A Televisual Feast

Ned suffers (really) through guest star Farrah Forke’s affections to help Stacey get a job while Rico and Amanda try to get pregnant. The subplot with Rico isn’t really to develop anything, it’s just to give Rico and Ned some funny commiseration scenes. They’re great scenes, so the uselessness isn’t really an issue.
Lots of the […]

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It’s Ned versus another ad guy this episode, which brings up some more of the show’s implicit problems. Ned’s dilemma is solved through sleazy but moderately believable means, which puts the episode back in that “reality” realm it functions so poorly in.
A lot of the episode–until Ned goes to Hawaii for a commercial break–is great. […]

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Who knew Thomas Calabro was so funny. He guests as Stacey’s New Year’s Eve date and he’s fantastic, excellent timing, good delivery. His portions of the episode are some of the best, as are those featuring the drunken doorman or Rico and Amanda’s attempts at having an evening to themselves. The problem comes at the […]

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Ned’s client wants to sleep with him and Stacey convinces him otherwise–partially because it would demean him (as a professional), in addition to Stacey being pissed the client hit on him in front of her (not knowing Stacey was the fake wife).
Even though it doesn’t sound like much, it’s actually the first episode to really […]

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Even though the episode ends on a reasonably funny note, it’s still a mess. It opens fine, with the quartet at the restaurant, then Ned inexplicably goes up to the bar with Amanda–only so she can introduce him to the guest star.
It’s a strange scene, obvious about the contrivance, something I assumed no sitcom writer […]

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Finally, a schmaltzy (or nearing schmaltzy) finish works for an episode. Stacey goes nuts because Ned bribes a salesman (the bed she wanted was already sold). The episode’s terribly directed, even though Rob Schiller’s one of the regulars–guess he didn’t know what to do when Debra Messing was acting well.
The episode starts a little slow […]

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That’s Susie Essman in a pound of makeup as the ancient aunt who prattles on about all the famous people she once knew. The voice sounded familiar, but it’s still a bit of a surprise. Unfortunately, while it’s an okay gimmick, the episode falls back on it most of the time. Otherwise, it’s falling back […]

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Olivia Newton-John guest stars as herself, slowly driven from perky to pissed as she suffers through Stacey’s waitressing. This episode has a solid hold on the character–dingy but capable. I remember, back when it was first aired, I don’t think I knew who Olivia Newton-John was.
The episode deals with Stacey’s credit card debt, the pre-title […]

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A superior episode. Most of it takes place at a Halloween party, or on the way to one, where Ned and Stacey eventually kiss. That big plot development isn’t the best part of the episode by far, though it’s handled very well (their public argument over the ramifications, since they liked it, is fantastic). The […]

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This episode features a number of the best lines in the series (so far), particularly, “Oh, God, what kind of world is it where a man can’t love his fake wife’s mother’s best friend?” Or something to that effect.
It also–with two women credited as writers–features the most humanizing portrayal of Ned. It isn’t just his […]

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