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

Wanna Know What to Expect Thursday Night? Read On..

"Welcome to Season Three!!!"Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes posted this morning on the writer's blog of her sizzling show.

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: