The name of the new NBC-TV series about a disgruntled lawyer turned bowling center owner is "ED" which seems too short to be the title of a major network hit TV series, but the short title was designed to attract the attention of the public and the media and somewhere in there, the bowling public.
When I first heard the name Ed, I immediately thought about the CBS hit series of my childhood about a talking horse. There is indeed a great deal of horsing around on this new NBC series developed by Executive Producers Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman. "ED" and "Late Night" are both produced by their own production company, Worldwide Pants, which also produces the "Craig Kilborn Show" following Letterman on CBS.
What symbolism is in this TV series’ name? Ed Stevens, portrayed by Canadian actor Tom Cavanaugh (left) who plays the all-American hero as the star of the series, goes back and forth between horsing around and making good horse sense as the new leading attorney of the fictional town of Stuckeyville, Ohio.
The name Stuckeyville in this series is more reminiscent of those numerous roadside stops along the freeways of rural and suburban America where you can pick up souvenirs of the locale along with gas and pecan logs. Stuckeyville wreaks with the symbolism of a place where, in spite of author Thomas Wolfe’s famous statement, you can go back home in search of a wonderful life and be stuck there in time like a Courier and Ives portrait.
Before the show gets too cushy with its theme, which would make it look too much like Providence, the Friday night NBC series from which it was spun, the writers wake you up with raunchy language or activity suggestions that give "ED" its own identity.
Phil the lane mechanic, played by Michael Ian Black, offers a key suggestion to the program’s development that becomes the main staple of the series, which is to make Ed’s new bowling center the same location as his law offices and sets the stage for the weekly plots of clients with legal beefs who happen to enjoy bowling.
Cavanaugh creates a character which is a combination of the late actor Jimmy Stewart and comedian/actor Norm MacDonald.
Ed Stevens returns to Stuckeyville and seeks out school teacher Carol Veasey played by former "ER" star Julie Bowen, (she traded "ER" for "ED") who was the most popular member of his high school class, with the pipe dream that she will radically change her life to accommodate Ed in a serious relationship. He even buys the old bowling alley–Stuckey Bowl, and sets up his own law offices there with Phil’s suggestion in mind to impress Carol while he’s building a new life. Ed finds out that the bowling alley he bought is on the verge of closing and he inherits a motley crew of employees played by in addition to Michael Black, Rachel Cronin, and Mike Starr, all of whom he keeps on board.
Ed finds a place to live by moving in with his best friend Mike, played by Josh Randall, a doctor whose wife Nancy, played by Jana Marie Hupp from the hit series "Friends," is trying to balance work and parenting. Mike regularly gives Ed advice concerning his bowling lanes, law firm, and Carol.
Strangely, Ed’s plan to "get the girl of his dreams" works to the point where Carol dumps her shallow boyfriend to develop, out of overwhelming curiosity at first, a platonic relationship with Ed.
The love interest flame is fueled throughout the series by the constant overall plot of how Ed can ultimately win the love commitment from Carol he privately yearns for in classic dramedy style. In each episode, Carol and Ed seem to be drawn closer together as a couple but a roadblock of some kind always stares them in the face.
The closing scene of the premier episode of "ED" sets the tone for the entire series when Ed drops Carol off at her front door after their date and she invites him to come inside to which Ed politely says no because it’s "too soon" for both of them. Carol reluctantly agrees and bids him goodnight, but, Ed suddenly changes his mind and wants to come inside her house after all. But, just as spontaneously, Carol gets control of her emotions and says, "You’re right, Ed," to which Ed replies, "No, you were right, I should come in" to which Carol replies "No, you were right, you shouldn’t" to which Ed ultimately leaves for the evening.
This scene of apprehension and indecision between Ed and Carol actually sets the tone for the main theme of the entire show. Much of the viewer interest in the series can be traced to what will happen in the latest episode with the relationship between Carol and Ed and how long will each of them be frustrated. You also wonder if Ed plans to settle his divorce first before diving into a relationship with Carol.
