The five ladies from Wisteria Lane have caused a bit of a kerfuffle for Juno planners.
Because the wildly popular Desperate Housewives draws a huge number of viewers for CTV, the broadcaster plans to cram a red carpet Juno special into breaks during the show.
That means a supersized 90-minute-long episode on Sunday, April 3.
CTV has been struggling for a few weeks now to figure out the best way to squeeze the annual music awards show, a red carpet special and Desperate Housewives into a single prime-time night.
"We always try to think of the best way to produce the evening," said Susanne Boyce, who heads programming at CTV.
"We want it to be an event for the viewer."
As a result of the 90-minute Housewives, the awards themselves will begin 30 minutes later than usual, and will not be live-to-air anywhere in the country.
Desperate Housewives, which averages 2.1 million viewers weekly in Canada, will air from 7 to 8:30 p.m., with the Junos beginning at 8:30 in all time zones except in the Maritimes where the awards will air at 9:30 p.m.
Boyce stressed that the tape delay would not affect the content of any of the shows, which will also contain regular commercials.
"What we're doing is putting (the Junos) in a stronger position because you've got Desperate Housewives as your lead-in," she said.
"It's a better scenario."
The beefed-up Desperate Housewives episode practically guarantees CTV more than two million viewers for the red carpet celebrity fawn-fest - which this year is less than stellar because of the absence of international superstars like Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain or Avril Lavigne (Morissette and Twain aren't nominated; Lavigne will be on tour in Singapore).
Ever since taking over the broadcast rights of the Junos from CBC four years ago, CTV has invested millions into building a Juno brand, which has typically included an hour-long red carpet special.
This year's Junos will be hosted by Brent Butt and confirmed attendees include Neil Young, Dan Aykroyd, The Tragically Hip, Keisha Chante, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, k-os, Kalan Porter, Sum 41, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Keith Urban.
Lavigne leads the nominee pack with five nods, followed by Diana Krall with four.