ABC struck gold this season with "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" by bringing a little levity back into a primetime landscape dominated by procedural crime dramas, ABC programming chief Stephen McPherson told reporters Sunday as ABC closed out the two-week Television Critics Assn. winter press tour at the Universal City Hilton. In the case of "Desperate Housewives," the show tapped into an underserved audience of women looking for a show that reflected the contemporary realities of marriage and family life, McPherson said. Of all the networks that presented at TCA during the past two weeks, none has had more unexpected hits to tub-thump this season than ABC, which so far has enjoyed a near-miracle turnaround after languishing behind its Big Four competitors for the past few seasons.

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