This relationship is symbolized in the series premier episode telecast Oct. 8 and again Dec. 27 where Ed decides to rent a suit of armor and stop by uninvited to Carol’s classroom as her knight in shining armor for a gag fueled by Ed’s frustrations. The amazed students get a laugh out of Ed’s armor as he quickly turns from a prankster to a buffoon. This brilliantly written cornball symbolism is blatant throughout all of "ED’s" episodes.
Amazingly, instead of Carol telling Ed to get out of her classroom and her life, she escorts him down the hall and out the door of the school and questions him as to why he did it. When the eccentric Ed explains that he wanted to get her attention in a big symbolic way, she actually tolerates him and continues to see Ed, which causes the viewers to think they deserve each other after all.
Another question is how long will be writers of "ED" be able to keep this theme going before fans of the show become weary of waiting for them to make their serious commitment and switch to another TV station for entertainment.
On the same episode, Carol’s friend Molly Hudson (played by Leslie Boone) suddenly has gremlins in her car when she takes it to local mechanics for repairs and they add on hydraulic shock absorbers which make the car rock up and down or dance back and forth at the touch of a dashboard button.
Molly, who regularly eggs Carol on when it comes to going along with Ed’s zany pranks, has one played on her by the mechanics because she never asked for the installation of hydraulics on her car, which is an old Gremlin from the 1970s. Sure enough, Ed takes the case to court as Molly’s lawyer and the judge rules to take the hydraulics off of Molly’s car free of charge and rid her Gremlin of these unwanted gremlins.
Cavanaugh loves to be challenged and when a production crew member dared him to see how many hot dogs he could down in five minutes, Tom proceeded to gobble up 18 in the allotted time. On yet another dare, the star of "ED" with the ultra-high metabolism put away four pounds of ground beef in one sitting.
Cavanaugh’s attitude carried over in the "ED" episode of December 20 where Ed encourges Troy, played by Grant Bow, the former bully of his high school class, to dip his cracker into some "ground meat" as an appetizing dip which turns out to be dog food. When Ed reveals this to both Troy and Carol, he says "there, I got you back for forcing me to eat a can of dog food when we were in high school." It’s another potential jolt for Carol’s relationship with Ed because Troy is Carol’s old high school sweetheart who decides to visit Stuckeyville for the holidays and look up Carol.
Carol invites Ed to come along for dinner at a local restaurant but he initially declines. Upon further review, Ed feels it would be in his own best interest to make a spontaneous appearance at the dinner recalling that Troy was his high school tormentor and getting back at him with the dog food gag.
Carol is taking all of this in at the table but strangely sides with Ed as he makes a fool of the old bully. Instead of being angry with Ed for playing this prank on his old high school foe, which is reminiscent of something David Letterman could have done in his youth growing up in Indiana (Stuckeyville could easily be Hoosierville) Carol feels sorry for Ed and after dinner bids her old beau goodbye which further strengthens her relationship with Ed.
Television series with bowling as a subplot have been previously successful starting in the 1950s when CBS presented "The Honeymooners" which was spun into the ABC cartoon series where the roles of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney became Fred and Barney in a prehistoric setting as the "Flintstones." The most recent series with bowling as a regular offering was "Married … With Children" on ABC and later Fox where the roles of Al and Peg Bundy answered the question of what life would be like in the 1980s if "The Honeymooners" had children. All of these shows were big hits with the bowling public.
"ED" has a totally different theme and approach from the other bowling oriented series because Ed Stevens is a white collar professional type returning to his midwestern roots as a bowling lanes owner instead of a blue collar industrial type league bowler who never left his roots.
Ed is the first show with bowling as a base to be televised by NBC and ironically, the test pilot program for the series which starred the same cast and was originally called "Stuckeyville" as a made for TV movie was aired the previous year on CBS and the Worldwide Pants production company is a part of Viacom which is the CBS production division. This mega-media corporation combined several broadcast media outlets from the recent FCC approved merger.
