14 DAY TRIAL // As reported over the weekend, the eighth season of ABC’s longstanding dramedy “Desperate Housewives” will also be the last. The official announcement was made by ABC Entertainment Group President Paul Lee and series’ creator Marc Cherry.
In a press conference summoned specifically for the purpose of breaking the news, the two spoke on behalf of the network and stressed they wanted the show to go out with a bang, AceShowbiz informs.
Lee said that it was just the right thing to do to offer characters on Wisteria Lane just one season so that all story arcs could be brought to an end.
The ABC president underlined “Desperate Housewives” would always remain the one project that brought the network unprecedented ratings, catapulting it straight into the big league.
“It’s an iconic show and we’re extremely proud of it,” Lee told the press. Yet, it was time to say good-bye.
“I wanted to make sure that this show that put this network on the map, certainly the new brand of this network for the last six or seven years, had its victory lap and had its chance to really set out every episode and build an arc for its 22 episodes so that we could say goodbye,” he added.
Cherry, on the other hand, said that his goal had always been that of making sure the show went out with a bang, while it was still at the top of its game and adored by millions of fans from all over the world.
“I’ve been in this business for 23 years, and I’m very aware of people overstaying their welcome. I just didn’t want that to happen to ‘Desperate Housewives.’ I wanted to go out in the classiest way possible,” Cherry explained.
The ladies on the show, undoubtedly among the highest paid actresses on television right precisely because of the dramedy, took the news pretty well considering, Cherry went on.
“It was bittersweet and lovely because the women knew that it was a possibility, but they didn’t know. So there was a little touch of shock but not completely,” he said, adding that Eva Longoria was the most shocked.
Cherry even hinted that former series-regular Nicollette Sheridan may return, since season 8 ties in with the first one, which will offer writers plenty of opportunity to bring back some castmembers who are no longer on the show.