BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Some viewers were understandably baffled when ABC's "Desperate Housewives" jumped ahead five years at the end of its May season finale. But five years in the future is where it will stay.

Executive producer Marc Cherry said he was inspired to make the move by "the bold stroke" of "Lost" and its fast-forward in May 2007.

"I was kind of looking for something for my show, and also I felt that the soap had really started to build up, and I kind of wanted to pare down to where everyone's problems were small but very relatable," Cherry said.

So here's what to expect in the fifth season:

• Gabrielle (Eva Longoria), now a mother of two, will remain frumpy for at least half the season, which suits Longoria just fine. "I love it because I come into hair and makeup and it's 10 minutes instead of two hours," Longoria said. She's sporting a shorter hairstyle for her mommy look.

• Susan (Teri Hatcher) is with a new man (Gale Harold), but she's less desperate for love. "Susan was a person who was always like, 'Please love me.' Now for many reasons that will be revealed, she is probably a person who's more closed off to love and not so searching and needy," Hatcher said. Cherry said Hatcher had the idea for Susan's first scene after the opening credits in the season premiere, which will air Sept. 28. The new season will also reveal what became of Mike Delfino (James Denton).

• Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) is still blind "for a while," Cherry said, suggesting perhaps that his sight will be restored.

• Gay neighbors Bob (Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Kevin Rahm) still live on Wisteria Lane, and they now have a 4-year-old daughter. Cherry said adding them to the show was "just my commentary on how a gay couple moves in and nothing much happens."

• Bree (Marcia Cross) will get out of the house more, but she'll still be surrounded by muffins as a Martha Stewart-like entrepreneur. She's in business with Katherine (Dana Delany).

• Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) will be back to Wisteria Lane "in a very exciting way, and we're not telling you anything more than that," Cherry said. Sheridan promised "it will be hot," but she added, "She's a lot more conscientious without losing her comedic edge."

• Lynette (Felicity Huffman) will have more trouble with her kids now that they're teens. Cherry said the five-year time jump was, in part, a way to re-cast the children with older actors who don't come under as stringent child labor laws. "The older they get, it allows you to do more involved storylines," Cherry said.

• Cherry wants to end "Housewives" after seven seasons, but ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson shouted, "It's not gonna happen" from the back of the ballroom. "Of course, this could be some sort of clever ruse on my part to get a tremendous amount of money in season eight," Cherry countered.

CBS presses ahead

After debuting several un-CBS-like shows last season -- "Viva Laughlin," "Moonlight" -- the network has shifted back to shows "more within our wheelhouse," said CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler. "But there's an evolution in the form in terms of style and sensibility. The characters are more idiosyncratic."

Still, two of the network's three fall dramas, "The Mentalist" and "Eleventh Hour," are procedural crime dramas in the same vein as "CSI."

Fan caterwauling about the cancellation of "Moonlight" has died down, Tassler said, adding that most of the fan upsettedness was more "actor-centric" (presumably related to the loss of a show featuring star Alex O'Loughlin) than over the cancellation of the series itself.

Couric says she's staying

The first question in a CBS News press conference was about whether Katie Couric will remain as anchor of "The CBS Evening News."

"I'm glad you got right to it," Couric said.

Both Couric and CBS News president Sean McManus said they have no plan to part company, contrary to reports that she'll bolt from the anchor desk after the presidential inauguration in January.

Whedon's latest

It looks like something good came out of the writers' strike after all.

Joss Whedon and some friends and relatives got together and decided to put on a show, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (www.drhorrible.com). It's a 45-minute musical that has been split into three 15-minute parts. The first part was posted Tuesday and crashed the "Dr. Horrible" Web site. It also quickly rose to No. 1 among iTunes downloads.

Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother") stars as the title character, a lovelorn mad scientist who aspires to be more evil than he's capable of being. Nathan Fillion ("Firefly") plays Capt. Hammer, a superhero. Both pine for Penny (Felicia Day, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), a woman Dr. Horrible has been eyeing at the local laundromat. In Whedonesque fashion, the vulnerable Dr. Horrible gets the audience's sympathy while Capt. Hammer seems like a brawny jerk who just wants to get in Penny's pants.

Harris, who did a stint in the Broadway musical "Rent," is well-suited to the role, singing, "Any dolt with half a brain/Can see the human race has gone insane." If you liked the "Buffy" musical episode, odds are you'll like this.

The final installment of "Dr. Horrible" goes up today. But if you're interested, hurry up and watch. After midnight Sunday, the free streaming will be gone.

Channel surfing

Bravo's "Project Runway" returned to its highest-rated season premiere (2.9 million viewers). ... Actress Sarah Chalke will make multiple guest appearances on "How I Met Your Mother," but CBS's Tassler said she does not believe Chalke's character is the "Mother" of the show's title.