The women of Wisteria Lane may have only a few more years to resolve their assorted problems.
"Desperate Housewives" creator and executive producer Marc Cherry told a meeting of the Television Critics Association on Thursday that he plans to end the ABC series after seven seasons.
The domestic comedy-drama starring Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria begins its fifth season this fall.
"I love working with these gals, but the idea of letting anyone else take the show from me kind of makes me sad and sick to my stomach," Cherry said. "We're going to get out while people still like us."
"Of course," he added, "this could be some clever ruse on my part to get tremendous amounts of money in season eight, but who knows."
Cherry, who took part in a "Desperate" panel discussion, also joined a Q&A session with other top ABC producers.
Cherry also joked about having to share the stage with "Lost" producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who had earlier received an Emmy nod for best drama series. "Housewives," like "Grey's," was snubbed in the series categories.
"We haven't gotten nominated since year one," Cherry said. "Season two was not a good season for us creatively ... but season three was better, and season four was really good. So for me waking up this morning it was like, `You know what? I had a really good season.' So I've got to kind of go with what I feel in my heart."