I would probably want to do the idea maybe in an earlier decade," Cherry explains. "Because the character I miss writing the most is actually Wisteria Lane. That was the most fun playground anyone in the history of television has ever had, because we owned the whole street. I know that street like the back of my hand. When someone shoots a commercial on that street, I know it instantly, because I know all those houses, I know the geography. It was such a fun place to write for. And there's times when I go, 'You know what? I wonder if I could write Wisteria Lane in like, 1966.' "
Cherry says there is a "part of me" that would "love to go back and do it again," thanks to the wisdom that's come with time.
"I started to go back and go, 'Okay, this was why that worked, or this is my approach to this,' " he says. "I did some things right the first season that were intuitive, more than intellectual. And I feel like if I ever got a chance to do that show again, I'd be better at the job. I learned so much."
The trick, however, is figuring out if "there is still stuff that needs to be said," Cherry explains. "If you do a reboot, you have to have a really good artistic reason to do it. And at some point, I'll sit down with someone and go, 'Okay, let's talk about if there's a good enough "why" to do it.' "
Creating Desperate Housewives "was like, you've taken a couple of swimming lessons and then they just throw you into the biggest pool ever and say, 'Go swim,' " Cherry says. "But that's probably a metaphor for life: Oh, I made so many mistakes, but I did some things right. And I just learned. God, I learned."
Desperate Housewives is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu.