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Fresh from this week's Peoples' Choice Awards victory as this season's favorite new TV comedy, "Ed" has a new episode this week.

From Soup To Nuts

This week, we find Ed dazed, confused, and falling head over heels for Stuckeyville's new District Attorney. Why else would he leave five messages for her relating to one case, and admit to his friend, Dr. Mike, that the D.A. is a "hot little number?"

Ed broods over her success in court and tries sweet-talking her with his lawyerly charm. But like poles on a different magnets that repel one another, D.A. Hain (Rena Sofer of Melrose Place fame) is repulsed by the suave Stevens' charm. She's not about to talk settlement. "I didn't come to Stuckeyville to drop cases. I came here to win cases." The law has been laid down in this town.

She is ruthless and effective, a powerful combination needed to fight Ed's stellar civil litigation record. Having fled from a big-city Detroit law firm, she tells Ed that she's in Stuckeyville for one reason, and one reason only: to win cases.

Stuckeyville's legal eagle takes on what appears to be his first pro bono case -- or at least the first case he openly admits is pro bono -- by representing a local deli owner, Mr. Shaeffer, who is obsessed with putting money in expired parking meters just before the meter maid starts to write a ticket. Not just any meter maid either: a 53-year old man who appears more like the archetypal donut-eating cop. "How P.C.," the meter maid responds to Ed's snide compliment about how he writes tickets for good Samaritans like Mr. Shaeffer.

In their first court hearing in Mr. Shaeffer's matter, the D.A. cites cases from other jurisdictions (copies ready in hand), and puts Ed in his place. The D.A. shows that there is case law across the country where people who put quarters in parking meters to help out their neighbors are convicted for the crime (!) of helping people avoid paying parking tickets. Apparently, this case is not as simple as one might think. Ed acknowledges to his client after the first court hearing that he got his "butt kicked."

The World's Ass Pain

Just what is it about Ed's latest client, Mr. Shaeffer, which has him paying for the Stuckeyvillians' parking tickets? When Shaeffer testifies that he thinks "life is just one pain in the ass after another," from paper cuts to parking tickets, you can't help feeling like he's someone whose gotten the short end of the stick - a lot. Yet he's really a decent guy, a self-described regular Mother Theresa, who's "just trying to make a tiny little dent in the world's accumulated ass pain."

The D.A. doesn't take kindly to Shaeffer's good charitable work. She puts him in jail mid-trial when he's caught putting in more quarters into parking meters. Curiously enough, the Stuckeyville jail has a PlayStation in one of its cells. Maybe that's why the town hasn't had a homicide in more than 100 years.

Ed tries to convince the D.A. that the case against his client is crazy. She won't agree to seriously talk about a plea bargain. Mr. Shaeffer "ignored a dozen court orders and disobeyed an officer of the law," Hain tells Ed. "This isn't Oz. The guy just needed to be taught a lesson."

By the end of the show, the D.A. wins here case when the judge imposes a whopping fine against Ed's client. The D.A. vows to appeal, arguing that the fine is too low for the crime. Ed's client also plans to appeal. Lest D.A. Hain forget that revenge is in store, Ed borrows a line from his sidekick Phil, by telling her to "shave my poodle." She leaves the courtroom to savor her victory. Tune in for this week's show for Part 2 of the dramedy.

(For some insight into the nightmares of traffic court in Fairfax County, Virginia, read Marc Fisher's column in last week's Washington Post: "Justice Often Bypassed in Traffic Court." Reading this column after watching Ed last week, you'll see why many folks feel that Traffic Court has little to do with justice.)

The Plumbing Hustler

However, while Ed is getting his butt kicked on the career front, things are picking up on the romantic front with Carol. Kind and caring friend that he is, Ed hurries to help Carol when a leaky basement pipe floods her house. Is he just up to his old tricks, or does Ed really know a thing or two about plumbing? Carol is so doubtful about Ed's help, the two make a bet.

If Ed fixes the pipe, Carol will have to stand on a soapbox in the center of town to announce that Ed is the world's best plumber. If Ed can't fix the pipe, he'll have to run through the streets of Stuckeyville in his birthday suit.

Is it a fair wager? Carol thinks so, joking to Ed that she increased her homeowner's insurance so that she can "fully enjoy his work. But then we learn that Ed is, indeed, a man of many talents. It turns out that he worked as a plumber's apprentice in law school. The smooth talking Mr. Stevens is nothing more than a "plumbing hustler."

Now it's payback time. In the middle of one of Stuckeyville's finest restaurants (and the actual center of town), Carol makes good on her promise. She stands up on a soapbox and proclaims:

"Edward J. Steven's is the best plumber on the face of the earth! I was completely wrong, he was completely right, and besides being the best plumber, he's also the world's greatest lover…I love him dearly, and I pray that one day he will make me his wife. Thank you and God bless America."

As the wedding march plays in the background, the couple bid their adieus to smiling patrons.

Ed's newfound interest in the D.A. has Carol jealous. Extremely jealous. So jealous, that she stages a fake flood in her basement so that Ed will come to her rescue once again. Although Ed is conveniently whisked away from Carol and her flooded basement when he needs to help bail his parking meter client out of jail, it seems that any love interest he had for Carol is waning. After she had turned down another one of Ed's marriage proposals, she now spends her non-working hours trying to take Ed away from spending any time trying to win D.A. Hain's affection.

The Burton Family Dilemma

Finally, Nancy Burton faces a tough decision this week. Should she stay home with her baby, Sara, and give up her job at the local greeting card company, or accept a promotion for more responsibility after a nightmare presentation of new card products? Missing the first time that baby Sara rolls over by herself probably has more to do with her decision to stay put more than anything else.

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Not a bad move if you think about the fact that Nancy relieves herself of facing a Zoe Baird-esque legal inquisition about the employment histories of her childcare givers. There's also a cute video of Ed and Mike Burton playing with little Sara as she flips herself over with great skill. It's a true Kodak moment.

How did, or would, you handle the decision? Does your firm offer part-time positions for parents who want to practice law and still spend more time with their kids during the early years? Talk about it with others on Infirmation.com's Lawyers with Kids message board.

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