52 year-old actress Dana Delaney is the latest female cast member to join Desperate Housewives, and plays troubled newcomer Katherine Mayfair who moved in last season. She turned down a chance to play Bree at the series’ inception in 2004. Delaney gave a press conference in June right after the season ended. She said that everyone was very professional and friendly on set and that rumors of rifts between castmembers were not true. Delaney admitted that the actresses playing the women of Wisteria Lane work hard to keep their bodies fit and trim, and said there was a kind of “dieting competition” among cast. The costume designer called it “the Desperate Housewives disease”:

When asked if there is pressure to always look perfect, she said there might be a quiet competition among the women of the show in terms of dieting. “When I got on the show the costume designer said to me, ‘don’t get the Desperate Housewives disease.’ When I asked what it is she said that everybody loses weight and their clothes don’t fit. I do think there is that competitive dieting thing going on and because I am such a contrarian I am the only one who gained weight — my clothes got tighter.”

The atmosphere on the set is great, she said. “We all heard stories about the fighting early on the set and I don’t think that exists anymore. All these actors are so professional. Everybody comes to the set knowing their lines, everyone is on time, it’s really a fun, fun set. It’s a great place to work.”

[From MediaScribbler via Hello Magazine, print edition, August 28, 2008]

Delaney also noted that all the castmembers were welcoming to her. She said on her first day no one knew that she would be joining them, but that they “were great with me… and it was sort of like, oh, hi Dana, what are you doing here?”

Eva Longoria might be trying to take that dieting competition in another direction - she’s gained a smidgeon of weight and says she’s doing it for her character, Gabrielle, who has had two children and has “let herself go.” Longoria is said to be desperate to have children herself, and if recent photos are any indication, she’s already well on her way.

The next season of Desperate Housewives premieres on Sunday, September 28.

Dana Delaney is shown on 7/17/08 at the ABC and Disney “TCA - All Star Party.” Credit: Glenn Harris / PR Photos

Teri Hatcher has a new project in the works – but does it spell the end of Desperate Housewives? The Lifetime network is looking for new shows, although this one sounds a little bit like Gilmore Girls to me.

Looking for a beachhead in original comedy, the network has three shows in the pipeline, including “Burnt Toast,” which is adapted from “Desperate Housewives” star Teri Hatcher’s eponymous book about a forty-something mom and her daughter.

Media Daily News

I haven’t read Teri’s book, but it’s an autobiography, and the show will probably be a broad take on it.

Whether or not a new series, featuring Teri in production or star duties, would spell the end of her featuring on Desperate Housewives is up to question. I wouldn’t be sorry to see the end of it.

Besides, I think the show is nearing its natural conclusion. So far the characters have murdered several people, had babies and cancer and affairs, survived a tornado, faked their own deaths, come out as homosexual… I think the turning point for my interest in the show was when Bree hid her daughter away in a nunnery so she could escape the embarrassment of a teen pregnancy, and Bree would raise the child. What is this - Desperate Housewives 1956? So many grandparents raise their grandchildren now that it would have been a modern and challenging storyline.

Note by Celebitchy: The ratings for the first episode of Desperate Housewives in three months after it returned on Sunday following the writer’s strike were at a record low. It received 16 million viewers as compared to an 18.9 million average last season, but was still the most viewed show in its time slot. It doesn’t look like DH is going away anytime soon.

Marcia Cross sure knows how to plan a romantic getaway - she and husband Tom Mahoney skipped their honeymoon in the summer of 2006 in favor of IVF treatments, as Marcia was 44 and knew her clock was ticking:

She said: “We decided to skip our honeymoon and try in vitro after the wedding. I had already been through infertility treatments.

“It’s very, very difficult to get pregnant in your 40s. It’s costly and tough on your body and your relationship.”

The 45-year-old actress - who gave birth to fraternal twin girls Eden and Savannah last year - is considering adoption because she doesn’t want to put her body through another IVF procedure.

She said: “”I don’t think I’ll have any more kids, but I’m not 100 per cent sure we won’t adopt.”

Marcia - who tied the knot in June 2006 - also revealed she wishes she had become a mother earlier in her life, because she wants to spend as much time with her girls as possible.

She added to Health magazine: “I wish that I’d had my girls in my 30s. Then I could be around longer for them. But they’re an incentive for me to stay healthy, take care of myself, and live as long as possible.”

Sydney Morning Herald

I suspect that many busy working people have skipped their holidays to spend time injecting themselves with hormones in an attempt to have a baby, and it’s probably the best way to attempt IVF, because you’d be more relaxed than if you were balancing doctors appointments and work. Also, it makes a great honeymoon because it gives your new husband the chance to see you at your hormonal worst - apparently IVF really messes with your mood like nothing else. PMS in hyper-drive!

