Housewives to Stick Around Until 2011

[Brian Damage]

"Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry has signed a four-year, eight-figure overall deal with ABC Television Studio, reports Variety.

The deal, which keeps Cherry under wraps until May 2011, ensures creative continuity on "Desperate Housewives" through the series' seventh season. The studio has also quietly negotiated deals with all key members of the cast that will keep them on the hit series for at least as long as Cherry is attached.

Cherry said he has no plans to develop projects beyond "Housewives," though if he does, it'll be for ABC Television Studio (ATS). Instead, the writer wants to focus on his current show.

"The studio and the network and I all feel it's best for me to stay glued to the set," he told the trade. "I've got my ship, and I'm gonna run it."

And, if Cherry gets his way, the series will end in 2011 -- the same time his new deal wraps.

"I think that, at the end of my deal, and after seven seasons, it will be a good time to call it quits," he said. "I don't want anyone else to run the show, and I don't want us to fade away."