LOS ANGELES - Being the new kid on the block can be tough. But that wasn't the case when Dana Delany finally found herself a resident of one of the best known, most troubled neighborhoods on television.

Delany joined the cast of the ABC Sunday night drama "Desperate Housewives" in 2007 to play Katherine Mayfair. She had her chance to be part of the series from the start. But Delany originally turned down being part of the wicked wives club.

"I had done 'Pasadena' and I thought it was too similar to the role I had played in that series," Delany, 52, says during an interview at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "I don't think of jobs in terms of career. I look in terms of what excites me. And I felt I had already played that role.

"Then it became a huge hit. I looked at it and said 'Did I make a big mistake?'"

At least it was a mistake she got to correct. Delany knows how lucky she has been to get a second chance to be on the series. That's rarely the case in Hollywood.

That second chance has a lot to do with the show's creator, Marc Cherry. He could not be happier that Delany said yes on his second attempt.

"We've had the best time with her and we're all so grateful to the energy she brought to the show. One of my favorite things of last season was just the weird, twisted relationship that Dana and Marcia had. It was some of the most fun I think we've ever had writing," Cherry says.

He's referring to how the characters played by Delany and Marcia Cross went from rivals to catering partners. This year, the bond between the characters has gone even deeper.

During last season, Katherine spent most her time protecting her daughter. Katherine's dark secrets included an abusive husband and the adoption of a child as a substitute for a dead daughter.

Those dark secrets got left way behind. Delany's second season on the show actually came with a fast forward. Cherry moved the story line ahead five years before the start of this year. It was his way of being able to take different directions with the characters.

The actress liked that Cherry wrote the character as being very cold in the beginning. It wasn't until all of the secrets were revealed that the character was able to change. Delany says the time shift allowed her character to become "a little more human."

And Cherry plans on revealing more about Katherine. He'll have time. There was no discussion when Delany was hired as to how long she would stay on the show. But Cherry is determined to keep her around.

"I must say on a personal level, now that I've worked with Dana, I need to work with her a couple more years. I can't just let her go yet," Cherry says. "I've had people come on to the show in all sorts of guest-star capacities and some really click and some don't and it very much affects what we do in the writers' room.

"What was so great about when Dana started the show, is once the episodes started coming in and we were editing them, it was like, oh, wow, this thing's really working. And then, the response from the fans was amazing."

Viewers have had the chance to follow Delany's career since she made her professional debut in the daytime drama "Love of Life" in 1979. Her standout television roles include "China Beach" and "Kidnapped."

Comic book fans heard her as the voice of Lois Lane in the 1996 animated series "Superman" and the 2003 animated series "Justice League."

Whether she stays on Wisteria Lane or moves on, Delany just wants to keep doing the job she loves.

"I hate to say this but I live to work," Delany says. "The more the work, the happier I am."

Delany will have even more time to work developing her character now that the elections are over. Although she did not grow up in a household that discussed politics, Delany has been involved in national campaigns since stumping for candidates in 1992.

"That was the year when Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein were running for the Senate. I loved the idea of having two female senators from the same state," Delany says.

And her work on "Desperate Housewives' shows just how much neighbors should, or should not, get involved.

(c) 2008, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.).

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