I’m glad that Marcia mentions the cost of IVF treatment and the havoc it causes to your body - it is a really hard process to go through. Marcia is lucky to have two beautiful girls as a result, many couples never have a baby as a result of fertility treatments.

Soon, Marcia’s little girls will be old enough to play with a replica of their mommy - a range of Desperate Housewives dolls are available. And an Ugly Betty doll. Who would buy these for their kids? Although I guess it’s for adult fans of the show, as it’s not children’s viewing. At least I hope kids aren’t watching it!

The dolls actually look like they all have the same head, just with different colored hair and eyes. I guess the plastic parts of the actresses match the dolls, but that is about as close as it gets. My husband is convinced that Teri Hatcher’s pregnancy storyline in the show is the result of a breast enlargement, although I’m not so sure. I am pretty sure he shouldn’t be looking at another woman’s breasts that closely!

Note by Celebitchy: I think Marcia Cross’ conception was also with donor eggs, as she told USA Today that “I don’t like the average woman being misled into thinking that fertility is something that goes on forever. When a woman gets older, they get donor eggs, which doesn’t make the baby any less beautiful or perfect. One’s own eggs only last so long, and sometimes at 43 or 44 you can have your own baby, but statistically it’s very difficult and expensive. You don’t want to wait that long.”

Marcia Cross is shown out on 2/10/08 with twin daughters Eden and Savannah, thanks to WENN. She is also shown on 2/7/08 with daughter Savannah, thanks to Splash News.

Who needs enemies when you have ex-husbands like this? Nicollette Sheridan’s ex-fiance, Niklas Soderblom, is spilling his guts to anyone who will listen about their engagement and has an agent trying to sell his book, titled “Desperate Houseman.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Niklas whines and whines about how great their relationship was at first, but claims Nicollette treated him badly after a few months.

They met in November 2003, at a gym, and her pick up line was ‘Will you be my sperm donor?’, which he describes as flattering. He also makes a point of saying he didn’t find her very attractive, and that she ran on a treadmill like a man, which doesn’t seem like a gentlemanly thing to say about your ex.

She apparently asked him to give up his blossoming Hollywood stuntman career to be by her side 24/7. Which sounds to me like he’s blaming her for the failure of his career.

Apparently once the relationship was established, she no longer put out, and they weren’t even getting along, she just sat in a room with the dog – a dog he bought her, but “Any love she had in her, she gave to Oliver.”

Niklas adds that she was in competition with the other women on Desperate Housewives and angry at being left off of the publicity posters.

“It was a competition. She was a middle-aged woman in Hollywood and deep down I am sure she sees Desperate Housewives as her last big break,” he said.

“She was devastated when the posters for the show showed the other four women, but not her. She started crying. She said she was sure the producers intended to ditch her character. She exploded. She screamed, ‘Don’t you get it?

“Haven’t you seen the posters? Teri, Marcia, Felicity, Eva … but no Nicollette. Do you get it. No Nicollette. They don’t give a s*** about me. It’s like I don’t exist.’

Niklas claims that Nicollette would rub her previous relationships in his face.

But he says she seemed to delight in hurting his feelings. On one rare romantic evening, she asked him to wear a pair of pyjamas, which she said she found attractive. “Later that night she told me they belonged to her previous boyfriend,” he said.
“The guesthouse was filled with clothes and skiis that were too big for her and, sure enough, I discovered it was a trophy room of belongings of her ex-lovers. When I’d ask her about them, she’d get very defensive.
“She told me: ‘Michael Bolton was one of the weakest men I ever met. He never swam in the sea. He said he was convinced it would ruin his hairdo.’ But one day she put on a Michael Bolton CD in her car.

So Niklas, if Nicollette was such a bitch, why the hell did you put up with it, you big loser? Oh, that’s right, because if your new book detailing your relationship with Nicollette didn’t have this kind of juice no one would give you a second thought. The book you still haven’t found a publisher for, because no one would buy a book which, if it’s anything like this interview, is just you crying because a girl liked Michael Bolton better than you.

I hope they paid you well for your tell all interview, because all of your friends are going to laugh at you, you big baby.

Eva Longoria is complaining about all the bathtub and lingerie scenes she has in “Desperate Housewives.” She isn’t concerned about demeaning herself or distracting from her brilliant acting - she’s just worried about how she looks:

Eva is so vain that she’s sabotaging her career. She revealed earlier that she’s similarly planning a pregnancy around her vanity.

More proof that “Desperate Housewives” has jumped the shark comes in the news of a new fragrance:

Wow, a perfume that smells like an obsessive compulsive, slutty, overworked stay-at-home mom. What a brilliant idea.