"The Art of Making Art" is the 162nd episode of the ABC television series, Desperate Housewives. It is the fifth episode of the show's eighth season and was broadcast on October 23, 2011.
Plot
Susan is mortified, but tries her best to comply when her art teacher, Andre Zeller, asks the students to show up to class naked in order to help them create from a point of honesty. When Susan learns this, she tries making breakfast naked, but she isn't a naked person. Bree serves up some delicious, homemade soup for the homeless at the local shelter, but ends up enticing the local hipsters and pushing out those in need; Gaby finds herself without a staff to help set up a school event when her lackadaisical approach to her new job as president of the PBA insults the parent volunteers; Renee helps a reluctant Lynette get back into the dating pool by taking her to a singles bar; and Carlos finds himself hitting rock bottom when the guilt over murdering Gaby's stepfather begins to engulf him.
Reception
According to Nielsen ratings, "The Art of Making Art" was watched by 9.17 million viewers and held 3.0 rating between 18 and 49 years of age. The episode was competing against Sunday Night Football on NBC, which averaged 12.47 million viewers and a 5.2 rating/13 share, The Good Wife on CBS, which was watched by 9.77 million viewers but held a 2.0 rating, and Game 4 of the 2011 World Series on Fox which was watched by 15.16 million viewers and held 4.2/11 rating in the 18-49 demographic.. The ratings were up from the previous episode "School of Hard Knocks", which had set a series low in total viewers and in the 18-49 demographic. The slight increase in ratings was largely due to the lead in from the series premiere of Once Upon a Time at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central on ABC which was watched by 12.93 million viewers and received a 4.0 in the 18-49 demographic. The episode gained an additional 2.1 million viewers and 0.9 rating in the week following the original broadcast due to DVR recordings.
