With the sixth season of 'Desperate Housewives' winding down, how much longer can the series stay on the air? Depends on the players and how long ABC can get them to stick around.

According to Deadline Hollywood, the network would like another two seasons. Creator Marc Cherry has spoken of a nine-season run. But the core cast - Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, and Eva Longoria Parker - are contracted for only one more season, and so far, says Deadline, there's been little negotiation between the network and the stars about an eighth season.

Cherry's development deal has him attached to ABC for another three years, but ABC would like to see him spend at least one of those years coming up with a new show that could eventually replace 'Housewives,' something Cherry hasn't found time to do while running things on Wisteria Lane.

Similar tensions may be at play between ABC and the cast of 'Grey's Anatomy,' Deadline reports. Key players Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey are also contracted for just one more year, with Dempsey rumored to be itching to leave after that. The six-year-old show has already seen the departure of several original cast members, including, most recently, Katherine Heigl. Deadline theorizes that the show's ensemble cast is so large that it could withstand even the departures of Dempsey and Pompeo and continue for years with a revolving-door cast the way 'ER' did. But if Pompeo leaves, what will they call the show? Just 'Anatomy'?

Even with their declining audiences, both 'Housewives' and 'Grey's' remain among ABC's top-rated scripted series (as does fellow six-year veteran 'Lost,' which is calling it a day at the end of this season). It's no wonder ABC hopes to squeeze a couple more seasons out of both of them. Which means cast negotiations over the next year could become a little, well, desperate.