Creation and development In 2002,
Marc Cherry was in a precarious financial situation and was having trouble finding a job. He commented, "I was broke, unable to get even an interview for a writing job, and seriously concerned about my future. I had just turned forty and was starting to wonder if I was one of those deluded writers that wander around Hollywood, convincing themselves they're talented when all the evidence points to the contrary." While watching television coverage of the
Andrea Yates trials with his mother, Cherry turned to her and asked, "Can you imagine being so desperate that you would do that to your children?" to which his mother replied, "I've been there." Cherry originally developed the concept as a half-hour comedy. Cherry completed the first draft of the pilot in April 2002 and pitched the script to
CBS,
NBC,
Fox,
HBO,
Showtime, and
Lifetime, all of which turned it down. Following script rewrites, Cherry pitched the series to
ABC, who picked up the pilot. ABC executives were, however, concerned about the title of the series, which Cherry had selected before even writing the script. He later commented, "I put 'desperate' [into the title] to try to indicate, however subtly ... I'm going to have some fun with the imagery, to take it to some interesting places. Most critics got the joke. Some people see the word 'housewives' and it pushes a button in them and they seem to lose all reason." The project was officially announced on October 23, 2003, as a cross between
American Beauty and
Knots Landing. While
Desperate Housewives, along with fellow new series ''
Grey's Anatomy and Lost'', would later help reverse ABC's flagging fortune, network executives
Lloyd Braun and
Susan Lyne were fired shortly after greenlighting these risky and expensive pilots.
Casting Casting for
Desperate Housewives began in February 2004. Longoria, an unknown soap opera actress at the time, stated that prior to her audition, she had not read the entire script. She recounted, "Marc Cherry asks, 'So what did you think of the script?' like the whole thing. And I said, 'Well I didn’t read the script. I only read my part.' And Marc Cherry goes, 'I knew you were Gabrielle at that moment because it was such a Gabrielle thing to say.'"
Roselyn Sánchez also auditioned for the role. Teri Hatcher was cast in the role of Susan Mayer, a single mother looking for love, after a second audition for ABC network executives. Cherry commended Hatcher's audition, calling it "the best audition I've ever seen in network [television]." Actors originally considered for the role include
Courteney Cox,
Calista Flockhart,
Mary-Louise Parker, and
Sela Ward.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus also expressed interest in the role, but network executives felt she was not right for the part. Cherry offered the role of Bree Van de Kamp, a "perfect homemaker" reminiscent of
The Stepford Wives, to
Dana Delany three times. Delany rejected the role, as it was too similar to her character on
Pasadena, but would later join the series in its
fourth season as
Katherine Mayfair.
Marcia Cross was later cast as Bree.
Roma Downey,
Jeri Ryan, and
Stacey Travis were also considered for the role, while Nicollette Sheridan auditioned for the part and was cast as neighborhood tramp Edie Britt instead. The Edie character was originally intended to be a small role, but it was expanded once Sheridan was cast.
Felicity Huffman was cast as Lynette Scavo, a frustrated stay-at-home mother of four, after talking about her own experiences as a mother during her audition. Cherry called Huffman's casting "very lucky," commenting that "within fifteen minutes she had the part."
Alex Kingston read for the role of Lynette, The role of series narrator Mary Alice Young was given to
Sheryl Lee. Cross originally auditioned for the role before being cast as Bree instead.
Jeanne Tripplehorn and
Heather Locklear also auditioned for leading roles. Ricardo Antonio Chavira was cast as Gabrielle's wealthy and condescending husband, Carlos Solis.
Kyle Searles joined the cast as John Rowland, the Solis’ teenage gardener with whom Gabrielle is having an affair.
Andrea Bowen was hired to play Susan's teenage daughter, Julie,
Michael Reilly Burke was cast as Bree's sexually dissatisfied husband, Rex Van de Kamp. The pilot also introduced several recurring cast members. Christine Estabrook appeared as nosy neighbor Martha Huber, a role originally intended for an Asian American actress. a promise Cherry made to him when he signed on for the first season.
Shawn Pyfrom and
Joy Lauren each made their debut appearances as
Andrew and
Danielle Van de Kamp, Bree's defiant teenage children. Cherry stated that casting the two roles was difficult because of their limited involvement in the first few episodes of the series. Additionally,
Brent Kinsman,
Shane Kinsman, and
Zane Huett were cast respectively as
Preston,
Porter, and
Parker Scavo, Lynette and Tom's three sons.
Filming and subsequent casting changes , a
backlot street set at
Universal Studios Hollywood. This map depicts the layout of the backlot as well as the location of the various characters' homes. Filming for the pilot was initially intended to take place in an actual
Los Angeles neighborhood until the production team realized the difficulties that would ensue. Instead they chose
Colonial Street, a
backlot street set at
Universal Studios Hollywood. Many of the sets, whose styles ranged from contemporary to
Victorian to
ranch, were remodeled to create a uniform neighborhood. Cherry and production designer Thomas A. Walsh wanted the street to recall the
Eisenhower era and convey traditional American values, but appear modern at the same time. Walsh viewed episodes of
Father Knows Best,
My Three Sons, and
Leave It to Beaver, among other television series, to capture the visual style of classic conservative America. cost around $700,000. ABC picked up the series for 13 episodes on May 18, 2004. In June, ABC called for three starring cast members to be recast. Metcalfe had previously read for the role during the initial casting process. The role of Rex Van de Kamp was given to Steven Culp, who was Cherry's first choice for the part but was unavailable when the original pilot was filmed. Scenes featuring the original actors were refilmed with their replacements, however Burke and Searles are present in the background of some scenes in the final cut of the episode. ==Release and reception==