ABC gives full-season pickups to Desperate Housewives and Lost

ABC on Wednesday ordered nine more episodes each of its darkly comic series Desperate Housewives and castaway thriller Lost, giving an official vote of confidence to two of U.S. television's biggest new hits. Housewives and Lost, averaging nearly 21 million and 17.6 million viewers, respectively, are among the first hour-long series to receive full-season orders from any of the big four broadcasters this season. Out creator Marc Cherry's Desperate Housewives, which explores the secret lives of suburbanites from the vantage point of a housewife who just committed suicide, is the highest-rated new series on U.S. television this season. Airing Sundays, it ranks as the third most-watched program in prime time overall and is number two among viewers ages 18 to 49--the group most coveted by advertisers. Lost, about a group of plane crash survivors marooned on a tropical island with a mysterious man-eating monster, ranks ninth overall in viewership and number 10 in the 18-49 demographic. It runs on Wednesday nights. Together, Desperate Housewives and Lost mark the first prime-time dramas ABC has managed to get off the ground since the espionage thriller Alias in 2001.