Mike Delfino killed off 'Desperate Housewives'

Ruminating yesterday about the violent end of prominent characters, we neglected to mention a major departure Sunday night -- the excellent James Denton of "Desperate Housewives" -- and now officially add his name to the roster. 

Yes, he is among the ranks of the dearly departed, as the show wheezes its way to the finish line May 13. Denton's Delfino was a  pillar of that small, twisted, highly dysfunctional neighborhood of Wisteria Lane -- the seemingly nice plumber with a back story (imagine that!) who arrived looking for an ex-girlfriend and stayed around with a new one, Susan. "Desperate" would never have become the great success it was without Denton, and so Sunday was a milestone as well as the clearest indication yet that the end is near -- very near. In this clip/promotion (yes, amazingly, "DH" and Denton actually announced the departure beforehand) his life and pretty much the whole series passes before his eyes (he doesn't appear to remember much from that time when Orson Hodges ran him over, understandably).

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