So all I can say is I just randomly checked her site and it says she had to cancel The View appereance for next week because she’s going to start shooting the pilot, as it’s going to take her two weeks. That’s the only thing I know up to now, as there aren’t any other… Wait a minute! I found news so here we go with them! I’m sad to read it but we all know how Dana can be at times and that’s why we love her.

A deal has finally been hammered out for Dana Delany to take a leave from ABC’s  Desperate Housewives to shoot the alphabet net’s fall pilot, Body of Evidence.

“The networks have become like the old studio system where they have their stable of actors,” Dana tells me. “They want to hold on to them and see what else they can do with them, so (ABC president) Steve McPherson said, ‘Would you consider doing another show,’ and I said, ‘I love Housewives, but this is the lead role and something different.’ It’s one of those bountiful things. I love the show I have, but they’re offering me the lead.’“

The series, which starts shooting this week, will team Dana with actors John Carroll Lynch (The Drew Carey Show and Carnivale), Trust Me’s Geoffrey Arend (husband of Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks) and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager, Shark, Law and Order: SVU.

While stressing that the series may not land on ABC’s fall schedule, Dana says she is excited about the possibility of playing a strong woman, describing her new character, Meghan Hunt, as “a woman who was a brain surgeon and is now a medical examiner. It’s a character-driven story as there were certain circumstances in her life that required her to make that career change.”

Dana also took it as a sign from the heavens that she should accept the role given that this new character shares the same last name as her real-life aunt, Carrie Hunt, who passed away just last week.

Housewives creator Marc Cherry is writing out her character, Katherine Mayfair, so that she can head out of town to shoot the pilot over the next couple weeks.

“But if her pilot doesn’t fly, she’ll be coming back,” Cherry tells TV Guide Magazine exclusively. “ABC asked me if they could give Dana her own show, but if that doesn’t work, she’s got a place waiting for her.” Dana says her Housewives boss promised he would not kill her off.

So where is Katherine Mayfair going? Seems like she could be headed for a happy lesbian life with Julie Benz’s stripper character. “Robin will be back,” teases Dana. “I think they’re a delightfully odd couple.”

Even if Dana’s new show does land a spot on the network’s fall schedule, Cherry will do his best to hold on to Katherine in some capacity. “I would at least try to have her make a guest spot, but we won’t make any decision [in the storytelling] until the new schedule is announced.”

The Mayfair home is not the only house on Wisteria Lane that may be going on the market, with Cherry confirming that Drea de Matteo is out as Angie Bolen at season’s end, leaving the fates of her TV husband Jeffrey Nordling (Nick) and son Beau Mirchoff (Danny) in limbo.

Downplaying de Matteo’s exit, Cherry points out that he “traditionally” devotes only one season to the guest actors in his mystery stories, such as Alfre Woodard and Neal McDonough (Delany and Kyle MacLachlan are exceptions). The bigger question mark involves the contracts of Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria Parker, which are all up at the end of next season.

“All I can say officially is I have been told they’re all in negotiations to extend their contracts,” Cherry tells TV Guide Magazine. “All their reps have just started talking to ABC.”

Unlike Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes, who has been pumping new blood into Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital to take the place of exiting principals, Cherry dislikes the thought of continuing his series through 2013 (when his own contract is up) without his original quartet. “I have no intent to introduce any substitute characters, as I’ve got my fingers crossed that I can keep all four of my original gals for as long as possible. These are the characters Mary Alice chose to tell us about, and I think it would be odd to do the show with anyone else.”

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