ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” roared onto the scene in 2004 and became an instant hit, helping to turn around the languishing network. The show’s second season suffered from the all-too-common sophomore slump but has since found its footing again, with a notably strong fifth season having concluded in the spring.
With the season 6 premiere just around the corner on Sunday, Sept. 27, Marc Cherry talks about his future with the soapy dramedy, the recent Emmy “time-shift” controversy and the WGA strike, among other topics.
You wanted to set an end date for “Desperate Housewives” a la “Lost.” But the network didn’t go for it. In January Steve McPherson hinted at a new contract. Where does all that stand?
A lot changed since I said that. There was a lot of pressure on the network to keep the show going because ABC hadn’t had many hits. Then, when we debuted in season 5, and were in the top 4, I started thinking, “Oh gosh, this show has a lot of life left in it.”
Steve McPherson and I agree that we shouldn’t keep the show going for more than a couple years past my 7-year initial contract. We don't want it to just fade away. We’ve been in negotiations. I expect to sign my new deal soon to set up a future scenario for the show. Someone else will run the show after season 7 and I will serve as executive producer from a distance.
Critics generally agreed that the show underwent a creative resurgence last season, which had a lot to do with your five-year, fast-forward plot device. Would you agree?
Yes, I think it worked well. It was a way to start fresh and let everyone start from scratch in a way.
Do you have some kind of convention like that up your sleeve for the upcoming sixth season?
Nothing that drastic. What we’ve planned is an interesting mystery storyline involving one of our beloved characters. It’s a “Who Shot JR?” kind of storyline.
Do you have an idea in mind for the next series you’d like to create?
I’ve been talking to ABC about a couple of different ideas. One is a high school version of “Desperate,” with the same sort of tone and feel, just set in a high school -- the other idea is a completely different kind of show
How has the cost cutting that’s rampant in the television business today affected your show?
The biggest difficulty is that I can’t have as big a cast as I’d like. So the budgets just require myself and the writers to come up with interesting ideas using a smaller cast. That being said, ABC was very generous with us in the beginning so anything we need to do to help the company is fine by me.
What do you think of the current state of television comedy, which many feel is in a slump?
There are a lot of fine comedy shows, there just aren’t a lot of huge hits.
