria, whom Cherry said he "loves more than life itself." Cherry said he had emotional phone call with Longoria and told her, "I'm just going to put you in a van and have you solve mysteries."