New Martha Comes In Like a Lamb . . .

"Well, the last couple years have been, you know, a little bit trying, a little bit difficult. But I have had such support from everyone who works with me, everyone who has helped me -- my daughter, Alexis; thank you, Alexis [shot of Alexis] -- my friends.

"I don't want anybody to have to go through it, but if you have friends and family and colleagues like I have had, you can get through a lot of difficulties.

"We have all been following the destruction in the Gulf states, and our hearts go out to everyone," she continued in one of the great TV segues of this year.

Fade to a photo montage of Martha's previous visits with the white people in New Orleans, presumably for her magazine.

Back to Martha with more thoughts on New Orleans.

Then she changed the subject again.

"Yesterday, 9/11."

Lamb-y Martha's Tear-Jerk Hat Trick.

Time for Marcia Cross, Lamb-y Martha's very first guest on her very first show.

"Do you really think that your character is based on me?!" Lamb-y Martha asks Cross.

"Well, um, that's how they described her," Cross answers, nervously.

"Do you think I would ask for the baskets back?" Lamb-y Martha continues, referring to a scene from the show's first episode, in which Bree attends a wake for a dead neighbor and gives the grieving widower and his son two food-filled baskets, telling them she wants the baskets back.