PASADENA, Calif. — A lot of television producers who create a hit show seemingly can't wait to move on to the next project.

Not so "Desperate Housewives" creator/writer/executive producer Marc Cherry, who insists he's not letting go of the show's reigns under any circumstances.

"I took a little step back Season 2, because of exhaustion, a little bit. I don't think I was quite as present there," he said. "Things didn't go as well."

The consensus was that Season 2 wasn't as good as Season 1. And that "kind of really hurt me in a deep place."

But he's stepped back in for Season 3, which is arguably a big improvement on Season 2. And Cherry won't step aside again.

"ABC can't bulldoze me out of that show," he said.

Which is not to say that he plans to spend the rest of his life running "Desperate Housewives."

"I want it to run seven years. And the moment seven years is past, I will personally take down the sets," said Cherry, who has no intention of turning the show over to someone else and moving on.

"That's how protective I am of this," he said. "I'm only going to have one major hit. I'm only going to catch lightning in a bottle once. I wish I had the energy to develop and write at the same time, but I don't.

"This is going to be on my tombstone. I'll be damned if I don't protect it."

MARCIA CROSS WILL DISAPPEAR from "Desperate Housewives," but that's not a bad thing for her. The actress, who plays Bree, is pregnant and has been ordered to go on bed rest.

"First and foremost that's a great thing. She's going to be having twins, and we're really happy for her," said ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson.

Cherry planned ahead for Cross to take a break, but he didn't plan on her being pregnant with twins and getting an earlier-than-expected order to go on bed rest. So she has been shooting scenes at home — Cross' real home, not Bree's home on Wisteria Lane.

"She's been such a sport to do it, and so it's kind of a fun thing," McPherson said.

With Cross out of action, look for Nicollette Sheridan and her character, Edie Britt, to get more screen time.

"Nicollette's about to have a really fun time. Because with Marcia now on bed rest, she's going to be promoted and be front and center for the remainder of the season," Cherry said. "She's going to have a fascinating romance with someone who already lives on the street, and we're going to be meeting her son that was mentioned in the pilot."

That would be the son we were first promised would show up before the end of Season 1, then were promised we'd see in Season 2.

"I'm finally bringing that character in. We're going to find out why he hasn't been around," Cherry said.