The seventh season premiered on September 26 , 2010 and averaged 11.85 million viewers . The season saw new lows for the series reaching for the first time below 10 million viewers , and saw lows of 2.7 in the 18 – 49 demographic . For the first half of the season , ratings started strong averaging 12.3 million viewers and 3.9 in the 18 – 49 demographic which is similar to the second half of the sixth season . However , ratings declined in the second half of the season , after two contiguous episodes had to compete against the 68th Golden Globe Awards and then the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards . The show failed to recover to viewer levels hit in the first half of the season , and continued to receive 9 – 10 million viewers and 2.7 – 3.1 in the 18 – 49 demographic . This was the first time in its history that '' Desperate Housewives '' would not place in the twenty most watched shows of the season , although it would place in the twenty most-watched scripted shows
68th Golden Globe Awards
68th Golden Globe Awards
Desperate Housewives