Localized versions of Desperate Housewives, with completely different casts, will launch this month in Latin America.

According to a report at Variety, TV Azteca in Mexico, Rede TV in Brazil, Artear in Argentina, RCN in Colombia and Canal 13 in Chile will all start their own versions this month. They will have their own actors, writers and directors but all versions will be filmed in Buenos Aires by one company.

Last year Fernando Barbosa at Disney's Buena Vista International TV Latin America explained the reasoning behind the move. "US sitcoms have declined in Latin America, so I see this as a way of getting us back in on primetime television out there," he said. But there is a condition: the network must also show the US original.

In the US, the original Desperate Housewives is dubbed for the Spanish-speaking market. But in an interview with New York Times, some of the voiceover artists explained their frustration with lack of respect for their profession (they are paid only $25 per hour, and are not credited) and how they would like to become actors in front of the camera.

"There's that saying, 'You may not be a thoroughbred, but if you're a fly on the tail of a thoroughbred, you're a thoroughbred fly,'" Marabina Jaimes, the voice of Mary Alice, said. "We'd like producers to realize we're actors and can do these roles in front of the camera."

More on the localized versions can be found at Variety, and the interview with the voiceover artists is at New York Times.

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