Sounds like it was just as dramatic behind the scenes as it was on screen for those working on Desperate Housewives!
A writer on the ABC dramedy is opening up about what it was like to work on the hit series — and it doesn’t sound so great! In her new book, End Credits: How I Broke Up With Hollywood, which officially hit shelves today, Patty Lin recalled that writers were never “welcome” on set, and had to be especially careful around leading lady Teri Hatcher! She claimed:
“The writers weren’t barred from the set, but we weren’t exactly welcome. Usually we’d only see the cast at table reads, where we’d sit quietly in the back and try not to make eye contact with Teri Hatcher.”
That sounds like an uncomfortable work environment!
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The screenwriter didn’t elaborate on why she tried to steer clear of Teri, at least not in the excerpt obtained by Us Weekly. Sounds like she’s implying the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman alum was a diva, but it’s a little unclear. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t sound like this was some inane rule established by the actress, she was just intimidating AF apparently!
That said, Teri wasn’t the only problem. Lin, who worked on the first season, went on to allege she experienced “overt racism” at the hands of creator Marc Cherry, too. She wrote:
“One day at lunch, the topic of Margaret Cho came up, and someone mentioned All-American Girl, Cho’s short-lived sitcom about a Korean American family. Marc turned to me and said, ‘Patty, you should write a show like that.’ I love Margaret Cho, but please don’t lump us together just because we’re both Asian women in show business.”
Discussing what it was like penning the acclaimed series, the Friends writer said she was among several writers on staff given “busy work of writing the marginally funny material” as Cherry and his “loyal team” of two other writers took charge on most of the scripts. She even claimed when another writer was assigned a script, Marc declared the staff needed to “gang bang” the draft without the knowledge of the OG author. Jeez.
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Clearly irritated by this process, the Breaking Bad writer argued:
“With this wildly inefficient system, it’s a miracle that any episodes of Desperate Housewives ever got made. The quality that had attracted me to the pilot — the dark humor — was lost in the slapdash, assembly-line approach to what was supposed to be a creative process.”
Oof! She REALLY wasn’t a fan of the show — and if you haven’t picked up on that yet, this line should make it crystal clear:
“We were putting out schlock. The fact that it became the hottest show on TV, won multiple awards, ran for eight years, and earned more revenue than God, still boggles my mind.”
Dang!
Patty was ultimately let go after the network picked up the back nine episodes of Season 1, so she wasn’t working on the show for long — but it doesn’t seem like she would’ve wanted to be anyway!
She’s not the only one who’s had problems on Desperate Housewives, either. Teri and her co-stars Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross, and Eva Longoria stood by the showrunner when Nicollette Sheridan alleged in 2010 that she experienced assault and battery, gender violence, and wrongful termination on the set. Cherry denied it all. The lawsuit she filed was ultimately declared a mistrial.
So yeah, this set had it’s fair share of drama! Thoughts on this latest? Let us know (below)!
[Image via Avalon/Dimitri Halkidis/WENN/MEGA]
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