I just wanted to say that I was pleased to learn today that NBC is keeping Ed on its fall schedule.
I love Ed. He reminds me of an older Lloyd Dobbler, sweet, funny, a little clueless and just a little odd, but in a good way.
I thought Ed, the show, was a goner for sure. I don’t know how well it does in the ratings, but I can’t imagine a show about a small-town bowling alley lawyer, his friends and employees [you’ve gottal love Phil Stubbs and Shirley] is blowing away high quality:dubious: entertainment like Survivor or The Bachelor. Nothing explodes, no one gets voted off, and there’s no nasty British guy, but it’s entertaining just the same. Go figure.
I just wanted to take a moment to enjoy the notion that a network has given a show like this a shot.
Thanks.
I, too, am glad to hear Ed is coming back. According to The New York Daily News, however, Ed is staying on Fridays next season at 9 (8Central Time), right between some new Alicia Silverstone show and Law and Order SVU:
Did you see somewhere else that they said it’d be on Wednesdays? The above article says a new Rob Lowe series is going to be on Wednesdays.
… oh, and almost forgot. You also said you didn’t know how it was doing in the ratings. I don’t know exactly how well it was doing this past season, but I did read somewhere (no link available right now) that the ratings went up when they moved it to Fridays and that the execs at NBC were very pleased to see that because so many fewer people watch tv on Friday nights to begin with. Apparently the ratings went up marginally, but it was a big deal because it meant their actual share was significantly higher for that time slot on Friday than when they were on Wednesday.
I personally much preferred the Wednesday time slot, myself. I teach a class at the local law school and used to use quite a bit of material from Ed as a jumping off point for class discussions. Somehow there was always something very timely and relevant, in a legal sense (for example, this year when Ed got sued for pulling the guy out of the burning car, we just happened to be discussing Good Samaritan Statutes which limit liability for actions precisely like those taken by Ed). Much of this past season, though, Ed got totally away from the “law” and courtroom stuff, which disappointed me a bit. Maybe next year he’ll get back to being a bowling alley lawyer!
The NBC announcement places it back on Wednesday at 8. There are a few conflicting reports, but you can check the actual NBC announcement somewhere on NBC.com.
The Friday ratings, probably to everyone’s surprise, went up a good deal - with less of a viewer base to work with (less people watching on Friday). So I guess that made them happy.
Apparently it really kicks ass in the 18-35 or 18-49 demographic (I forget), which makes it pretty valuable.