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Reviewed by Joel Zand January 10, 2001
Fresh from this week's Peoples' Choice Awards victory as this season's favorite new TV comedy, "Ed" has a new episode this week. When The 'Rents Come Marching In It had to happen sometime for Ed, and this week it did. Ed's retired parents took a vacation from their Florida home to visit their big boy Ed in sunny Stuckeyville, Ohio. Like stereotypical parents, Al and Natalie Stevens have a hidden agenda when it comes to checking up on their son's conversion from being a Big Apple litigator to a bowling alley lawyer. And they'll stop at nothing to turn back the clock to a time when their boy was a hotshot associate (albeit, a miserable one) swimming with the sharks in Manhattan. Al Stevens longs for the day when his son could go back to working on a "$300 billion merger that changed the structure of the national economy." But father doesn't know best. Ed's a changed man. His return to Stuckeyville helped the young lawyer see the light. "Back then I worked for corporations," he explains to his dad. "Now I work for people." Can you imagine the shame they feel telling friends that their son is a bowling alley lawyer? A visit to their son's law office in Stuckeybowl's pro shop is an unbearable horror. "My son works in a bowling alley!" his father wails. The truth hurts. Lucky for Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, manager-marketing man Phil Stubs shares a little secret with the ex-Stuckeyvillians: the root of Ed's demise is Carol Vescey. Ed's parents move fast. Unbeknownst to their son, they hold a power lunch with Carol. Al Steven's believes that money talks. Treating her like a tramp, the Stevens offer her money to leave Ed alone. Al asks Carol if $500 or $1,000 will get her to "relinquish your hold on my son?" "Let me get my checkbook," Mrs. Stevens follows. Carol Storms off, refusing to dignify Ed's parents with a response. Now things get rough and tough. With the help of Phil and two locals, one with a mysteriously unsettling character, Ed's parents converge on Ed's new house with a mission. "It's an intervention," Phil announces. What do you do when the intervenee says 'No'? "Go to the kitchen and help yourself to cold cuts," Ed's dad tells his team. Ed regales them with tales of his recent cases like Stuckeyville Stan, the magician's intellectual property victory, and lets his folks sit in on his latest trial involving a lotto ticket dispute. By the end of the episode, they're predictably proud of their Ed.His folks eventually leave town realizing that their boy is one happy lawyer helping local Stuckeyvillians. A Dollar And A Dream Ed's case 'o the week involves Frank and Dave, two Stuckeyvillians who work at the local cardboard box factory. Their work isn't too thrilling, but they make the best of it by playing practical jokes on their co-workers. The duo's latest prank, however, has made them defendants in a lawsuit brought by former co-worker Ted Schmidt, who sues over a practical joke involving a lottery ticket. Frank and Dave videotaped the previous week's program showing the winning lottery drawing numbers from earlier in the week, buy a ticket later in the week with the winning numbers from the previous drawing, and trick Schmidt into believing that he's hit the jackpot. Big money! Not quite, but the damage is done. Schmidt quits his job making cardboard boxes, leaves his wife (we later learn during Ed's cross-examination that the plaintiff's marriage was already on the rocks), tells his boss to take a hike, and - horror of horrors - insults the company's product. The lawsuit seeks to hold Frank and Dave "accountable" for tricking Schmidt into thinking that he'd won the lottery. But with Ed's help, the Court sees through the veneer of the case and dismisses it. Free will leads people to make good and bad choices. Schmidt made a rash one with some unfortunate consequences, but this is a case where the bitter truth shows that Plaintiff led a fairly unhappy existence at the factory. Throwing the suit out was the right verdict here. Perhaps the producers at Worldwide Pants (David Letterman's production company for "Ed") know about the attorney in Brooklyn who specializes in representing lottery winners sued by people claiming a fraudulent share of winners' tickets. You Go, Girls In another attempt to regress back to her high school days, Carol volunteers to coach the girls JV basketball team. "I've got a basketball Jones!" she tells Molly. For someone who knows next to nothing about the game, she sure powers on a lot of enthusiasm for her team. "Whoever bounces the ball highest wins a fruit roll-up!" she encourages during their first practice. Ed and Mike teach Molly the "pick and roll," and help her charges do something they never dreamed of: getting a double-digit score in their traditionally losing game. With music from "2001: A Space Odyssey" playing in the background, Molly's team walks onto the court with pride. Final Score: Varsity 68; Junior Varsity 10. The real victors, however, are the kids. High Marks This week's episode gets high marks for accurately portraying a frivolous lotto ticket lawsuit and showing folks that not all lawyers work on mega-money deals. Helping people is what lawyers like Ed and most other solos and small firms around the country do every day. Ed's sidekick Phil shifts to subtle comedic brilliance that remains one of the show's highlights.
In a curious role reversal with the show's protagonist, Joel Zand is a New York solo practitioner who left his Midwestern roots behind to work with Findlaw. He has represented New York City landlords, tenants, and folks with pets in pit-bullesque litigation (always representing the underdog, of course). Zand received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and his B.A. from the University of Chicago. |
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