I’m not sure how it happened. For some reason, the tv show Ed (2000-2004) awoke in my conscious again. I remembered I watched it when it was on NBC but I don’t think I finished watching it until the finale. Although I’m not 100% sure I watched the finale but that is something I like to do. So, that part is an assumption. The only thing I could remember about it was the plot involved a guy named Ed played by Tom Cavanagh who had a romantic interest in a woman played by pre-Modern Family Julie Bowen. The main impetus was a romance and, of course, as in all fictional romances, the timing being off between the two characters. I also remember Julie’s character ending up in a tree at some point when her character, Carol, was ready and Ed had cooled off. But, overall, my memory was a bit spotty since that was twenty years ago.

So, I went looking for the series to see how it ended. Just so you know, it is not on DVD nor is it streaming. I had to resort to poorly recorded copies via YouTube.

But I started with the finale since that was what I was most interested in. Happy news and a spoiler alert (but it was twenty years ago so don’t complain) the couple – Ed Stevens and Carol Vessey – did get together and in the finale married.

The more I watched, the more I remembered. Oh yeah, he was a lawyer. Oh yeah, he owned a bowling alley. He was the “bowling alley lawyer.” Ed bought the bowling alley when he returned to his hometown after his New York life crumbled in one day (fired from his law firm for a simple but costly mistake and came home to find his wife in bed with a mailman). He bought the bowling alley in an attempt to woo Carol but more on that later.

Now you are caught up on the premise and gist of the show.

After watching the finale, I worked backward to remember more elements of the show. Season four I found the ensemble cast mostly charming with great chemistry. It attempted to be a quirky response to the ensemble CBS show Northern Exposure.

I watched more still working backward. In season three, there was an episode in which Carol was supposed to marry another guy. The wedding did not happen because, of course, her fiancé knew she was in love with Ed. This caused a role reversal in which she wanted to be with Ed and he found someone else. By the end of the season, Carol was in a tree to demonstrate she was “out on a limb” for Ed. For whatever reason, that was the scene that stayed with me all these years. At the end of that season, they finally became a couple. But I don’t know if I actually hung in there that long. I remember feeling fed up with it all by the time the reversal happened. This is when I realized the powers-that-be of the show were just stringing me along on this ride.

Since I couldn’t remember, I started watching more episodes. By going backward or skipping around. I finally ended up watching all but the first three episodes of season three, one or two episodes from season two, and not quite half of season one. This is why.

I get that times change and when that happens, trends and even thinking patterns do. Trust me, I get that. There are some shows that I can watch and just know “times have changed” and go with it. Then are some shows that I can’t do that with. This is one of them. Either it did not age well or I have become more cynical. Or smarter.

I couldn’t watch season two because I found the character of Carol to be cruel. She knew Ed was in love with her yet she started another romantic relationship. Instead of letting him be, she continued her friendship with Ed. Watching it as my older self, I was glad when Ed finally rejected her and said he needed to get off the ride. Old me could see the wisdom in Ed moving on. “Attaboy Ed!”

But then I watched a few episodes in season one. Ed returned to his hometown after his divorce to pursue Carol. They had gone to high school together and he had fallen in love from afar. But he never spoke to her and she didn’t know him in high school. He came with the intent to date her despite not ever talking to her in school.

[insert red flag here] [actually, enter a few flags]

Oh, this isn’t a good premise, I thought. This would never fly today.

While I found season 2 Carol to be cruel, season 1 Ed was creepy and a bit manipulative. Was this behavior really so acceptable in 2000 that it was deemed romantic? That’s troubling in itself.

Perhaps, a better start to the series would have been not to strong-arm the romance. The gods of this show deemed the two characters a couple and forced them into it. You have probably heard of the Moonlighting curse about having the romantic leads get together. There is a counterpart to the curse that I call the Friends flaw. That is when the romantic leads are kept apart but circling each other for too long. In Friends, by the time Ross and Rachel finally got together, their relationship had become poison.

The same thing happened with Ed and Carol. There were the sacrificial third parties that entered their lives keeping the two from getting together. The poor characters became villains simply because they came between the two leads. But, just like Emily in Friends, there was nothing really wrong with them other than the fact they weren’t Ed or Carol. Ed could have ended up with Frankie. Carol could have ended up with Dennis. But this was a tv show where the two must get together. And so they did.

On a side note, don’t worry about Dennis Martino. After he left Carol at the altar and was never heard of again in Stuckeyville, he made his way into the advertising profession. (wink, wink)

In the end, Carol and Ed did end up together because there was really no other choice in the matter. Although, I think it would have been better for Ed to end up with Molly and Carol marry Dennis. As my older self, that gives me more satisfaction.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the whole cast had fairly good chemistry. I’m pretty sure this show lasted as long as it did because of the likability of the cast. Sure, Ed was creepy but Tom managed to make him a good guy. Kudos to the cast for helping us to sail right by those red flags and cheer for the couple.

Even Phil was slightly less annoying this second watch. Although if Phil were a real person, he probably would be institutionalized somewhere or, at the very least, not be bound to one location for so long. He would have been fired by day two. But this is entertainment so we can watch annoying people as long as we don’t have to live with them.

In this same vein, I should mention Ed and his best friend Mike. While their $10 bets are entertaining to watch safely on tv, I can imagine some of them would have repercussions on two professionals in such a small town. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable going to see my doctor who walked up to a group of people at a bus stop and did a snake dance. But again, as far as strictly entertainment value, they are great. And that’s all this is supposed to be, silly entertainment to make the viewer laugh.

I would love to see a reunion with all the actors. Maybe not a continuation of the Ed storyline but some vehicle that brings them all together. The friends and couples. At the very least, a cute little movie starring Julie and Tom. I’m looking at you, Netflix, to make this happen.