'Desperate' for Josh Henderson

Austin McCann, the hot nephew of bad girl Edie Britt on "Desperate Housewives" is "doing" the neighborhood! First, he hooked up with sweet Julie (played by Andrea Bowen) and then got scared and decided to sneak next door and get something tasty going with Julie's friend Danielle Van De Camp (Joy Lauren). Talk about asking for trouble!

Austin is played by super cute hunk Josh Henderson and, at the recent ABC press doings in Pasadena, we found him under a heat lamp at a mixer party and were quick to pounce. Texas born Josh impressed in the very serious "Over There" a critically-acclaimed series about the war in Iraq. Now, he's just having a blast on Wisteria Lane as the young neighborhood "gotta have him" dude. Josh also ran around "Laguna Beach" on TV for a while and appeared in The Girl Next Door and the family comedy Yours, Mine and Ours. Josh is also quite the musician having won the talent search WB reality show "Pop Stars".

TeenTelevision: Is it fun to play Austin; the bad guy or at least a guy with an edge?

Josh: It is. I'm having a blast. I just go to work with a smile on my face and have fun. Coming from the series "Over There" last year, that was very serious and intense about the war in Iraq, so now I'm doing something fun. He's seventeen. He's young and I think what's going on with Austin is, he's never let a girl pierce his wall. I think Julie honestly did. She cares about him and it scares him and freaks him out a little bit. So what does he do? Like an idiot guy, he goes right next door and there's another girl. He says, I'm gonna sleep with this girl and see how that works. But I think he genuinely figures out that he cares about Julie.

TeenTelevision: Is that going to happen this new season? Is he going to pick Julie (played by Andrea Bowen)?

Josh: I think, as of right now, he's in a state of 'man, I screwed up! I actually do care about this girl. How do I fix this because I've never been in this situation before?' There are some more juicy and dramatic things that happen. Basically he's not sure if he should get over Julie or get her back with him. He does a lot of things without thinking. He comes from a certain past and what was exciting about him coming to Wisteria Lane and living with his aunt Nicolette [Sheridan] is that it's a new start. 'Maybe I can live differently'. But he still has a lot of that same old thing where he screws up.

TeenTelevision: I hear that they are going to bring in Nicolette's son. Is that going to be a problem?

Josh: I'm not sure because they haven't cast him but I'm pretty sure he's going to be a lot younger than me. We'll see. I know they are going to beef her storyline up as well as mine. Some pretty dramatic things. Austin continues to get himself into trouble. You've gotta have someone on the show who does.

TeenTelevision: Girls love a bad boy.

Josh: Hopefully they don't hate me.

TeenTelevision: Does the younger cast on the show hang out together?

Josh: Yeah. On set we have a lot of fun. Shawn Pyfrom (plays Andrew) and I live in the same area and have the same group of friends so we see each other outside the show. The girls, they both live in a different area but I don't see them except on the show and at all these press events. We're all good friends. I got lucky. The show is full of good people. We have fun. They're all really nice.

TeenTelevision: What would you like to see Austin do that he hasn't yet?

Josh: Initially, when I came on the show, they were really excited that I was a musician so I'm really hoping to incorporate my music into Austin. He hasn't done music yet. I would love to pick up a guitar and have Julie walk up and I'm sitting in the garage playing the guitar. They keep telling me that they are definitely going to bring the music up with Austin.

TeenTelevision: Do you have a band or are you a solo artist?

Josh: A solo artist. My best friend is my co-writer and guitarist. He's here somewhere walking around. We are working now with different writing teams to get the exact sound that we want. I had a band that I was going to start doing shows with around the L.A. area. We decided to put that on hold and get exactly the sound that we want to put out to the public. Now that I'm on "Desperate Housewives", I've got a lot more eyeballs on me. People are really excited about the music so we want to make sure we're happy with what we come out with.

TeenTelevision: What artist would you say you are sort of like?

Josh: Difficult to say. It's very guitar-driven and there's definitely a rock element. My voice is very much R&B so it's kind of a cool hybrid. Almost urban beats with guitars, piano and strings. It's different.

TeenTelevision: How did the audition process to get the role unfold for you?

Josh: They saw a lot of people and they brought me in at the very end. The people who cast "Desperate Housewives" also cast "Over There" so they already knew me and they knew they were going to bring me in at the end for this role and I got lucky. I think they thought I'd be perfect. I came in and met Marc Cherry [Exec Producer and creator] and read the scenes and it just worked. They called me and said 'you're Austin'.

TeenTelevision: Were you originally supposed to just be in a couple of episodes?

Josh: No. This role is contracted for a few years. I'm happy to be there. As long as they want to keep me, I'll show up and have a good time.

TeenTelevision: Has your life changed since going on the show?

Josh: In a way. When I go out, it's definitely different. Sometimes people scream. I had no clue that the show also had such a young fanbase. My sister is fifteen and all her friends love the show and I didn't know they watched.

TeenTelevision: Are you into directing and writing some day?

Josh: I want to keep growing as an actor right now. I'm doing an independent film during the break. We're getting a lot of good opportunities. I want to do a film about one of my friends who had a really rough childhood. His dad was murdered. I'm helping with the writing but it's his story. We're putting it into script form. It's an intense, heartfelt story and I'm playing him. And there are a couple of studio films coming my way. I'm going to be busy as heck between May and July.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.