(S03E01) I think what has worked about Desperate Housewives for the past two seasons is its incredible camp. I have not been a regular watcher for the past two seasons, mostly because the time the show airs coincides with children's bedtimes at my house. But I had caught the occasional episode here and there, and I read enough entertainment magazines to have a knowledge of previous seasons' plot points.I would say that the primary strength and the primary weakness of the Season Three Premiere is that there really wasn't an original plotline in it -- yet, the actresses are so skilled that I found myself not caring much. I will still happily tune in next week. But it is deeply reminiscent of Sex and the City in disturbing ways, particularly the caricatures during the lunch meeting in which Bree announces her engagement to Dr. Demented. Could she be anymore like Charlotte at that moment? And what is also disturbing is that her character is also marrying an odd doctor (okay, dentist) played by Kyle Machlachlan. When did his name become synonymous with creepy? So, that Bree-Orson plotline? Lifted right from the movie Sleeping with the Enemy (the first of many terrible Julia Roberts movies). And Susan's plotline with Mike in a coma, so she can flirt with the outrageously cute Dougray Scott in the hospital? Well, The Dead Zone did that first.

I don't have a real basis for the Gabrielle and Lynette storylines. So maybe, yes, we are heading into unfamiliar plotline territory with marital indiscretion/illegitimate children/surrogate babies. As much as Eva Longoria plays a caricature, she does have some nice emotional moments -- like when she is crying about how she is going to be a single mother to Carlos. Felicity Huffman is just always a pleasure, and Doug Savant gets one of the best lines and best deliveries in the show when he tells Lynette how much he scares her.

Other nice moments: When Susan tells the nurse to give Dougray Scott's comatose wife a sponge bath because, "She had an...accident." Teri Hatcher's hand gesture there as she wrangles for the right way to describe dumping a strawberry smoothie on a coma patient is very nice. And Marcia Cross is just priceless as Bree. Her face when Orson is describing his various methods for getting dishes really really clean is great-- Cross plays to her knowledge that the viewing audience will be regarding Orson as a freak (well, okay, this viewer did), and the look on her face suggests that she might be thinking that as well (though, knowing Bree, we know she isn't), and then she jumps him-- revealing her reaction to be lustful. Bree's line when Orson starts moving south, "I'm a Republican!" I laughed hard at that one, and harder when Bree jumped up and ran to her doctor after having her first orgasm. Despite Orson's murderous history, that might just make him a keeper.

If I were Nicolette Sheridan, I would be extremely pissed off because her character had nothing more to do than try to sell a house and insult old ladies. What happened to the concept of ensemble cast, hmmm?

I'll be tuning in next week -- for all of its camp and unoriginality, the show does continue to have that certain something, those little twists of genius that make it worth watching.