On Tuesday night, Gwen and I were glued to our television sets. We had hopefully started watching the CBS premier of The Good Wife, not sure what to expect. Yeah, it looked good in previews, but had they used up all the good parts in the 30-seconds of promo?

Not by a long shot.

Julianna Margulies (remember her from ER?) was wonderfully believable as Alicia Florrick, wife of a high-profile politician who’s in the slammer after being accused of corruption and the release of a sex tape. It begins with the husband (Chris Noth, a.k.a. Mr. Big from Sex and the City) apologizing at a podium while his wife stands like a Popsicle on his right.

She stands by her man in theory, but she’s no pushover, telling him during a jail visit: “Nothing will ever be normal again.”

Six months later, with two kids to support and legal bills no doubt, Alicia goes back to work as an attorney — after 13 years away from work. It’s not an easy transition, but by the end of the show she finds proof of an accused mother’s innocence while handling a pro bono case that had been considered all sewn up. This helps secure her position at the firm.

Alicia’s mother-in-law helps out with the kids when she has to work late and she’s equal parts grateful and resentful. I love the ring tone on Alicia’s phone which signals a call from her MIL — it’s the scary music from the shower scene in Psycho.

The show ends with Alicia listening to a voice mail from her husband saying that the court will hear his appeal and that he’s confident he’ll be released from jail.

Great, right? Judging from her conflicted expression, Alicia is clearly not so sure.

We can’t wait to see the second episode, which airs tomorrow night at 9 p.m. CST. To see the premier of The Good Wife, click here.

So did you watch the premiere of Desperate Housewives last night? I have to hand it to the show’s writers. They did not disappoint. If you missed it or forgot to set your TiVo or DVR, let me fill you in on what happened on Wisteria Lane.

A brand new housewife moved to town! She has a husband and a son and is mysterious right from the get-go. The wife has a huge burn scar on her back and her accent sounds a little like “Jenny from the block.” It seems like they had to move to a new town because her college-age son got into trouble. She said they need to seem like “a normal family.” (Slim chance of that happening on this street.) The son immediately got goo-goo eyes for Julie, who is home again and living with Susan. But then the dad also made what seemed like a pretty obvious pass at Julie, too. Very weird.

Lynette just found out she is pregnant with another set of twins — as in kids No. 5 and 6. Tom is excited about it but Lynette? Not so much. In fact, after the ultrasound she seems to be sinking into a depression and admits to Tom that she doesn’t love these babies like she did when she was pregnant with their other children. He assures her that she will love them when she holds them. She doesn’t seem convinced. This should be an interesting story line, since we’ve all known of people who have had those later-in-life “ooops” babies they weren’t planning for.

Gabi is still trying to deal with a new addition at her house — Carlos’ teenage niece who needed a place to live. The teenager is trying to get away with just about everything, and Gabi is shutting her down at every turn, just the way she should. Gabi is not sure she wants to be her legal guardian because of the girl’s bad behavior. But when the girl practically begs to be thrown out and says that she knows Gabi is “keeping her options open” by not signing on as her guardian, Gabi proves her commitment to the girl by signing the paperwork in front of her. She says she wishes someone had done the same for her when she was a teenager. There may be hope for these two yet.

Bree is flirting with the idea of an affair with Carl, Susan’s ex-husband who has made the rounds of women on Wisteria Lane. She wants to do it, but she doesn’t want to be a bad girl, either. Carl finally gives up on her, saying that she would rather “be good than be happy.” But later, in a conversation with Orson, he admits that he feels guilty that he is blackmailing her to stay in the marriage but adds that “sometimes being happy is worth a little guilt.” Bree takes the sentiment to heart and later meets Carl at a cheap hotel for their first official fling. (In true Bree fashion, she scrubbed the bathroom and changed the cheap sheets to Egyptian cotton ones before she did the deed.)

I hardly know where to start when it comes to Susan. It started with wedding bells for Susan and Mike and then flashed back to show us the 8 weeks preceding the wedding. Mike told Catherine that he was leaving her to go back to Susan and marry her. Catherine seemed to take it well. Susan never found the guts to go over and talk to her, see how she was doing, apologize for whatever pain it caused her. That was not a smart move.

Meanwhile, over at Catherine‘s house, the wheels were starting to come off the bus. She signed for a package for Susan which turned out to be the wedding gown. She put it on and answered the door wearing it when Susan came to retrieve the package. Then she nearly splattered it with tomato sauce she had simmering on the stove. She definitely had the old “crazy eyes” in this episode.

Later, right before Susan was about to march down the aisle, she showed up and demanded that Susan make a public apology. Susan refused and locked her in a closet for the ceremony. But Catherine busted out and barged into the church just after the “kiss the bride” part. She made a big scene but backed down when Mike told her to leave. Susan felt bad and made the public apology to Catherine. Catherine hugged her and pretended to leave satisfied but not before she whispered to Susan that the apology didn’t help. I have a feeling some big revenge is coming Susan’s way.

