New ‘Housewives’ episode airing Sunday

Viewers are getting desperate for their housewives.

Sunday marks ABC’s first new “Desperate Housewives” episode since Feb. 20 – a hiatus that has frustrated fans of the first-year phenomenon.

“I went to a party with a bunch of old friends and I was assaulted with, ‘Where’s the show? What’s going on?’ ” says series creator Marc Cherry.

It’s mostly a matter of math: 23 episodes must stretch over a 36-week TV season. As the broadcast schedule catches up to production schedules, fallow weeks must be filled by reruns or specials.

ABC aired two high-rated shows in the 9 p.m. Sunday time slot during the past month, the Oscars and an Oprah Winfrey movie.

“The scheduling isn’t radically different from other dramas. But (“Housewives” and “Lost”) are so popular and serialized, they’re noticed first when they’re not around,” says ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader. (Wednesday’s “Lost “will be the first new episode since March 2.)

ABC scheduled fresh “Housewives” in groups, resulting in the recent gap, rather than go back and forth more frequently between originals and reruns or pre-emptions, which would frustrate viewers more, Bader says.

Starting with Sunday’s show, which features Wisteria Lane dominatrix Maisy (Sharon Lawrence) getting arrested, “Housewives” has eight new episodes for the last nine weeks of the TV year – including the May ratings “sweeps” period when ad rates are set.

Ratings aren’t likely to suffer from the show’s absence, says analyst Steve Sternberg of Magna Global.

“New shows that are successful are not hurt by being off a few weeks,” he says.