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Ed is a back after a holiday hiatus, but in a new time slot on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. NBC made a gutsy move by packing three legal shows together in one night. The West Wing and Law and Order follow Ed. Time will tell if that's a lot to handle. One thing seems certain: lawyers are more likely to work late on all other weeknights except for Wednesday.

Will Power

Ed takes a rest from being a litigator this week by dealing with the intimate details and client confidentiality issues that come up when drafting a will. Molly Hanson's grandfather Charlie is dying, and she asks Ed to meet with him to help handle his legal affairs.

Grandpa's personal affairs are another matter, however. In addition to having a keen taste for Indian food, we learn that Grandpa has taken great pains to conceal the fact that he's gay. He was happily married for thirty-five years, but found new love with another local widower after going fishing and keeping company with each other. Now that he's dying, Grandpa Charlie wants to share this important news with the Hanson family for the first time.

His coming out has an unusual twist to it: he tells Ed that he wants to tell his family that he's gay before he dies, but that option is cut short. Grandpa dies just moments before Molly's family arrives at the hospital. Ed finds himself in a bit of a pickle: should he disclose his client's secret (something he believes that his client wanted), or should he try to convince Grandpa's lover, Ron, to share the news with the family?

Implored to ignore probating the will before revealing its contents, Ed reads Grandpa Charlie's will to the Hansons on the night of his funeral, and shares with them the news that Charlie wanted to tell everyone just before he died. As he does, Charlie's partner Ron Jeffreys enters the room to introduce himself and share a Cajun meatloaf with the family.

Did Ed reveal any client confidences? Maybe. His client, however, wanted to come out of the closet before he died, told Ed as much, and invited his family to tell them all that he was gay. So it would appear that Ed carried out his client's intentions, even if they weren't spelled out in his will. Not a likely scenario, I think, in the real world.

As an aside, Charlie left a bequest of 72 cases of Beef-A-Roni to Ed. Not exactly appropriate payment for services, but Ed may be getting a little more creative with his fees. There is also a subtle suggestion that Ed may soon rent Charlie's house from the Hanson family after his estate is probated.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame

In the tradition of Andy Warhol, Ed's marketing man Phil Stubbs decides to host an open-mike night at Stuckeybowl. If there is one thing to which Stuckeyvillian's remain loyal, it is their uncanny affinity for their town's bowling alley, and all events inside it.

You've got to give Stuckeyvillians credit. They sure know how to have a good time. Kenny's club doorman persona is a great knock off the big city club scene in places like New York and L.A., where beefy, black-suited bouncers stand guard at the velvet ropes leading into the hottest clubs.

Club owners familiar with criminal and civil legal proceedings brought about by drug-toting clubgoers could use a squeaky-clean guy like Kenny, who seems to meet the stereotypical size requirements for state troopers around the country, to keep the riff-raff out of their big city establishments.

As usual, Phil steals the show with a hard rocker ode to Stuckeybowl. He's allowed the high school guy with a crush on Carol Vescey ("Peace on!" he tells Ed while trying to impress Carol) to perform on open-mike night on the condition that he's the lead singer for the band. Ever wonder why musicians sue their managers?

Midwestern Exposure - Part 2

Viewers who read the review of the November 12th Ed show will recall my observation that Ed is a Midwestern version of CBS's now defunct "Northern Exposure." It appears that the shows writers not only picked up on this reviewer's analogy, but chose to exploit it in this week's show when Ed and Kenny alternately refer to "southern exposure," Northern Exposure, and "that moose." Now where the heck did they ever get that idea from?

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