Neal McDonough spoils 'Desperate Housewives' finale, talks series spin-off

On today's edition of "The View," Neal McDonough dropped a pretty major bomb regarding the fate of his "Desperate Housewives" character, resident psychopath Dave Williams.

You can stop reading now if you don't want to ruin the end for yourself, but if you've been watching this season, it should not come as that big of a shock.

McDonough let it slip to the "View" hosts that the revenge-bent Dave will die during the "Desperate Housewives" season finale May 17. 

When asked by Joy Behar if McDonough was originally supposed to die along with Edie, the actor answered: "No, I’m the mystery for the entire year so I wasn’t supposed to die until the very last episode."

The audience's reaction was immediate: "Oooooooh!" McDonough blushed and said, “I didn’t say anything!" When the ladies tried to follow up he cut them off. "Barbara, stop, stop!...On Wisteria Lane, you never really die. You can always come back."

Even more interesting, the actor also seemed to confirm that a "Desperate Housewives" spin-off is in the works revolving around the show's Karen McCluskey (Kathryn Joosten) and her sister Roberta (Lily Tomlin, who will also be back for the finale).

When asked about it, McDonough said, "Kathy’s won two Emmys for the character and Lily’s such a joy to watch, she’s phenomenal, so I’d watch that show in a heartbeat...I don’t know too much about it but I know they’re seriously talking about it and I think it would be a fun show to watch every week."

The New York Post first wrote about the potential project on Tuesday, likening it to a modern-day "Golden Girls," a show that "Desperate Housewives" creator-executive producer Marc Cherry wrote for in the early '90s. The paper said it was unclear whether Cherry would be involved.

A rep for ABC said "there's no truth to the spin-off rumor."

What do you think? Would you watch a Karen & Roberta comedy? Are you surprised at all to learn Dave's outcome?

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Lily Tomlin (left), Neal McDonough, Kathryn Joosten / ABC

Comments

[Rogét-L.A.]

I'd like to see a Joosten/Tomlin spin-off in a Snoop Sisters/Murder, She Wrote mystery vein.

[Apres Ski]

I'd love to see Tomlin! She's soooooooooooooooo funny! And I still can't get over Tomlin replaced Joosten on West Wing in the same job. So they'll be lovely to watch & I'm going to get big bowls of popcorn to watch.

CAN'T WAIT!!

[Ashley]

I should say that in Neal McDonough's defense, James Denton also spoiled it the day before when he was on the Bonnie Hunt show and no one in the press has reported that. When discussing Neal's character on the show he talked about how great and actor Neal was and said, "We are really going to miss him." Not quite as obvious, but it was a pretty clear spoiler.

[Hollywood Writer]

Except they both lied. Neal's character didn't die. He ended up in a mental institution. You didn't really think they'd kill the biggest villain, did you? I'm more frustrated that they didn't show the bride's face at the end. Let's hope it's Susan. The Dana Delaney character is pathetic.

[Mary]

I'm thinking that the bride has to be Susan. They kind of gave it away when they showed Karl in the audience. His connection is to Susan. He has no real relationship to Mike and Kathryn as a couple so it's unlikely he would be invited to the wedding unless the bride was Susan. If it ends up being Kathryn then I consider it a real blooper.

[may micane]

McDonough & Denton didn't spoil anything--they fibbed. Ha! Whyyyyyyy can't Susan die? She's hands-down the most annoying of the househags, which is what cast members have called themselves. Unless Cherry has about 6 more years planned or changed his mind about "1 housewife will be left standing", the writers better get busy. It would have been a redeeming end for the Susan character to go trying to defend her child. Finally! Poor Julie. Katherine, who we've seen could be a real tough cookie was really muted this seasoin, getting the shaf, 1st by Bree now bumbling but calculating Susan. Nobody does the kinds of things these women do to each other and stay friends let alone avoid lawsuits. That kind of dragqueen bittyness and sarcasm had a certain edgy fun to it. Now it's too soft and sticky. And why AREN'T there more people of color on this? Lynette and Tom have options if they don't want to raise new twins, so yawn. The rest of the plotlines are similarly getting to be like daytime soaps. This show has gotten really dumbed-down. I think it's off my TiVo list now.