Why You Should Watch Grey's Anatomy's Season 3 Premiere

Coupled with trailers released on ABC's website, Rhimes gives Anatomy addicts a further peek into what to expect from the hospital drama's highly anticipated premiere, titled "Time Has Come Today," which airs Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, 9 p.m. EST.

"Those panties..."
Rhimes wrote, "dude, those panties play a big part in the first couple of episodes."

Of course, Grey's Anatomy fans, who have their own message boards called The Incision dedicated solely to postings about the medical drama, know exactly what black panties Rhimes is referring to.

In its Season 2 finale - watched by an estimated 20 million viewers - Grey's Anatomy left med-heads in the middle of a tense love rectangle. Surgical intern Meredith Grey, played exquisitely by rail-thin and McDreamy-eyed Ellen Pompeo, heated up an exam table with her much-married ex-boyfriend Derek Shepherd (the smoldering Patrick Dempsey) and left her underwear behind.

Swirling somewhere nearby in her devil-red dress was Derek's wife, Addison Shepherd, also a top-notch surgeon, but one that committed adultery earlier in their marriage then traipsed all the way from Manhattan to Seattle to try and repair the failing union.

In the fourth corner is Meredith's beau-of-the-moment, Chris O'Donnell as veterinarian Finn Dandridge, who looked curiously into the eyes of the post-coital lovers in the cliffhanger and tried to figure out what the McHeck was going on.

Don't know much about Grey's Anatomy?
Tune in an hour earlier for the special "Grey's Anatomy: Complications of the Heart," which premieres Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006 at 8 p.m. EST. According to SpoilerFix.com, it "examines the key moments from Season Two."

But for a bit more of the backstory on how the-little-mid-season-replacement-that-could became one of the most widely watched shows on prime-time, let's examine its key ingredients:

That writing!
From the well-drawn, in-depth and consistent characters to realistic surgical situations that even have doctors giving the scripts their blessing, Grey's wins points for patient unfolding and pacing of plot points.

Even more compelling is Grey's truly trendy and quotable dialogue that will no doubt remain in the nation's lexicon for years to come. Seriously.

That casting!
From lifelike premies to long-ignored oldies but still goodies, Grey's gives acting opportunities to plenty of people above and below the mainly 30-something age range of the central cast's beautiful doctors.

Also refreshing is the show's mélange of ethnicities and their interracial relationships. When we left off, intern Cristina Yang - played by Korean actress Sandra Oh - at last lingered at the bedside her wounded African-American boyfriend, cardiothorasic surgeon Preston Burke, played by the striking Isaiah Washington.

And most importantly, Grey's doesn't shy away from casting actresses with a little more meat on their bones than the scarily popular size double zeroes of our day. I almost forgot what normal thighs looked like on TV till I tuned in and saw Katherine Heigl's "Izzie" and Sara Ramirez' "Callie" jiggling around in their underwear.

That music!
Grey's was one of the first prime time shows to feature James Blunt's awesome "Tears & Rain" track, along with a host of other sensational artists whose music is sweetly apropos to the drama's life-and-death mood.

As for The Fray's infectious Nirvana-sounding theme song, "How to Save a Life," viewers will be treated to an extended version of the video containing scenes from the first three episodes of the upcoming season on Thursday night as well, prior to the Season Three premiere.

Tune in. You won't be sorry.

Paula Neal Mooney is editor-in-chief of Real Moms magazine.