There's no end in sight for rejuvenated 'Housewives'

Told you so.

Back when the TV press corps was buzzing with reports that "Desperate Housewives'' creator/executive producer Marc Cherry was insisting that the show would last only seven seasons, yours truly was cautioning that it was way too early to take any of that seriously.

"If 'Desperate Housewives" is still chugging along in the ratings and if at least a couple of the show's Big Four — Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria Parker — agree to do an eighth season, there will indeed be an eighth season,'' I wrote back in July.

Well, lo and behold, E! Online is reporting that Cherry is now talking about producing both an eighth and a ninth season of the show, which is currently in the middle of its fifth season.

Told you so.

All of this is, of course, premature. Although the national press just picked up on it in July, others — including yours truly — reported two years ago that Cherry was planning to call it quits after seven seasons of "Desperate Housewives.''

But plans change. And ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson is obviously interested in keeping the show on the air as long as he can. Or, at least, as long as the ratings are strong.

There's no question that the ratings remain strong. "Desperate Housewives'' is the No. 5 show on TV at this point in the season.

And, 10 episodes into its fifth season, the show is as good as it has ever been. Actually, this could turn out to be the best season yet.

Season 4 was headed in that direction until it was interrupted by Hollywood writers' strike. And, despite the interruption and the fact that it resulted in only 17 episodes (instead of 22), it was still arguably the best season ever.

Oh, some might argue in favor of Season 1, when the "Housewives'' burst on the scene like a breath of fresh air. But if you go back and review that season, you find (a) great characters, (b) great comedy (c) great mystery and (d) shaky plotting.

Cherry came to "Desperate Housewives'' with a background in sitcoms, not soap operas. And there were times when he had so much going on in Season 1 that things got away from him. Plotlines were dropped for weeks at a time and characters went from being integral to the plot one week to nonentities the next.