Desperate Housewives creator lays out unexpected idea for reboot

Reboot culture is here to stay, with the creator of yet another hit Noughties show proposing a prequel series.

Fans of Desperate Housewives will be delighted to hear that a spin-off series may potentially be in the works.

The comedy-drama series, created by Marc Cherry, ran for eight seasons between 2004 and 2012. It starred Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, and Nicollette Sheridan as residents of Wisteria Lane, a place regularly rocked by scandal and murder.

In a new interview, Cherry pitched his idea for a prequel to the hit show. In his vision, the spin-off would take place in the Sixties.

“I would probably want to do the idea maybe in an earlier decade,” Marc revealed to People magazine. “Because the character I miss writing the most is actually Wisteria Lane. That was the most fun playground anyone in the history of television has ever had, because we owned the whole street.”

He continued: “I know that street like the back of my hand. When someone shoots a commercial on that street, I know it instantly, because I know all those houses, I know the geography. It was such a fun place to write for.

“And there’s times when I go, ‘You know what? I wonder if I could write Wisteria Lane in like, 1966.’”

The idea may come as a surprise to fans, given that a prequel series set in the Sixties would likely not star any of the original stars in their much-loved roles.

Cherry is well aware of the fan demands for a reboot, telling the publication that “about 70,000 people” have asked him about the prospect.

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“The truth of the matter is that I have a couple of ideas to do it,” he said, adding that he would only pursue a new series if “there is still stuff that needs to be said”.

“If you do a reboot, you have to have a really good artistic reason to do it,” Cherry said. “And at some point, I’ll sit down with someone and go, ‘OK, let’s talk about if there’s a good enough ‘why’ to do it.’”

This isn’t the first time that the idea of a Desperate Housewives reboot has been floated. In an interview last year, Longoria – who played Gabrielle in the series – said that she would “be the only one to sign up”.

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Asked whether “everyone else has kind of moved on”, the actor replied: es. But, also [showrunner] Marc Cherry, he says, ‘I fully mined those characters.’ We used to, back in the day, we used to shoot 24 episodes a season and we did that for eight years. We fully mined those characters.

“There was nobody left on the street for me to sleep with. I slept with everybody.”

Elsewhere, Longoria said she believed they wouldn’t be able to make the show today because “we’d get cancelled”.

“I mean, not canceled on TV but like canceled in culture because it was so groundbreaking and we said and did so many things that were shocking at the time,” she said. “I don’t know where these ladies would be now in their life.”