TONIGHT'S MUST-SEE

"Desperate Housewives," 8 p.m., ABC. Last week's season opener smoothed out the wobbly plot. Edie didn't commit suicide after all; she was faking it, to get Carlos' sympathy. Now she's still with him, Gabrielle is still with her scheming husband and complications grow. Also, Susan is pregnant; Lynette has finally told friends she has cancer ... and the latest neighbors-with-a-secret have moved in. Tonight, Susan gets mistaken for a stripper, Lynette expels Tom from her chemotherapy sessions and Bree wants to steal a prize-winning recipe.

OF NOTE

Football, 2:15 p.m., with pregame at 1 p.m., NBC. The Chicago Bears visit the Green Bay Packers. Would anyone have guessed that, four games into the season, the Packers would have a three-game lead over the conference-champion Bears?

"Snapped" season opener (7 p.m.) and "Captured" debut (7:30 p.m.), Oxygen. Here are two true-crime stories. First is a fairly standard one, about a preacher's wife (and mother of three young daughters) who confessed to killing her husband. That's followed by a fascinating one about an Ohio woman who struggled for years to show that her husband was wrongly accused of murder.

"The Simpsons," 7:30 and 8 p.m., Fox. First is a rerun, with Homer in boot camp. Then comes a new episode: After his car is towed, Homer learns the joy of being a tow-truck operator. Naturally, he overdoes it.

"The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: Chinese Walls," 8 p.m., PBS. After pausing for two weeks for Ken Burns' "The War," this series has two more movies featuring the upper-class cop (Nathaniel Parker) and his blue-collar sergeant (Sharon Small). This time, a lawyer has been killed; soon, they learn about her secret, seedy life. Sounds like a "Law & Order" episode.

"Cold Case," 8 p.m., CBS. Shortly after she came to Philadelphia, an Amish teenager was killed. Her case lingered as a "Jane Doe" for a year, until her family arrived.

"Shark," 9 p.m., CBS. When an actress is killed, suspicion turns to her plastic surgeon.

"Brothers and Sisters," 9 p.m., ABC. Now that Justin is back from the war, his mom, Nora, goes on a road trip to get him. She brings two of his siblings, Kevin and Kitty.