A former Desperate Housewives writer has revealed it was a “miracle” the hit series was ever made due to chaotic behind-the-scenes drama — adding that the staff would actively avoid cast member Teri Hatcher.
The critically acclaimed ABC show, which ran from 2004 to 2012, starred Hatcher (Susan Mayer), Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo), Eva Longoria (Gabrielle Solis) and Marcia Cross (Bree van de Kamp) and followed the four housewives and the secrets , crimes and mysteries hidden in their seemingly perfect neighborhood.
Patty Lin worked as a writer on Marc Cherry’s show and has now laid bare shocking stories from the set and writer’s room in her recently released memoir End Credits, in which she readily admits she was “baffled” by the success of Desperate Housewives.
“Each scene was hurriedly written by a different person,” Lin claimed. “Marc was hardly going to be involved in the first few drafts, but as soon as the script was in reasonable shape, he would take it from us, get in a golf cart, and drive to his writing bungalow to do a pass.”
Desperate Housewives writer Patty Lin has revealed it was a ‘miracle’ the hit series, which ran for eight years, was ever made
The critically acclaimed ABC show, which ran from 2004 to 2012, starred Teri Hatcher (Susan Mayer), Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo) and Marcia Cross (Bree van de Kamp)
She went on to say that keeping him in solitude was the “only way to get this goose to lay eggs,” because he was so “easily distracted.”
“If they managed to snatch the scripts from his hands, it would be turned over to production, usually right before the table was read and sometimes right before the first day of shooting,” she continued.
“With this massively inefficient system, it’s a wonder episodes of Desperate Housewives were ever made.”
Lin believed the dark humor that initially drew her to Desperate Housewives was “lost in the slack assembly-line approach” of what should have been a “creative process.”
“The fact that it became the hottest show on TV, won multiple awards, ran for eight years and brought in more revenue than God baffles me.”
During its run, Desperate Housewives won multiple Primetime Emmy, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and its first five seasons were among the top 10 most-watched series.
Lin turned her attention to the talent and said the crew would try not to get Hatcher’s attention.
“Most of the time, we just saw the cast reading aloud at the table, sitting quietly in the back trying not to make eye contact with Teri Hatcher,” she wrote.
Lin said the crew would try not to catch Hatcher’s attention while reading the table
Her claims come years after the Susan actress insisted there was no bad blood between herself and the crew
Lin recounted her anecdotes from her days as a TV writer in her memoir titled End Credits
In 2013, the 58-year-old Hatcher dismissed rumors that she had been feuding with the Desperate Housewives crew after it was reported that Vanessa Williams, Cross, Longoria and Huffman sent them a parting gift in the form of luggage — without her involvement.
“That crew knows I would have jumped in front of a bus for them any minute,” she said.
“I’ve been extremely generous for those eight years and every crew member will tell you that, so it doesn’t matter what anyone writes.
‘I don’t really know who gave or did what. I know what I’ve done and I can take a good look at myself in the mirror about the people I’ve worked with and how much respect I had for them.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Teri’s spokesperson for comment.
In June, former cast member Longoria stated that Desperate Housewives would be “cancelled” if the dark comedy came to screens these days.
The actress played lovable supermodel Gabrielle Solis in the drama, and her character was involved in several shocking storylines, including the statutory rape of her 17-year-old gardener John Rowland (played by Jesse Metcalfe).
“I don’t know if we could do the show today,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “I think we’re being cancelled.
Her book was released on September 5 and revealed the ‘truth about Hollywood’
She also claimed that the Friends cast members would purposefully ruin jokes in the script that they didn’t like
“I mean, not canceled on TV, but like canceled in culture because it was so groundbreaking…
“We said and did so many things that were shocking at the time.”
Also writing for Friends, Lin didn’t shy away from inviting annoying cast members Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, and Matthew Perry to purposefully botch jokes they didn’t like.
“The actors clearly didn’t like being chained to a tired old show, when they’d rather move on,” she wrote.
“Everyone had one goal: how can this script help me? They all knew how to laugh, but if they didn’t like a joke, they all seemed to deliberately undermine it, knowing we’d rewrite it.
“Dozens of good jokes have been written down just because Lisa Kudrow mumbled a sentence through a mouth full of bacon.”