While they were filming the first episodes, "Desperate Housewives" actor James Denton remembers discussing with with Teri Hatcher that the prime time soap opera would probably only last a season, and that it would be a shame because the show was so good. Now he believes the runaway hit will be around for four or five more years.
He gave the scoop Tuesday to the Masters, Lewis and Floorwax, of Denver's 103.5 the Fox about the wild stories that the five actresses had demanded more money midway through the season.
"Actually, that's one of those rumors that's completely untrue," Denton said. "I read it everywhere, in a bunch of places, that Teri was making $280,000 per show or something."
"That's completely untrue. None of them were making that kind of money. They got bonuses, and the network called them in and tried avoid arbitration, like with an athlete, but they didn't let them renegotiate. They're doing that this year. Second season is when the actors beat up the studios. So that's going to happen now."
, Denton also believes the male actors on the show shouldn't make long range plans: "I think we're dispensible. We lost Steve Culp last year who plays Rex, and who was fantastic. And I really liked them as a couple. We were shocked, and he didn't know ... he had like a week's notice. They called him in and it was like, 'Dude, just so you don't read it... You're dead.' It made us all realize that they were willing to make big changes, to have the show go in different directions. It was a harsh education and he was obviously very disappointed. But he's a great actor, so if he's dispensible, I think we all probably are."
He also divulged that the show has some basis on real characters: "The Van de Kamp's, Bree's family, is based on [creator] Marc Cherry's family in real life when he was growing up," Denton explained. "Bree is basically his mom, and his dad died of a heart attack when he was a young kid. So we knew that Steve Culp might, might, bite it early, but we had no idea it would be season one."
"It's kind of harsh to be fired from Desperate Housewives but then again, the guy who did the pilot, the Rex from the pilot, did just the one episode and they replaced him," Denton said. "So that would really suck, to do the Desperate Housewives pilot and then get replaced before it went on the air."
Denton also believes the male actors on the show shouldn't make long range plans: "I think we're dispensible. We lost Steve Culp last year who plays Rex, and who was fantastic. And I really liked them as a couple. We were shocked, and he didn't know ... he had like a week's notice. They called him in and it was like, 'Dude, just so you don't read it... You're dead.' It made us all realize that they were willing to make big changes, to have the show go in different directions. It was a harsh education and he was obviously very disappointed. But he's a great actor, so if he's dispensible, I think we all probably are."
He also divulged that the show has some basis on real characters: "The Van de Kamp's, Bree's family, is based on [creator] Marc Cherry's family in real life when he was growing up," Denton explained. "Bree is basically his mom, and his dad died of a heart attack when he was a young kid. So we knew that Steve Culp might, might, bite it early, but we had no idea it would be season one."
"It's kind of harsh to be fired from Desperate Housewives but then again, the guy who did the pilot, the Rex from the pilot, did just the one episode and they replaced him," Denton said. "So that would really suck, to do the Desperate Housewives pilot and then get replaced before it went on the air."
