NICOLLETTE SHERIDAN RISES FROM THE DEAD

In what is turning out to be a high-profile wrongful-termination case of the first order, former Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan claimed in court on Thursday that writer-creator Marc Cherry decided to kill off her character after she went to producers to complain about an altercation with Cherry. Sheridan, who is seeking $3 million in her lawsuit against Cherry and ABC Entertainment, claims that the incident occurred after she asked Cherry to write a funny exit line for her character. “He got agitated and annoyed and didn’t respond,” the actress told the court. When she approached him again about the scene she said, he led her away from the set and hit her “upside the head.” In his opening remarks on Wednesday, Cherry’s attorney, Adam Levin, maintained that his client had merely delivered “a light tap on the head” that was intended to be funny and that Cherry had decided to kill off Sheridan’s character, Edie Britt, months before the incident took place. “Television writers must shock and surprise viewers with pregnancies, affairs, marriages, divorces and deaths to keep them on the edge of their seats,” he said. “The unanticipated death of a prominent character can shock the audience and energize the show.”