The young guns fire up

Their mums are still key, but Wisteria Lane has some Desperate Teenagers now as well.

When Teri Hatcher is your mum it's hard to get anyone to notice you. Which is what happened to Andrea Bowen when the then 14-year-old joined the Desperate Housewives cast as the fresh-faced teenage daughter of Hatcher's flaky character Susan Mayer in the hit show's first season.

Leading ladies ... glamorous Desperate Housewives still getting the most attention on Wisteria Lane[Reuters]

Back then Bowen was lucky to get a few lines an episode. But as the show has grown up, so too has Bowen and her character Julie. While the glamorous housewives still get the bulk of the headlines, it's the young guns who are starting to fire up the third season of the show.

Bowen's fellow younger colleagues include Joy Lauren, who plays Bree Van De Kamp's daughter Danielle, Shawn Pyfrom, who plays Andrew Van De Kamp and new boy Josh Henderson (Ashlee Simpson's former beau), who is set to rock screens as Julie's flame, Austin McCann.

Showing their faith in her, producers last year sent Bowen to Australia as the show's celebrity representative for the Melbourne Cup. The previous year they sent Eva Longoria.

Now with the show heading into a crucial third season - after what can best be described as a lacklustre season two Julie's role is more important than ever. The teenager's relationship with her mother is changing. Julie starts to show a rebellious streak, marked by her relationship with new kid on the block, Austin, Edie Britt's 18-year-old nephew.

"I think this season, especially, you see Susan trying to be more of the mother," Bowen, 16, says.

"Julie is the responsible one and is used to making her own decisions. So when Susan tries to step in, it's not great."

While Austin is the resident bad boy, Bowen thinks there might be more to him.

"Julie's attracted to him because she's slowly finding out that he's not just that bad boy. He is also smart and he's sensitive. She doesn't want to like him, and she's still kind of denying it," Bowen says.

"But everyone knows she does like him. I can't wait to see where that relationship goes."

Meanwhile Pyfrom's character Andrew has some challenging times ahead after last season coming out of the closet.

"Andrew's just a confused teenage boy who is growing up with a strict mother, and then also has had all these other instances in his life that have thrown the wrench in the gears and screwed with them a little bit and he's confused," Pyfrom says.

"He's going through a lot of stuff.

"His dad died and his mum starts dating the guy who killed him."

But did he worry about the reaction to his character being gay?

"At first it was sort of like, 'Oh, crap'.

"Then it was like, 'This is going to be a great opportunity'. As an actor, I couldn't ask for any more. It gives the character a little more depth and makes him just a little more interesting."

Series creator Marc Cherry has been on set this time round more than he has in previous seasons, adding his two cents about how scenes should be shot and giving the actors pointers on their characters' story arcs.

Bowen concedes that the show may have "lost its footing" last year, hence Cherry's decision to steer the ship back on course.

"I think he's here a lot more, just to make sure that everything is staying on track and going the way the arc of the show is supposed to."

Clearly the reason Cherry is there is that he realises season three is make or break time for Desperate. It opens with Wisteria Lane drenched in purifying rain.

"Let's just wipe everything clean and start fresh," Cherry says, acknowledging the symbolism and the need for change.

He's convinced the show is in for better times. "Season one was a tidal wave," he says. "The success, the ratings, the attention, the workload. By the time I finished the season, I was intellectually, morally and spiritually spent - not to mention physically."

Cherry, entering the second year already drained and hit with a studio request for extra episodes, was behind from the start. As he scrambled to revamp storylines written by others, the show lost "a large sense of its identity because I wasn't driving the train".

"The biggest failure of season two was a lack of consistency," Cherry says. "It's not like every episode sucked ... I'm immensely proud of some of the stuff we did."

Ratings dropped but were healthy enough to suggest Susan, Lynette, Bree, Gabrielle and Edie hadn't worn out their welcome. Cherry, now sole executive producer, is intent on rewarding the faithful and ensuring the new series reaches its potential.

"I will never have the element of surprise again," Cherry says.

"Now I just have to work consistently, doing good storytelling with richly detailed characters and interesting twists and turns and surprises."

Another part of the third season make-over involves a renewed emphasis on the housewives as a group.

Although Cherry admits it's easier said than done. "It's hard when you have a scene with all the women," Cherry says.

"It's a nightmare from a production standpoint because of all the hair and make-up people and having to get close-ups on all of them."