THE 'HOUSEWIVES' ARE DESPERATE TO RETURN

[Brian Damage]

April 13, 2008 -- "I'm moving all the chess pieces in harmony better than I have in a long time," says "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry. "I think people are going to find the episodes very focused, the stories a lot more nuanced."

Wisteria Lane's incident-prone suburban divas, most recently rattled by a devastating tornado, have more upheavals in store for them as the first of seven new episodes airs tonight. The most shocking for fans, Cherry says, might be what happens to Nicollette Sheridan's schemer Edie.

"She crosses a line in terms of moral behavior," he says.

Dueling domestic goddesses Bree (Marcia Cross) and Katherine (Dana Delany) will join forces to co-host a Founders' Day banquet, but partnership inevitably gives way to more skirmishing - and a poisoning.

Delany, who has relished her first year as the show's newest housewife, reveals, "Evidently there are bets in town about how long we'll last working together, and I won't say who wins."

The plot thickens when a man from Katherine's past shows up.

"My first husband returns, so no, he's not buried in my backyard," jokes Delany about this long-alluded-to character, played by Gary Cole. "He's a cop. And possibly a bad cop."

Asked which character in the remaining episodes has the biggest epiphany, Cherry says Felicity Huffman's Lynette Scavo "examines spiritual issues, given her survival of both cancer. She goes on an emotional quest which leads her to church, so we deal with religion, which we've never done."

Now that Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) is blind, Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) reverts to her old ways, and, promises Cherry, some of her funniest dust-ups yet. She not only becomes emotionally jealous of Carlos' seeing-eye dog, but she also "takes advantage of Carlos's blindness to get a handicapped placard so she can get better parking when she shops," he says.

Pregnant Susan (Teri Hatcher) will continue to have Bree and hubby Orson (Kyle MacLachlan) as roommates and in Orson's case, a naked-sleepwalking one for a few more episodes. Mike (Jamie Denton), meanwhile, is out of rehab, but he'll soon learn that Orson ran him over in a hit-and-run last season. Says Cherry, "Orson reveals the truth to someone in a very funny way, and word gets back to Mike."

Character actress Celia Weston ("Far From Heaven") has a guest turn as Mike's mom, a woman who Cherry says "has remembered every horrible thing Mike has said about Susan."

Weston's casting exemplifies Cherry's approach to guest stars: theater, theater, theater.

"When at all possible, I like to work with great stage actors," he says. "The real satisfaction is taking someone America doesn't know that well and utilizing them on Wisteria Lane. We had fun with Shirley Knight [as Bree's mother], and having Polly Bergen [as Lynette's mother] was a delight. I don't hire a lot of traditional sitcom actors [because] their comedy tends to be broader, and I really want people who paint with a fine brush."

In that realm, Cherry is over the moon about Delany. "To do well as a guest on our show, you've got to find the twinkle in the drama, and the bitterness in the comedy. And Dana is just gold," he says.

Cherry is mum on the two-hour finale, but stresses that fans shouldn't trust the spoiler leaks, such as the report that show will fast-forward five years.

"We change our finales while we're shooting them," he explains. "I did not have Nicollette Sheridan hanging herself until we'd already started that final episode. So right now, nothing's decided."

Cherry acknowledges, however, the importance of a solid season send-off. "I feel from the moment I put Edie in the noose, I had preordained success for this season," he says. "I'm going to end in a way that sets me up for where we're going."

Delany admits she has a rough idea of what happens to Katherine, but stresses, "Everybody's expendable on Wisteria Lane."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04132008...102.htm?page=0

[Coffeecup]

Celia Weston. Wasn;t there an actress in the last few season of the series ALICE name Celia Weston or am I thinking of someone else. She was blond if I remember.