Interview with creator, writer and producer Marc Cherry

The man behind the women
Marc Cherry was born and raised in Oklahoma. His father was an accountant which required the family to relocate to California. After graduating from Troy High School in Fullerton, California, Cherry attended California State University, Fullerton's theater program and initially considered a career in performance. After winning $15,000 as a contestant on The $100,000 Pyramid in 1986, he decided to move to Hollywood and pursue writing work. His move came at a bad time; the 1988 writer's strike hit as soon as Cherry arrived. Cherry broke into the industry by working as Designing Women star Dixie Carter's personal assistant.
In 1990, he became a writer and producer for the long-running hit sitcom The Golden Girls. Cherry wrote for the show, and its short lived spinoff The Golden Palace.
When those shows concluded, Cherry co-created The 5 Mrs. Buchanans. The concept of the show centered around the matriarch of the family (played by Eileen Heckart) and the wives of her four sons. The show had a brief run on CBS during the 1994-1995 season.
Cherry also co-created The Crew (1995). On his own, he later created Some of My Best Friends, a 2001 sitcom that was based in part on the film Kiss Me, Guido.
In 2002, a conversation with his mother inspired him to develop a show about the fractured lives of four upper middle class suburban women. After HBO, FOX, CBS, NBC, Showtime, and Lifetime Television all passed on the show, Cherry got his big break when his agent was arrested and sent to jail for embezzlement. His new agents brought the show to ABC, which decided to pick it up. The series, Desperate Housewives, was an immediate ratings smash and generated enormous national (and subsequently, international) debate. Cherry received several lucrative offers from various parties, but chose to sign a long-term deal with Touchstone, since their network had shown faith in Desperate Housewives when no one else would.
The show was a phenomenon for much of its first season, but was criticized by TV critics who said the second season of Desperate Housewives was not as creative or as good as the first. Viewers seemed to agree, since the ratings dropped as the season progressed.
Cherry has featured several actors on "Housewives" that he has worked with before; Mark Moses, who played Paul Young, and Harriet Sansom Harris, who played Felicia Tilman, were both cast members of The 5 Mrs. Buchanans. In season three, Cherry cast former boss Dixie Carter in the role of Gloria Hodge, Orson's unhinged mother. Actor Alec Mapa, who appeared in Some of My Best Friends, appears on "Housewives" in a recurring role as Gabrielle's stylist.

Website: http://abc.go.com/shows/desperate-housewives

What is Desperate Housewives?
Desperate Housewives is sensational must-have American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Since its premiere on October 3, 2004, the show has been well received by the critics as well as the audience. The show is a multiple Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award winner, and in April 2007 it was reported to be the most popular show in its demographic worldwide, with an audience of approximately 120 million. In August 2009, Marc Cherry said that Desperate Housewives would be on television for a few more years, stating that the series still "has a lot of life left in it." He went on to explain that the program had been revitalized by the five-year leap forward for season five, saying: "Yes, I think it worked well. It was a way to start fresh and let everyone start from scratch in a way".Cherry has signed a two-year deal with ABC that will keep Desperate Housewives on the air until 2013. The show's main characters -- played by Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria Parker -- were committed to the 8th and final season.
The eighth and final^[4][5][6] season of Desperate Housewives, a television series created by Marc Cherry, began broadcasting in the United States on September 25, 2011^[7] and concluded on May 13, 2012.^[8]
Desperate Housewives was renewed for an eighth season by ABC on May 17, 2011.
The deceased character Mary Alice Young continues to narrate the events in the lives of her friends and Wisteria Lane residents, Susan Delfino, Lynette Scavo, Bree Van de Kamp and Gabrielle Solis. This season sees the housewives deal with covering up the murder of Alejandro Perez (Gabrielle's stepfather) from the previous season's finale. Read more about Seasons 1 to 7  Seasom Season 8

Welcome to Wisteria Lane
The setting of the show is the street of Wisteria Lane in the fictional American town of Fairview in the Eagle State. It follows the lives of a group of women, seen through the eyes of their dead neighbor. They work through domestic struggles and family life, while facing the secrets, crimes and mysteries hidden behind the doors of their--at the surface--beautiful and seemingly perfect suburban neighborhood.

Some interesting facts
Desperate Housewives is filmed on Panavision 35 mm cameras; it is broadcast in standard and 16:9 widescreen high definition, though it is framed for the 4:3 aspect ratio.
The set for Wisteria Lane, consisting mainly of facades but also of some proper houses, is located on the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. It is referred to by film crews as Colonial Street, and has been used for several motion pictures and television shows since the mid 1940s. Notable productions that were filmed here include: So Goes My Love, Leave it to Beaver, The 'Burbs, Providence, Deep Impact, Bedtime for Bonzo, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Gremlins, The Munsters, Psycho, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For the second season of Desperate Housewives, the street went through some heavy changes. Among the most noticeable of these changes was the removal of a church facade and a mansion in order to make room for Edie's house and a par
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The who's who of Wisteria Lane
The show features an ensemble cast, headed by Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp and Eva Longoria Parker as Gabrielle Solis. Brenda Strong narrates the show as the deceased Mary Alice Young, appearing sporadically in flashbacks or dreams.  Read more

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