Speaking of crazy, Julie was taking out the trash in the last scene of the show and was grabbed from behind by a man we couldn’t see who was wearing gloves. He choked her, picking her up off her feet, until she stopped moving. Then he dropped her in the yard and ran away. She is still alive but the preview of next week’s episode shows that she is in a coma in the hospital. We’re assuming the creepy new teenage kid did it, but who knows? Maybe it was the creepy dad instead. Stay tuned.

By Gwen Rockwood, mama of 3

Oh, it’s been a long summer for fans of Grey’s Anatomy. Last night, all the waiting ended and the two-hour season premiere of Grey’s began with D-Day. That’s a “D” as in “DEAD.” George is dead. On Day 1 of this episode, George died in surgery.

I wasn’t shocked because I’d read a few of the spoilers circulating online this summer, but it was still incredibly sad. There was a moment at the beginning of the show where it seemed that maybe, just maybe, Meredith had made a mistake and it wasn’t really George on that table – unrecognizable after having been dragged under a bus in the process of saving a stranger’s life.

Hopeful for the mistake, Callie remembered a freckle on George’s hand that was shaped like the state of Texas. She went in the room to check for it. With anguish, she found it and collapsed into tears beside the bed where George laid brain dead.

George’s mother was unable to make the decision about whether or not to donate his organs, and no one could find his wallet to check his driver’s license. She asked Callie to make the call, but Callie couldn’t decide either. Then she realized that the person who George had loved the most should decide about organ donation, and that person was Izzie.

But there was one little problem… Izzie had been busy dying herself.

That’s right, people – we had two deaths in one season premiere! But thankfully Izzie got shocked back to life and remembered a vivid dream of seeing George in a military uniform. Alex didn’t want anyone to tell Izzie what that dream really meant because he was afraid she wasn’t physically strong enough to handle it. The news might literally kill her. But Callie convinced him that Izzie would never forgive him if she was denied the chance to say goodbye to George before they pulled the plug.

After suffering the shocking news, Izzie said that “George would give everything,” so all his usable organs were donated to waiting patients all over the country.

The rest of the premiere followed the 40 days after George died. If you forgot to watch or set your DVR to record it (Gasp!), here’s how the 40 days went:

Day 7: At George’s funeral, Izzie had to step away from the graveside service. Alex, Meredith and Cristina followed her, assuming she was overcome with grief. But when she stopped running, they realized she was laughing – hysterically. The absurdity of the moment was more than she could take. She had cancer. The girl George saved was crying the most at the funeral and she was the one person who didn’t even know him. Meredith got married on a Post-It note. George had been hit by a bus. They all burst into laughter, which was soon followed by a heavy, sad silence.

In other news, Derek was offered Chief Weber’s job because the board of directors was trying to force him out. Derek gave Chief Weber a heads-up about the news so he could make a plan.

Day 10: Callie didn’t get a promotion she deserved from the Chief. She quit and took a job at another hospital in town, Mercy West.

Day 11: Amanda, the girl who George saved from the bus, comes to the ER because she can’t sleep. She sees George’s face everywhere. By the way, Meredith and Cristina still haven’t shed a tear.

Day 13: Derek and Meredith get caught by roommates consummating their Post-It note marriage in various places all over the house. Alex and Izzie move to Derek’s trailer so the newlyweds will have some space.

Day 23: In a therapy session, Colin’s psychiatrist explains to Cristina that not talking about his trauma is what causes Colin’s post-traumatic stress disorder and that they should not have sex and further complicate his life until he has begun to deal with it.

Day 30: Izzie reaches out to Alex but is shut down. Alex has retreated to “jerk mode.” Izzie walks away angry.

Day 36: Izzie gets good news. She still has cancer but it has stopped growing. Her doctor tells her that they will “watch it, wait and hope it doesn’t start to grow again.”

Day 39: Meredith tells Izzie that Amanda (bus girl) sits on a bench outside the hospital every day. Izzie yells at Amanda and tells her to “go live your freakin’ life.” (Because George died for her to have one.) She even threatens to kick the girl’s butt if she catches her hiding out on the bench again. Halfway through her tirade, she realizes that the bus girl isn’t the only one with “survivor guilt.” That night, Izzie forces Alex to talk to her and he finally admits how scared he is and was when his new wife momentarily died in his arms nearly 40 days earlier. This is the moment of their emotional break-through.

In another therapy session, Cristina makes a dark joke about the choking incident between her and Colin. The joke triggers the serious talk they’d been avoiding for so long, and the therapist congratulates him on “making a start.” After sleeping with Colin, the shock of George’s death finally settles on Cristina and she begins to truly feel the pain of the loss for the first time.

Meredith’s moment came in the resident’s dressing room, when the janitor came to clear out George’s locker. The empty locker space triggered an avalanche of tears for Meredith, and Derek was there to hold her.

Day 40: Chief Weber announces to the staff that Seattle Grace is merging with a competing hospital, Mercy West. Not all of the doctors will be able to keep their jobs. Derek is furious. And the doctors are nervous. Very nervous.

It was a great season premiere, and lots of other things happened that I would tell you about if this post wasn’t already WAY too long.

Buckle up, Grey’s fans. It’s going to be a bumpy season.

What did you guys think of the premiere? Click the word “comment” below and throw some opinions our way.