Desperate Housewives knows no cultural boundaries.
Buena Vista International Television Latin America announced plans Thursday to produce four new versions of the Golden Globe-winning series in Spanish and Portuguese.
Each version of the show will have its own cast and cultural allusions, though the underlying plot will stay true to the format of the original series.
The Spanish versions of the show, titled Amas de casas desesperadas, will air in Colombia, Argentina and Ecuador and the Portuguese version, titled Donas de casa desesperadas, will air in Brazil.
"The script of the series perfectly fit the profile of what the Latin American audience looks for," Fernando Barbosa, senior vice president of Buena Vista International Television Latin America, said in a statement. "It looks similar to the telenovelas."
A sound stage in Buenos Aires will serve as the Wisteria Lane setting for all four versions. However, the neighborhood will be slightly more exclusive than its American counterpart.
"In the U.S. version there's a plumber (actor James Denton as Mike Delfino) in that neighborhood. In Latin America, a plumber is very unlikely to live in such type of neighborhood, so we'll have to switch that profession," Barbosa said.
The Latin versions will also switch up the nationalities of the neighborhood's Hispanic couple, Gabrielle and Carlos Solis, played by Eva Longoria and Ricardo Antonio Chavira.
Barbosa said that each version's couple will reflect permanent immigrants in the community--for example, in the Colombian version, the couple will be from Ecuador.
Four actresses have already been cast in the main housewife roles for the Argentine version. Araceli Gonzalez as Gabriela (Gabrielle on the U.S. version), Gabriela Toscano as Susana (Susan, played by Teri Hatcher), Carola Reyna as Elisa (Bree, played by Marcia Cross) and Mercedes Moran as Lia (Lynette, played by Felicity Huffman).
Shooting on the Argentine version is slated to commence Apr. 15, and Barbosa said the first episodes could air in Argentina as early as June or July.
The American version of the series is already a hot commodity in Australia, New Zealand, Italy, the U.K., Singapore, South Africa and Germany. In December, Buena Vista Worldwide announced that the series was further expanding its range to China.
Housewives is also one of four ABC shows that is broadcast simultaneously in Spanish in an effort to reach a broader number of households.
The series finished fourth in the ratings for the week ended Sunday, drawing an audience of 23.4 million.