Since Cavanaugh was already a regular on "Providence," NBC officials decided to promote "ED" by making it a spinoff of their successful Friday night series.
But this time the spinoff has a serious glitch in it because the two series were originally separate entities. When Cavanaugh played the lawyer on Providence, his name was Doug Boyce, not Ed Stevens. How does the same character get a totally different name on the spinoff series when he’s the same person? No explanation has been given about the name change on either show.
Perhaps "ED’s" story editors Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters should fix this dilemma by inserting into one of the episodes that Ed wanted a totally fresh start in Stuckeyville from his estranged wife and law firm in his previous life in New York and legally changed his name as his own lawyer.
They should also explain how Doug is a vulnerable young man from Newfoundland who thinks he’s a dog and is known around the office as "Dog Boy" until he discovers his "inner man" thanks to his relationship with his wife Joanie played by Paula Cale. Then suddenly, she has a regular sexual relationship with the mailman at home while Doug (or is it Ed) is working in the New York office (or is it Providence) at his law firm from where he is fired for having the wrong monetary figure listed in his legal briefs (or is it boxers) which cost his firm millions? How does the young man from Newfoundland, Canada go back home to Stuckeyville, Ohio?
There’s even a subtle reference to Steven’s previous Providence life on the premier episode of "ED" when Phil the lane mechanic refers to Ed as Bosco to which Ed replies "stop calling me Bosco!" The scene is a reference to Bosco the pin-retrieving chocolate brown Labrador Retriever, the pet dog of PBA Senior Pro Steve Neff who works at his bowling lanes in Homosassa Springs, Fla. The analogy fits like a glove since Doug thought he was a dog who came from Newfoundland, which is part of Labrador in the Canadian maritime provinces. The show seems to be going to the dogs with this reference combined with the dog food scene mentioned previously.
Ed drives a Ford Explorer around Stuckeyville, and fans of the series are waiting for the script where Ed has a sudden flat tire and the tread from his Firestone separates causing Ed to roll his SUV over resulting in a huge lawsuit where Stevens represents himself in court.
Cavanaugh himself enjoys sports and played basketball at his college alma mater of Queens University in Ontario. The tall, slender star of "ED" says basketball is his favorite sport and he’s an avid fan of the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies. He likes bowling, but says he’s not very good at it but he wants to improve his game and practices during breaks in his acting schedule.
The outdoor scenes of "ED" are actually filmed in several locations in northern New Jersey instead of Ohio since filming in those burgs are more convenient near the real location of the Old Country Club Lanes in Montvale, which is also the area where producer Rob Burnett grew up with many childhood memories.
The old bowling alley itself (Ed and his colleagues actually addressed in the opening episode how most proprietors prefer the name bowling center to bowling alley, but they were sticking with alley for now) has been transformed into a giant sound stage where most of Ed’s indoor scenes are filmed. The house originally had 38 lanes but now has only 16 AMF 72-90 equipped lanes to allow for the courtroom, living room, kitchen, and bedroom soundstages which were constructed inside.
There seems to be no limit to what an owner can do with an old bowling center. It’s not surprising that real examples of Bowling Lane owners opening legal offices have been popping up around the country such as Dick Tanner who runs a real bowling center in Albuquerque complete with law offices long before "ED’s" premier.
All of "ED’s" zaniness is translating into a ratings increase in its new timeslot on Wednesday night.
The original timeslot on Sunday night at eight o’clock helped to draw interest from some of the nation’s 50 million bowlers since Sundays are traditionally slow bowling league nights, but "ED" is pulling in even more of the population on Wednesdays at eight eastern time because the ratings initially increased by another one million viewers nationwide.
