“Desperate” stars give clues to Season 7

Desperate Housewives stars give clues to Season 7
Visiting Wisteria Lane with Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, Vanessa Williams and creator Marc Cherry

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Wisteria Lane

The summer press tour for the Television Critics Association started with a visit to the set of ABC’s Desperate Housewives. It was a chance to uncover all the intrigue that permeates Wisteria Lane, which is a backlot location at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Tram loads of tourists often see the familiar looking street as they pass by. But the visiting TV writers actually got a chance to go inside the houses, where they were greeted by producer-creator Marc Cherry, producer Bob Daily, plus stars Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, and Vanessa Williams, who is new to the show now in its seventh season.

Teri Hatcher was unable to attend that day, but one of the first things Cherry revealed was that Susan (Hatcher), who was forced to leave Wisteria Lane, is determined to move back. And she’ll be involved with a shady internet deal that will have the fabulous Lanie Kazan guest starring for that storyline.

Cherry recalled running into Kazan at a party a few years, “and she came up to me and said, ‘You know what you need on Westeria Lane? A Jew.’ It took me a few years, but I finally got her aboard.” He added with a smile, “I really can’t walk into a party in Beverly Hills without women of a certain age assaulting me for work.”

Longoria wasn’t shy about saying that she’s always after Cherry to hire Latinos to play the relatives of her character Gabby. “I keep telling Marc, if this were reality, I’d have a lot more cousins and aunts and uncles.”

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Eva Longoria

Cherry was elusive about storyline specifics, but he did hint that they’ll be following the mystery of a baby switched. And there will be a lot of conflict with the housewives.

“What I learned on The Golden Girls [he was a writer-producer] is that you want your ensemble of ladies to be very close and very friendly, but it’s even funnier when they’re in conflict.”

 Cherry let the cat out of the bag about the season opener, reporting that Gabby finds out that Andrew, Bree’s son, has run over her mother-in-law, which of course adds conflict to their friendship. And things will pick up where they left off with Paul (Mark Moses) out of prison and back in the neighborhood itching to cause trouble.

Also shaking things up is Vanessa Williams, who has taken up residence. “I just fell in love with her (Vanessa) and knew that she was capable of doing some wicked comedy based on her performance on Ugly Betty,” Cherry said about Williams, who will make the show sexier than ever.

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Vanessa Williams

Williams will play the wife of a professional athlete, going through marital problems. Longoria (who is marry to NBA player Tony Parker) noted that “Marc takes a lot of stuff from my real life,” but not the stuff about marital problems.

Cherry added that Williams is playing “Renee Perry, a wealthy woman with glamour and style, but her background is completely different. She’s Lynette’s (Huffman) best ‘frenemy’ from college.”

Williams described the relationship as “almost tempestuous. She’s very competitive with Lynette, and that will be fun. Felicity loves it because she gets a chance to be funny trading quips.” Cherry promised that the first episode of the new season “has the best bitchy dialogue we’ve ever done on the show.”

Much sweeter will be the scenes between Lynette and her young daughter played by Darcy Rose Byrnes, who joins the cast as a regular this season. Huffman calls the stunning little actress “a real pro, she’s been doing this a long time.” Byrnes had a recurring as Abby Carlton on The Young and the Restless for many years.

Marcia Cross confirmed another addition, that Brian Austin Green will be coming to the neighborhood to play her love interest. She said there’s a lot of “chemistry” between them. “He’s a younger, blue-collar guy. A contractor I hire, and there will be a little competition for him. I’m looking forward to playing out what it’s like for Bree to be dating again, after so long.”

Apparently the housewives remain desperate after seven seasons.


Margie Barron has written for a wide variety of outlets including Gannett newspapers, Nickelodeon, Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine, Fresh!, Senior Life, Production Update, airline magazines, etc. Margie is also proud to have been half of the husband & wife writing team Frank & Margie Barron, who had written together for various entertainment and travel publications for more than 38 years.

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