Are There Any Takers?
Marc Cherry, the series’ creator, first came up with the idea for the show while watching news coverage of the Andrea Yates murder trials in the early 2000s. He was intrigued by the way women “lead lives of quiet desperation.” Cherry began writing the script in 2002 and began pitching it to several networks. However, he shopped the pilot around for a while.
Marc Cherry, creator of the TV hit show “Desperate Housewives” and James Denton, one of the stars of the show. Source: Shutterstock
In fact, it was passed on by SIX networks! Showtime, Lifetime, CBS, NBC, Fox, and HBO all turned Cherry down, pilot director Charles McDougall told The Telegraph in 2005. Huge mistake. The pilot was not only the most-watched program of the week with 21.3 million viewers, but it won three Emmy Awards.