Ed
Guilty confession time: I like to watch Ed. I like the quirky humor, which sets it apart from most TV romantic comedy. I have little quibbles with details from time to time, but mostly I just enjoy an hour of watching the underdog get ahead.
That is, until the last episode.
If you haven’t seen the show, Ed, the title character, comes back to his hometown after his wife leaves him. He’s trying to find his bearings, and get his life back together, so he buys the local bowling alley and opens up a law office. He begins to pursue his high school dream girl, Carol, who barely knew he existed back then, but begins to relate to him now. A touch preposterous at times, Ed is a likable little comedy, well crafted and until recently, well conceived.
For some reason, for sweeps, the writers decided to inject a little reality into the show. Carol gets engaged to a guy who is completely wrong for her, they get to the altar, he realizes that she loves Ed, and walks out. Then in a dramatic episode featuring Carol and Ed locked into the bowling alley, where we all expect them to get together and live happily ever after, they break up.
Call me shallow, but I don’t like it when you mix genres on me. This is a dad-gum romantic comedy for cryin’ out loud, not some soap opera tragedy. I know the producers are just trying to stretch out the story for a season ending cliffhanger, but they really screwed up the dynamics of the show with this one. Yes, you need a little bitter to appreciate the sweet, but this is the equivalent of dousing a chocolate cake with Tabasco sauce.
It just ain’t right.
Here’s the problem, and it goes back to something I said about Solaris. If you want to achieve a surprise, you have to do it within the framework you’ve already established, or else you lose the illusion; your audience will see it as a trick. We all know that in real life, getting jilted at the altar does not end up with you finally falling for the right one, who was there all along. We know that; we see it in our own lives. But in Stuckeyville, hey, if you can have a law office in a bowling alley, peopled by oddball characters with at best a nodding acquaintance with the real world, anything can happen. But now, reality has been injected into the cozy little world of Stuckeyville, and it’ll take a while for the stench to wear off.
Posted by Rich at December 9, 2002 4:07 PMI am not ashamed to admit. Yes, I watch "Ed" and I like the characters that inhabit the little town of Stuckeyville. I also enjoy their quirks.
I watched that last episode, but I was glad to see that they ended up pissed at each other and apart. I fully expected them to work out their differences, after all that is how things tend to go in Stuckeyville, the people that are supposed to be together tend to end up together. This episode surprised me with its ending, and I was happy that Ed was looking out for himself for once, and not blindly bending himself to fit into Carol's world. The next few episodes should be very interesting with this new dynamic in place as we watch Carol struggle to come to terms with her own demons, and wait to see if Ed will see things differently without the need for Carol affecting his judgment every breathing moment. I applaud the change.
It's very difficult to maintain a series on the knife edge of will they/won't they, and Ed veered to far in the 'won't they' direction for my taste.
I am curious to see how the writers will extricate themselves from this mess. The relationship between Carol and Ed is the linchpin of this series. We all know in the real world that this would be the end. Ed would move back to the city, leaving Stuckeyville far behind, or maybe chase Jen to Kenya.
I figure they'll pull a "Dallas", and the last episode will turn out to be a nightmare shared by Ed and Carol. Then again, by injecting a little soap into the series, we have a whole new line of possibilities: Carol could have a torrid affair with Phil, while Ed breaks up his best friend's marriage by sleeping with Nancy. Hey, we could have Shirley start sleeping with Molly. That ought to really get the place jumping...
OK, back to reality, or what passes for reality in TV land. Now that sweeps are over, I expect the Ed/Carol story will be back-burnered for a few weeks, then we'll see them come back together, leaving us with a season ending cliff hanger almost identical to last year's.
Posted by: rich on December 9, 2002 10:28 PMI like 'Ed'. It's one of my three guilty TV pleasures, including West Wing and Sopranos. I'm getting hooked on American Dream, too.
I thought the on again off again aspect was wearing thin, and that Ed had too many chances and blew them from my point of view. So maybe you're right that this was a way to put it aside for a while before resurrecting it.
I think this could be a great character/dialogue driven show if they could decide to get over the Sam and Diane angle. I'd like to see more crazy Ed court cases or Phil entrepreneurial exploits.
Posted by: SK Bubba on December 10, 2002 9:23 AM