Michael Edelstein, one of Desperate Housewives' three executive producers, has announced he is going to quit the show.

"It was a quality-of-life issue," Edelstein told TV Guide's Ausiello. Edelstein will oversee the season's first 13 episodes, but he then wants to move on to a new challenge. "It came down to, 'Do I want to spend 18 hours a day working on something that I've already built, or do I want to go build something else?' I'm an adrenaline junkie, and I realized that what I really want to do is launch another show."

Desperate Housewives is Edelstein's third executive producer job for ABC, having also worked on Hope & Faith and the short-lived Threat Matrix. He also executive produced the telemovie Haunting Sarah, which debuts on the SCI FI Channel on October 3 2005.

Edelstein will leave a legacy of helping craft a massive international phenomenon, as well as a reputation for being fun on set. Earlier this year a director of Desperate Housewives wrote an account of life on set, explaining that as the only thing Wisteria Lane lacked was squirrels, each day of shooting began with the cry "Where are the squirrels"? Edelstein rose to the challenge, and on the last day of the shoot came to set dressed in a six-foot squirrel costume.

Executive producers are generally "show runners", and Edelstein's departure will leave Tom Spezialy and show creator Marc Cherry as executive producers. Shows run with varying amounts of executive producers, so it is not known whether he will be replaced. A new executive producer could be brought in, or a current producer could be promoted to the position, if one is needed.

The news of Edelstein's departure can be found at TV Guide. The director's on set account can be found here.

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