Ed - 11/19/2003 (1 Viewer)

[Michael Martin]

An uneven episode. Ed and Carol's storyline was doing a precarious balancing act between Ed's quite funny scramble to find the best way to propose, and Carol's growing desparation to talk to Ed about their future. I think it mostly worked, but it could be a bit jarring going from Carol's serious (and believable) concern about what would happen between them, and Ed....being Ed. Like many TV couples, Ed and Carol have some communication issues to work on...

Eli and Jennifer worked fairly well. It helped that they didn't receive the majority of the screen time, so it didn't feel overly drawn out. Good for Eli for taking her arm and drawing Jenn-EE-fair down into his lap.

Mike and Nancy and Mike's parents...a good try, but I think this storyline just didn't work. The disconnect between Mike and his dad was too "real" and serious to fit well into one episode of Ed, and the fire was a real downer. For me, this story was could have (and perhaps should have) been stretched over a couple of episodes, as the ending felt forced, though it was not unrealistically "happy" (i.e. Mike's dad suddenly gets in touch with his emotions). Mike again had some great lines, but this was also a great episode for Josh Randall to stretch his acting muscles. I loved the scene where Mike slapped his dad back, to let him know how it felt.

I will admit to predicting wrongly about the proposal--

Carol actually said YES!


But I think predictions of Ed and Carol moving back to Stuckeyville after a few episodes are correct. At least I hope they are. I don't want to watch Ed without Stuckeyville.

 

[Patrick Sun]

"The Proposal"

Pretty good episode. Starting out with the cheesy proposal idea, Ed scales down his plan of attack, leaving Carol befuddled and confused. After a couple of mis-starts (dinner at the Smiling Goat, and renting out a theater to show Carole a montage of her life), Ed stumbles on a list of Carol's favorite things from 1982, and proceeds to give Carol all 25 of her favorite things. It was very sweet, Carol loves it, and finally Ed gets on one knee and proposes to Carol, and offers to move to New York to be with her. Carol is thrill, accepts the ring, and adds one more thing to the list.

Burt Reynolds and Blair Brown show up as Mike's parents, and Mike just seethes when his dad shows up because they don't have a good relationship. Mike's dad always calls him Tin Man. Mike's mom tells Nancy that their sex life is pretty much dead because Mike's dad is pretty much impotent.

Eli can't quite pull the trigger on telling Jennifer how he really feels about her, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, he uses the event he hastily concocts (opening up Stuckeybowl and cooking for other folks in Stuckeyville without any place to be for Thanksgiving) to have Jennifer with him on the holiday.

Mike's dad wants to fry a turkey, buys the needed deep frying pot and eventually winds up burning down Mike's house. Mike's gets so angry that he just cracks and start screaming at his dad: "You're IMPOTENT! IMPOTENT! IMPOTENT!!!"

Mike's parents leave for Stuckeybowl for the Thanksgiving meal, and they are the only people to show up thanks for Phil not putting up any of the fliers around town, so the Stuckeybowl crew with way too much food have Thanksgiving with Mike's parent. Later Mike and Nancy and Sarah show up. Mike apologized for his outburst, and Mike's dad apologizes for burning down the house.

 

[Mike Brogan]

It was decent. The beginning proposal scene had me worried until I found out it wasn't real. Finally, Phil called out Ed on the bowling alley ownership deal but they disposed of that pretty quick. Too bad, I would have liked to see them do more with that. And since Ed is still supposed to be going to New York will it come into play again?

Mike had some good lines and I liked the stuff between Eli and Jenny-fair. The Ed and Carol stuff has just become redundant.

Anyone know what song was playing during the "25 favorite thing" list montage? I liked that.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

But I think predictions of Ed and Carol moving back to Stuckeyville after a few episodes are correct. At least I hope they are. I don't want to watch Ed without Stuckeyville.

They laid the groundwork pretty overtly. Carol told Molly that as much as she misses it, she could not move back to Stuckeyville because she had to know that Ed would be willing to move to New York with her. Now that Ed has expressed his willingness to move, Carol is free to decide to stay if she wants. I know that's horrible TV-writer relationship logic, but any excuse to end this plotline and get everybody back to the Stuckeybowl is a good one at this point.

I thought Mike's melt-down was pretty great. One would not be all that articulate in a situation like that. They used the "Burt Reynolds baggage" to their advantage in quickly establishing the character and his relationship to Mike and driving it to a one episode payoff. The whole situation with Phil forgetting to post the signs was very funny, and was played very well.

Regards,

 

[Patrick Sun]

The best line of the night was from Phil: "I prefer white meat." I couldn't stop laughing for quite a while. Phil's reply was in response to Eli getting perturbed at Phil and telling him that he was going to shove a turkey drumstick up his ass.

 

[Tim Abbott]

My favorite line came at the very end of the show just after the proposal. Carol leans over to write #26 on her list (presumably Ed's name) and he looks over her shoulder and says "Can I be above the Steak Ums."


Overall, a very enjoyable episode.

 

[Michael Martin]

Carol leans over to write #26 on her list (presumably Ed's name) and he looks over her shoulder and says "Can I be above the Steak Ums."

LOL! I missed him saying that. Despite my feelings of the show being mixed, I will say that the ending montage with Ed, Carol and her 25 favorite things was one of the best endings the show has had. Vintage Ed!

And may I say, yet again, that Nancy is hot? :b Can I get an Amen, my brothers!?

 

[Paul Jenkins]

uh, amen

 

[PeteyG]

Amen Brother!

Or as Ed said to Eli last night: "Holla!"

 

[Patrick Sun]

I wished they would have shown Ed passed out from exhaustion as being the reason he stood Carol up at the theater. That would have been comedy.