Customer Reviews

Ed: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(200)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sometimes, the networks let a potentially great one slip away, due to "just" satisfactory ratings. For 4 years, David Letterman's company - Worldwide Pants, Inc. gave us just such a show - "Ed"; a lovely and quirky ensemble comedy featuring a truly gifted cast including Tom Cavanugh, Julie Bowen, Josh Randall, Justin Long, Jana Marie Hupp, Lesley Boone among others and smartly written by Jon Beckerman and Rob Burnett.
Briefly summarized, Ed Stevens, a NYC lawyer who loses his job, comes home to find his wife sleeping with the mailman; he decides to return gto his hometown of Stuckeyville, Ohio in a quixotic search for his identity, and the unrequited high school love he left behind, the beautiful Carol Vessey, now a high school English teacher with her own wanderlust and uncertainty; Torn between her friendship with Ed and his persistent and humorous wooing and courtship of her, their relationship is the centerpiece of 83 wonderful episodes.
Ed buys the local bowling alley, where he sets up his law office, and rediscovers the merriment and joy of smalltown life with renewed, meaningful friendships and relationships.
The cast of characters - from his bowling alley employees to his relationships with his childhood best buddy, (now Dr.) Mike Burton, his wife Nancy, Carol and Molly Hudson (H.S. principal ), the neophyte HS student Warren Cheswick - (superbly and obnoxiously portrayed by Justin Long)and his pursuit of life , love and lust are deftly interwoven in episodic gems, all with the central theme of Ed's pursuit of and friendship with Carol Vessey. There's a great story "arc" featuring the gorgeous Rena Sofer as ADA Bonnie Hanes who pursues Ed, much to the chagrin of a still uncertain Carol, and we feel Carol's angst as she discovers her true feelings for Ed begin to surface.
Termed by TV Guide's Matt Roush as "one of the best shows you are not watching for each of its four seasons, each epsiode captures the romance and longing for the simpler values of life and love by each of its characters.
I recently acquired a pretty fair copy of the complete series, but have been looking forward to the series' "official commercial" pristine release. I watched the complete run over the course of several weeks. I found myself laughing out loud, "tearing up" emotionally, wincing at embarrasing moments, but being altogether enchanted once again. It was so nice to renew friendships with "the folks of Stuckeyville" and the warm characters who who pass thru Stuckeybowl.
From beginning to end, the show is a pure joy and one to be treasured. I recommend it highly and apologize for my wordy prose. Rent disc 1 when the dvd debuts in early 2007, and I assure the reader he or she will add the entire series to their shelves. (too bad the entire series couldn't be released as one set - and reasonably priced; after all, those who "get" the show, will certainly purchase the entire set). Latecomers will, too!
A belated thanks to David Letterman, and his company for producing a quality television show.

.. and get this wonderful show on DVD!! It is one of my absolute favorite shows of all time. When NBC cancelled it after Season 4, I felt like I lost a good friend. The quirkiness and the heartfelt characters of the show were charming and entertaining. At one point, I even wanted to move to "Stuckeyville," or at least someplace just like it.

I found this show quite by accident while channel-surfing and immediately became a devoted fan. Great cast chemistry, quirky humor, exploration of relationship issues, etc. However, I feel the quality of the writing declined somewhat after the first season as it took on more of a soap opera feel. But, that said, it was still better than anything else on TV at that time and I eagerly await a DVD release.

Ed is the perfect show! Hilariously funny, creates a lovely feeling of nostalgia...I want to move to Stuckeyville! The $10 bets, the friendships, the beautiful scenery and houses, terrific writing, music, perfectly casted...I can't believe it's not still on. I don't have cable, so I never get to see Ed reruns, and I miss the show terribly. Please release Ed on DVD!

Please please please get this out on DVD. It was one of the greatest TV shows of all time!!!!!!!!!

I think I first noticed Ed on channel 4 when I was doing my GCSE's! I'd come home for lunch between exams and have cheese and toast whilst watching ER. Straight after ER was ED, so i watched the first one coz it sounded cool.
I was hooked! Ed is amazing but no one know's it exists! It's so unbelievably fun and it's just a great show with a really great feel of warmth to it! It's just amazing and I really want it on DVD! I've seen most of the episodes but Channel 4 are a bit odd and only put it on during gaps in programming so it's so easy to miss it! And I need to see more!

Ed is fantastic, it makes me laugh so much my stomach hurts. I need this on DVD so i don't have to rely on tha absurd programming on Channel 4 in the uk. More people should know about this programme with little gems like "I was wondering, how much power does the prom queen actually wield? Could you have like, say, bombed Belgium?"
It's too good not to be on DVD!!!!!

I loved the tv show ED just like everyone else. I would love to see it on DVD especially the last season when ED and Carol finally get together. I read somewhere to post so that the people in charge can see how high the demand is for a DVD release...Hope it happens soon..I miss Ed.

Please please please i want Ed on DVD as soon as possible. I am so fed up with Channel 4 in the UK plugging it into odd places in the TV schedules, i will not miss an episode no matter when it's shown here but it's difficult tracking it down sometimes. I will buy this DVD IMMEDIATELY from Amazon when it is released. Ed is the only show that can make me laugh one second and then make me feel incredibly sad the next moment. The characters are so warm and friendly and its just a wonderful show. It's such an underrated show it should still be being produced it was a scandal it was ever halted. Bring Ed onto DVD soon!!

While home to a plethora of quality programming nowadays, including My Name is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock, Studio 60 and Deal or No Deal, NBC of the late 90s and early 2000s featured several of the best programmes of the day. Amongst these was The West Wing, Freak and Geeks, and Ed. The former two have been paid highest respects in their DVD releases, however, all four seasons of Ed have yet to see release.

Ed holds up today, even after seven years, as one of the strongest, wittiest, smartest-written shows of our generation. Watching the one lone episode I have on DVD right now (Captain Lucidity, S3E17, from an NBC Emmy screener disc,) the writing and humour remains as funny and fresh as it was 4 years ago. It almost pains me to watch, as it leaves me wanting more.

If I were to make an open plea to the show's production company, Worldwide Pants, and its owner, David Letterman, it would be: Please obtain clearances for the music used in all four seasons, and let it see a proper release on either DVD or a high definition media format. You could easily fit an entire season on one HD-DVD in standard definition. I realise the show was shot on film, but possibly edited on videotape; if it was edited and mastered on film, then please do high-definition transfers. Please, give us our favourite show about a bowling alley lawyer, Ed Stevens.