Sarah Jessica Parker Felt ‘Sex and the City’ Couldn’t Compete With ‘Desperate Housewives’
Sarah Jessica Parker already knew what it was like starring in a hit show with Sex and the City. But the actor considered the show fortunate it didn’t air at the same time another popular show did. Parker believed that her HBO series wouldn’t have stood a chance against it.
Sarah Jessica Parker felt ‘Sex and the City’ would’ve been squashed by ‘Desperate Housewives’
Parker felt there wasn’t much of a competition between Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. On the surface level, the two shows seemed to have quite a bit in common. They both focused on a cast of women and their day-to-day lives as they dealt with friendships, dating, families and careers. But they had stark differences as well.
Desperate Housewives took place in an entirely fictional setting. The television show also had a bit of a fantastical element to it, as it was told from the point of view of a dead character. Meanwhile, Sex and the City was more grounded, taking place in the very familiar setting of New York. Still, Parker felt that Sex and the City had a significant influence on Desperate Housewives. She felt the format of the HBO show paved the way for the Teri Hatcher-led program.
“Well, I think that HBO did a really clever thing, you know, creating this standing date on Sunday nights at 9:00,” Parker once told CNN. “I think that’s really a lot what this was about. I think, you know, there was a show that was successful to a smaller degree.”
At the same time, due to the ratings, Parker felt Sex and the City wouldn’t hold a candle to Desperate Housewives.
“SATC would never have been able to compete with them. We would have been squashed by them, so the timing turned out to be lucky,” Parker once told Cosmopolitan (via Hollywood).
The logic behind this being that Desperate Housewives was on ABC, so it was accessible to a lot more households than the HBO show.
‘Desperate Housewives’ creator once shared his characters wouldn’t end up in Dubai like the ‘Sex and the City’ cast
Similarly to Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives enjoyed a nice run. It debuted in 2004, after Sex and the City reached its conclusion, and lasted for eight seasons until its own end in 2012. But even afterwards, its success continued with a movie. Its 2008 film reunited much of the original cast and crew. It earned more than $400 million at the box-office, earning itself a sequel thanks to its financial success.
But when Desperate Housewives ended, there was little plan to continue the series any further. The series’ creator, Marc Cherry, made it a point to mention how there wouldn’t be a Desperate Housewives the movie.
“I’m never sending these gals to Dubai,” Cherry once told Entertainment Weekly. “I think we’re done. I’m happy about it. I feel very satisfied with where we are.”
It seems unlikely that Desperate Housewives would also have a reboot similar to the revival series And Just Like That. The show’s star Hatcher recently confided that she doubted the series would follow a similar path.
“I think it’s been a long time. We had amazing fans and I know everyone on that show is really grateful for the journey,” she once told E News.
Who made more between Sarah Jessica Parker and Teri Hatcher?
As the two faces of their respective shows, both Parker and Hatcher were rewarded incredibly well for their star-power. But it turns out Parker was making more than Hatcher at the end of her Sex and the City run. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Parker was making $3.2 million an episode. Whereas Hatcher was reportedly making $400,000 an episode towards the end of Desperate Housewives.