The real reason "ED" was switched to Wednesday nights is because NBC has been looking for a series or a combination of two strongly rated series to blitz and beat the ABC blockbuster ratings program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" that has been pounding everything competing against it since the game show’s inception in the summer of 1999. NBC execs have decided to try a package deal of "ED" and the "West Wing" in the 8-10 timeslot on Wednesday nights in order to overtake the huge ratings of "Millionaire." Both "ED" and the "West Wing" have been highly acclaimed by several media outlets and, according to NBC Entertainment publicist Mike Nelson, their ratings are increasing.
More good news about "ED" is that it won the Peoples' Choice Award for best new network comedy series, beating Bette Midler and Geena Davis for top honors.
Nelson’s NBC ratings report says the debut of "ED" in its new Wednesday 8-9 p.m. timeslot have the network its highest adult 18-49 age group rating in the hour with a regularly scheduled program since March 3, 1999 and dramatically improved NBC’s season-to-date time period averages in all key categories.
"ED" delivered a 4.9 rating for NBC and a 14 share in adults 18-49 which was the show’s highest mark since Sunday, October 22. The Wednesday night opener also produced an even higher 5.9/15 share with adults 25-54 age group with an overall average of 12 million viewers. This average was still second to Millionaire for the first Wednesday competing head-to-head.
The following Wednesday showed even more improvement in ratings for NBC with the "ED"/"West Wing" package because, opposite the first-run competition on ABC which includes "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and "Spin City." NBC finished in a virtual tie for first place in the 18-49 age group (5.5/14) and the 25-54 (6.7/16). This package included a "West Wing" repeat for the week and figures a first-run episode will receive even higher ratings.
NBC’s season-to-date averages in the Wednesday 8-9 hour have increased 48 percent in the 18-49 category and 55 percent in the 25-54 category (for targeting of the most beneficial advertising marketed consumer age group – or the people who have the most money to spend, spare time and watch the most TV) and an astronomical 51 percent average increase since "ED" took over the timeslot.
Compared to the same night and time last season, NBC’s Wednesday line-up was up 35 percent in adults 18-49, 37 percent in adults 25-54 and 24 percent in adults over 55.
This huge ratings increase for NBC with the "ED"/"West Wing" package has occurred in spite of the constant changes of ED’s appearances on NBC since the end of November.
From November 19 to December 6, "ED" was pre-empted for over two weeks by his schedule change from Sunday to Wednesday and the network premier of the movie Titanic, which gave NBC optimum ratings.
The announcements by presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush concerning the Florida vote recount and the court rulings which forced Gore to concede the election to Bush bumped "ED" on Dec. 13. A rerun of the "West Wing" starring Martin Sheen as the President was leading in Gore and Bush instead of "ED."
This action left viewers wondering if NBC lacked confidence in "ED" for ratings to lead in the real presidential candidates that evening. Deborah Thomas of NBC Publicity said her network thought to deliver "ED" and the "West Wing" as a package of new episodes the next week would be better for the viewers.
Reruns of "ED" and the "West Wing" were telecast again on Jan. 3 because they were shown head-to-head against the Orange Bowl NCAA Football National Championship game between Florida State and Oklahoma in the BCS Series, so NBC figured ABC would win the ratings war for the evening with football.
"ED" was among the top-10 TV series in ratings for the year 2000 according to US magazine, which is a formidable feat when you consider the show has only been aired since Oct. 8. The currently running series rankings were in order: "Survivor," "The Sopranos," "Who Wants to be Millionaire," "Malcolm in the Middle," "Will and Grace," "Sex and the City," "Friends," and "ED."
If NBC schedulers ever give "ED" a chance to shine in a regular timeslot on Wednesday night without constantly preempting it or showing holiday reruns against the NCAA Football Championship game at the Orange Bowl, then "ED’s" ratings will jump much higher.
According to Thomas, NBC has enough confidence in the series to order nine additional episodes for the full complement of 22 for the 2000-01 season. "ED" could indeed emerge as the knight in shining armor for bowling as ratings increase for the remainder of network TV’s season. So keep watching—it could happen.