Third Time's the Charm

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Desperate Housewives

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(If you're spoiler-phobic, skip the next four paragraphs.)

The first episode opens six months after the finale with a mystery that is tied directly to Bree, Mike, and Susan. Bree is about to wed the secretive, meticulous dentist Orson (Kyle MacLachlan), who's hiding something so chilling it gave him reason to run down manly plumber Mike (James Denton) with his car in May's finale. ''Let's just say that in many ways Bree has met the perfect man for her...but that will ultimately prove to be the downfall of the relationship,'' hints Cherry. ''The idea that one of our women marries a guy who has dark secrets and possibly a violent streak — I thought there was something exciting about that, but real and relatable.'' Cherry also notes that the mystery will organically bring the women together, as they'll all be concerned about Bree's creepy new husband. The man at the center of it all, MacLachlan, won't spill too much dirt, but he says Orson's secret is ''of a psychological nature'' and that ''he's desperate to make this relationship with Bree work. Anything that tries to knock that apart becomes a threat.''

He won't have to worry about Mike, at least not right away: Mr. Delfino begins this season in a coma. (It proved to be a relaxing few days of work for Denton. ''You end up taking a lot of naps,'' he says. ''[One time] I fell asleep, I woke up and everybody was gone — all the actors, the crew. They'd moved on to the next scene without telling me.'') When Mike finally does come to, ''there's something a little off about him, which is going to be fun to play,'' says Denton. ''And he's obviously not happy that this might not have been an accident. He's a little darker.'' And here's the cherry on top from Cherry: ''There'll be a woman coming along to screw up Mike's mind and screw up Susan's happiness.''

Yep, Susan does find a little of that when she meets a wry English chap named Ian (Dougray Scott) at the hospital. ''Susan, for the very first time, has a guy who can legitimately rival Mike for her affections,'' says Cherry. ''I expect the fans to be tormented.'' Adds Daily: ''Talk about dark comedy — we're trying to find the humor in these two people bonding over the fact that they each have a partner in a coma.'' In that case, we can't wait to see how they handle the supermarket hostage situation in episode 7. ''Several of our people are in that market, and not all of them make it out alive,'' says Keenan, who promises a few dead bodies over the year. ''There'll be a little bit of carnage coming along, just coincidentally around the start of sweeps.''

In other Desperate traumas, Lynette will do battle with Nora (Kiersten Warren), the woman with whom Tom (Doug Savant) fathered a child before he met her. She'll also find herself tempted by an attractive new neighbor. Cherry does offer up one other piping-hot Scavo story line: Lynette quits her ad agency job to help Tom run a pizzeria — a story based on Cherry's father's buying a pizza joint and forcing his family to work there. Meanwhile, Andrew resurfaces when Bree spots him on the news and ditches her honeymoon to rescue him; later, one of the Van De Kamps attempts suicide in a ''darkly comic'' way. (That's also based on Cherry's life: ''The night after that episode airs,'' he says, ''I'm going to have to make an apologetic call to certain people in my family.'') Down the street, Edie digs her claws into a familiar face and tries to be a good aunt to her troublemaking teenage nephew/new roommate. ''Edie definitely has very strong maternal instincts,'' says Sheridan. ''You'll see a very protective side of her this season.'' And, of course, Gaby and Carlos talk divorce proceedings while proceeding to drive each other bonkers. ''It's painfully tantalizing,'' assures Chavira. ''There's a lot of tit for tat and tête-à-têtes.''

One of the biggest plot developments, though, is the sunnier vibe on the set. ''All the actors have told me how much they prefer the writing this season,'' Cherry says. ''I think the cast is the happiest it's ever been.'' Confirms Longoria: ''There's definitely a new energy. The new writers have really punched up the jokes. I love sitcoms, so to have that kind of comedy is refreshing.'' Adds Sheridan, ''I'm much happier with the scripts this season,'' while Hatcher says via e-mail: ''The show this year is really back to the wonderful blending of comedy and drama of the pilot. I personally am so happy to welcome the Susan from the pilot back onto the screen.''

With good feelings and shoutrageous high jinks in ample supply, maybe the best question to ask is this: What won't happen on Desperate Housewives this year? ''I don't think we can ever start a sentence with, 'This definitely won't happen on Desperate Housewives,''' jokes Longoria. Still, Cherry's willing to give it a shot: ''Ummm...no one will hide anyone in a basement.'' This year, it seems all of the doors on Wisteria Lane are wide open.