‘Housewives’ less desperate in China

Chinese broadcasters have tidied up Wisteria Lane, the fictional suburban setting for the American TV series “Desperate Housewives,” cutting out some of the sex and violence.

A Chinese-dubbed version of the show debuted Monday on China’s state-run CCTV8 channel. The entire first season was to air in seven days, with three shows playing every night.

Qin Mingxin, deputy director of the international department of CCTV’s Entertainment Program Center, said that the show had been scrubbed of some of its excesses during translation. He wouldn’t give details, but the first episode that aired Monday night was about three minutes shorter than the original, with some lingering shots of a crime scene snipped out and a love scene played out on a dining room table altogether cut.