Desperate Housewives cast: Sorry, Grateful.

Like the Stephen Sondheim song titles that have characterised their episodes, the Desperate Housewives stars were “Sorry, Grateful” at the news the show has just one more season to go.

Felicity Huffman (Lynette), Marcia Cross (Bree) and Brenda Strong (Mary Alice) appeared at ABC’s Television Critics Association cocktail party following the announcement.

They were quizzed on their reactions to the news.

Huffman said executive producers George Perkins and Bob Daily came to the set on Friday and made an announcement to everyone. “It was very quiet,” she said. “Everyone was that odd combination of really sad and very sorry and, at the same time, very grateful.

“I think we probably could have gone to nine,” added Huffman, “but I think it was too much of a risk to take and they really value [creator] Marc [Cherry] and the show.”

Cross had already heard the news from her manager.

“I was glad that it was finally out there and decided, because I felt like it was coming and I was saying, ‘Hey guys, I think this is coming,’ and everybody was saying ‘No,'” she said.

Strong added, “When anything is good, you don’t want it to end. … We were all hoping there would be a ninth year.”

Of all the four leads, Felicity Huffman must surely stand a good chance at future work prospects. But she remains cautious.

“You go into acting jail at the end of these things because it’s hard for anyone to see you as anything other than Lynette Scavo or whatever it is,” she said. “So I think it’s unwise to look at the carnage around you of past television actresses and go, ‘Well it’s not going to happen to me.’

“It probably will, which is why I’m planning on opening supermarkets and gas stations.”

Source: Hollywood Reporter