‘Desperate Housewives’ Writer Alleges in New Book that Staff Wasn’t ‘Welcome on Set’

[hewontgo]

According to former Desperate Housewives writer Patty Lin, there was just as much drama in the writers room as there was on Wisteria Lane. https://t.co/pjsWdU4fgj
- Us Weekly (@usweekly) August 29, 2023
According to former Desperate Housewives writer Patty Lin, there was just as much drama in the writers room as there was on Wisteria Lane. Lin

Comments

[escalena]

Am I correct in assuming that Teri Hatcher was the SJP of this show?

[automaticpeople]

It’s weird, because 99% of what I’ve heard about both is actually pretty nice but then I read things like this.

[a_files06]

For Teri...i think it was her trying to make it big again and take advantage of how big DH was that she simply let it get to her head.

[escalena]

SJP gives me TSwift vibes in the sense that she's kind and nice to the right people, so whenever someone calls her out for being mean, they're the odd one out, made to be less believable, because "everyone loves her!"

Is Katy Perry her Kim Cattrall?

[asnindie]

The Teri Hatcher situation is always strange. One hand it's everyone else icing her out. But then there's story after story of her being a pain to work with. Didn't she get killed off in Tomorrow never dies because she was a nightmare?

Curiouser and curiouser.

Also why was there so much drama behind the set. And the show sucked after S1.

[sassandthecity]

I would say that season 3 was a return to form. The supermarket hostage episode is probably the best episode of the series.

[automaticpeople]

No, she was always meant to die in Tomorrow Never Dies. The reason she was cast in the first place, was because the writers were originally going to kill off an established Bond girl, then changed their minds.

Brosnan had an issue with her turning up late one day, but he apologised to her when he found out it was because she was pregnant.

[heyignatzmouse]

maybe people were icing her out bc she was such a pain?
idk anything about terri or this show’s bts drama just have seen situations like that before. really funny when ppl think we’re the bullies until they have to deal with the person themselves haha

[squirrels_oh_no]

If i had the same experiences Patty Lin had in her career... being a TV writer used to be a dream of mine but I am glad now that I was told off by people who struggled in the industry for years. I'm now a professional writer but alas, it's not for TV.

Separate note: no one did season promos as well as Desperate Housewives

[sassandthecity]

Re: Separate note: no one did season promos as well as Desperate Housewives

[a_files06]

Tv promos are a lost art form. I was ALWAYS excited at the start of each season to see what the new season promo would be.

Then s6 happened.....luckily they returned to form the next.

Re: Separate note: no one did season promos as well as Desperate Housewives

[sassandthecity]

They really are a lost art. Sex and the City used to have amazing ones as well.

Re: Separate note: no one did season promos as well as Desperate Housewives

[itsallnotone]

Lol my friend and I were JUST talking about SATC promos were like a fever dream when we saw this the other day: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwNhA3OM-zm/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[vibeology_e]

I read this buzzfeed article about the same writer this weekend: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniesoteriou/friends-writer-lifts-lid-cast-unhappy-dire-aggressive

She seems really bothered by the idea that scripts would be rewritten or punched up. That’s just a huge part of how TV works.

She’s doing a great job promoting this book.

[bttrsondaughter]

it’s interesting that she says that the cast was tired of the show and then talks about how they were the “guardians” of the characters and were actually really invested in making sure that storylines and jokes made sense. I guess those two things can be true at the same time, but yeah.

the jump from like Freaks and Geeks (whose stars would go on to like be the faces of the late 2000-early 2010s trend of on-set improv but at that moment were young actors on an hour long single cam comedy) to a sitcom like Friends (where the cast had a lot more collective power than most tv casts before or since) sounds so jarring.

[squirrels_oh_no]

That's how media works, period, unless you reach a point in your career that you are such a name you can refuse editing. And as a writer (both technical and fiction), I want people to read and suggest what makes it better. Even if someone rips it apart, it makes me better if it's constructive.

[madhler]

Yeah, I also thought her stance on cast input was a bit strange? Like her view was that members of the Friends cast would purposely fuck up the line delivery on jokes they didn’t like to force a rewrite. She makes it seem punitive and passive aggressive, when to me it sounded like the cast working their end of the editing process - like “I don’t think this joke works and imma show you why.” Idk maybe I’m giving them too much credit? I just felt like if I were an actor, that’s how I would approach it, too.