In its original American broadcast on January 17 , 2010 , " How About a Friendly Shrink ? " was seen by 11.2 million viewers , according to Nielsen Media Research . At the time , it was the lowest rating for an individual '' Desperate Housewives '' in the series ' history . However , it held that distinction only two weeks before " The Glamorous Life " , and the subsequent episode " Lovely " , received even lower ratings . The viewership for " How About a Friendly Shrink ? " suffered due to competition from the 67th Golden Globe Awards on NBC ( which drew 16.9 million viewers ) and the two-hour seventh season premiere of '' 24 '' on Fox ( which drew 11.4 million viewers ) . " How About a Friendly Shrink ? " received a 3.7 rating/9 share among viewers aged between 18 and 49 . The overall rating was a 21 percent drop in viewership from the previous week 's episode , " You Got ta Get a Gimmick "
67th Golden Globe Awards
67th Golden Globe Awards
How About a Friendly Shrink?