'Mad Men,' 'Desperate Housewives' on top of their games

"Mad Men" wraps up its second season on Sunday, and I've got some bad news for fans.

It's so good that it's not going to be easy to wait for Season 3.

The Emmy-winning series rewards the patience of longtime viewers, finally paying off a number of plotlines — including one that's been unresolved since the end of last season.

At the same time, so many stories remain to be resolved that, yes, it's going to be hard to wait for next season.

Crises for the regular characters abound in Sunday's "Mad Men" (8, 9 and 11 p.m., AMC). And they all play out at the same time as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Don Draper (John Hamm) has returned to the Sterling Cooper advertising agency, only to discover it's being sold to a British firm. As word of that starts to leak out, the staff is in an uproar. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) is an island of calm, but she remains an odd duck. And Duck (Mark Moses) is acting like the cat that ate the canary, but there are surprises for just about everyone.

Including Pete (Vincent Kartheiser), who is both surprised and surprising.

Meanwhile, Don's wife, Betty (January Jones), gets some news she isn't expecting. And her reaction to that is something no one expects.

"Mad Men" did the nearly impossible this season — there was no sophomore slump after a great first season. From the show's look and wardrobe to its creation of compelling characters to plotting that's engaging and often unexpected, this is simply great TV.

"DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES" made a great leap forward this season, and — while there was serious danger of falling flat on its face — the show stuck the landing.

Moving the action forward five years did exactly what it was intended. It reset the stories, downsizing them a bit to something more akin to actual housewives. And in addition to this season's Big Mystery — who is Dave (Neal McDonough) seeking revenge against? — there are lots of questions about what happened during the five years we missed.

Sunday's episode (8 p.m., Ch. 4) gives us a glimpse of a few things that happened during that period. Including:

A flashback to when Gabby (Eva Longoria Parker) got pregnant with her first child. And with her second.

(This is must-see TV. It's hilarious.)

A flashback to when Susan (Teri Hatcher) met Jackson (Gale Harold). And when she got divorced from Mike (James Denton).

A flashback to a crisis in Lynette (Felicity Huffman) and Tom's (Doug Savant) lives — a crisis that explains a lot of what happened since then.

A flashback to Orson's (Kyle MacLachlan) last day before he went off to prison. And the effect that had on Bree (Marcia Cross). And on Katherine (Dana Delany).

All of the flashbacks relate to present-day events. Big events. Potentially life-changing events.

This is a great episode of a great show.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com