Desperate Networks

The television season’s newest hit is abc’s racy suburban soap opera, Desperate Housewives. The program glamorizes sin and demeans the role of motherhood—just what the network needed to pull out of its ratings slump.

The controversy from the show, in fact, has caused major sponsors like Lowe’s and Kellogg to pull their ads from the show.

But according to cnn’s Money magazine, this isn’t hurting the Disney-owned network’s newest creation. “abc officials insisted that the show has been attracting more advertisers, not fewer” (October 19).

Since initial ad spots for the program were sold in May, rates have doubled. A 30-second spot is now about $300,000.

Ironically, the controversy created by the major sponsors pulling out might even attract more attention to the show and more advertising revenue in the coffers of abc and Disney.