The folks at Desperate Housewives do know the season has started, right?

After three episodes, this hugely popular ABC soap-com still seems to be in some offseason transition, clinging to old plots while fumbling with new ones. Perhaps it was too much to hope that the second season of Housewives would get off to the same kind of explosive start as the first. But we do expect the series to do more than just mark time.

Let me hasten to add that I'd still rather spend time with these Housewives than with almost any other TV show. Even at a reduced gear, Housewives is one of the medium's rare pleasures, one that should be able to ride on our affection for its actors and characters long enough for the writers to find their way home again.

Part of the problem, perhaps, is that Housewives creator Marc Cherry has yet to write an episode this season. TV is a collaborative medium, so it is likely that Cherry has made major contributions to all the scripts. But that's not the same thing, and so far, neither is his show.

Of course there have been entertaining moments, and Sunday night's return of Harriet Sansom Harris may be a sign of more to come. But too many of the setups don't pay off — such as Lynette's (Felicity Huffman) attempt to video-conference her way to her son's first day of school, or Bree's (Marcia Cross) flat act-break insult to the detective. And the writers seem to be drawing some of the characters too broadly, making Gaby (Eva Longoria) too selfish and Susan (Teri Hatcher) too stupid.

What's worse, too many of the scenes are rehashing stories we thought we had left behind. Do they really expect us to believe Gaby was considering getting back together with John?

Yet more than anything, what's missing is an overarching story strong enough to tie the episodes and the housewives together. Mary Alice's suicide didn't just launch Housewives. By forcing the remaining friends to re-evaluate their lives while uniting them in a quest to understand Mary Alice's death; it set the tone for the show and lent it depth.

So far this year, there's no such link among these four women. Indeed, in three weeks we've hardly seen the four stars together. And they didn't share a scene last night at all.

If Alfre Woodard's man-in-the-basement story line was supposed to be the tie that binds or a suitable substitute for the Mary Alice story, it isn't working. Woodard is one of our best actresses; but the story is far-fetched even for Wisteria Lane. And even if it weren't, her character is too peripheral for her plight to have much emotional impact on the four main housewives. She's barely a neighbor, let alone a friend.

Still, the season is young, and good shows often suffer from slow starts. The situation's troubling, yes. But desperate?

Not yet.

So far this year, there's no such link among these four women. Indeed, in three weeks we've hardly seen the four stars together. And they didn't share a scene last night at all.

The best thing they could do for this show, besides more scenes with the four housewives together, as others have said, is to find a way to expand Harriet Sansom Harris's role on the show. Her brief scene with Mike was the highlight of last night's episode for me.

The gimp storyline had better be something important in the wide scheme of things, or else it is a stupid waste of time and talent. I remember when Dynasty was on the air they actually dabbled with aliens for an ep