Desperate times for Housewives as Teri Hatcher quits

Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher is to quit her lead role in the show, leaving the future of the series in jeopardy.
The 45-year-old actress, who has played ditsy mother Susan Mayer for seven years, has told colleagues at ABC that the next season will be her last.
Bosses at the U.S. network are now prepared for a double exit with co-star Felicity Huffman following Hatcher out of the show.

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‘Teri has given in her notice and is making active preparations to move on,’ says a TV insider.
‘She has another production deal in the pipeline and she is in the early stages of developing a sitcom that she wants to start work on immediately after she finishes Desperate Housewives – she wants a new show in time for the mid-January pilot season.’
But while bosses are keen to keep the hit show running for at least two more seasons, insiders say the drama, set on the fictional suburban street Wisteria Lane, won’t work without Hatcher, meaning that the next season will be the last.
The show’s creator, Marc Cherry, signed a deal with ABC Studios last October which gave the show a stay of execution for two years providing that its leading cast members, including Hatcher, Eva Longoria Parker and Felicity Huffman, remained happily onboard. But all three will be out of contract after the next season.

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ABC hasn’t announced its schedule yet because the future of the series is up in the air,’ adds the source.
‘Some of the crew are disappointed in Teri, they feel like she is abandoning the show that revived her career.
‘Desperate Housewives can’t really continue without Teri or Felicity because they need the original stars to pull in the ratings.
'Teri has been inspired by the success of people like Courteney Cox, who walked away from Friends and bagged her own prime-time show, Cougar Town.
‘She says she had an amazing run on the show but feels it is time to move on to a project that she has more control over.’
A spokesperson for ABC said: ‘We are working on the next season at the moment
and we haven’t got anything to say about the one after.’

Te be honest the show has gone on far too long

Teri Hatcher has denied reports that she plans to quit Desperate Housewives.

A newspaper claimed that the actress, who plays Susan Mayer on the show, had informed producers of her decision to leave at the end of the current season.

However, Hatcher hit back at the "hurtful" claims on her official Facebook page and revealed that she will only leave the show when it is cancelled.

"There are not enough adjectives to describe how stupid, off base, and ridiculously untrue this is," she said. "'Newspapers' should be accountable for this kind of irresponsible journalism and reckless fabrication of a story. What disturbs me the most is that one fan would consider for one second that I would "quit" what has been one of the highlights of my career for which I am grateful on a daily basis.

"I have never said nor inferred otherwise. They made no effort to contact me or my representatives or the network to fact check. I am awaiting a retraction and apology at the least for mucking up everyone's Sunday with this huge, hurtful lie.

"I will say it again, I love Desperate Housewives, the cast and crew are like family and I am with it till it's cancelled.

Hatcher praised the show's latest addition Vanessa Williams and the writing team for continuing to make the ABC series popular with viewers.

"Vanessa Williams and the writers have brought a new energy to the show this year and I expect and hope it can continue on for a long time," she said.

"I meet many people who still find so much joy in watching it and I want everyone to know I'm joyful to be involved to this day and that's not going to change."