"Desperate Housewives" comes to last season

 　　BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- After seven seasons of tangled¹ mysteries, messy marriages and nervous breakdowns², ABC executives and the producers of "Desperate Housewives" announced the eighth and upcoming season would be the show's last, according to media reports on Monday.

　　"The only thing harder than creating a hit television show is knowing when to end it," executive producer Marc Cherry said at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills. "Because I have been working in television for 23 years, I am very aware of people overstaying their welcome."

　　Cherry was an out-of-work former writer for "The Golden Girls" living in a cramped³ L.A. condo in 2004 when ABC plucked from the pile his script about the scheming women of Wisteria Lane and shepherded it onto the small screen.

　　The series exploded into a blockbuster hit that transformed not only the fortunes of Cherry and the ABC network but also actresses older than 40. "Desperate Housewives" starring Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria, demonstrated that middle-aged⁴ women could be sexy.

　　Season after season, the writers have tried to artfully stitch together story lines of the four key characters that intersect with the exploits of newly introduced characters. Simultaneously⁵, they have to thread into the plot the ongoing⁶ mysteries that have been central to the show.

　　"I swear my next show is going to be just two guys in a prison cell," Cherry said. "I need something easier than 'Desperate Housewives.'"

1 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

2 breakdowns   

n.分解( breakdown的名词复数 )；衰竭；（车辆或机器的）损坏；统计分析

参考例句：

• Her old car was unreliable, so the trip was plagued by breakdowns. 她的旧车老不听使唤，一路上总是出故障。 来自辞典例句
• How do we prevent these continual breakdowns? 我们如何防止这些一再出现的故障？ 来自辞典例句

3 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

4 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

5 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。