Date of airing: January 9, 1999 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 12.71 million viewers, 8.2/14 in Households
written by: Carla Kettner
directed by: Fisher Stevens
Another year, another chance for EARLY EDITION to be more than just a moderately solid show on Saturday evenings. This time, a more youthful audience was supposed to tune in, and that is why Billie Worley, Myles Jeffrey, and Kristy Swanson got cast for this season in the first place. It took a while, but contract negotiations have finally upped all three into the title credits of the series, which means it needed to be updated, as it never had room for more than three people anyway. Time for a new GIF to open up these dumb and meaningless reviews then.
It is rare to see new opening credits halfway into a season of television, but it looks like the producers really wanted to change up the show a little more, really needed a new audience to tune in and give the series life for another season, as the ratings were most likely not playing ball with CBS – that essentially means that EARLY EDITION may have been on the bubble during the third season, hence the new cast members and the title intro change, which was a huge deal back in the day. Halfway into the season, we all know that the three new characters have been warmed up and were ready to play with Gary, so here is to hoping that their inclusion into the title credits is a sign of their stories becoming more intriguing. For Patrick to become more than just a geeky comic relief who just does what Gary asks him to do, and for Henry to become more than just an annoying kid who does not listen to what his mother or Gary has to say to him. And for Erica to be more than just Gary's love interest. In fact, I am still waiting on the latter
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| Henry is eating something nutritious and talking on the phone at the same time. |
This episode was similar to season one’s “Frostbit,” as Gary was running from one incident to another and dealing with the stupidity of some of Chicago's finest citizens, unable to see that they are in danger, let alone accepting any help when it is offered to them. But what I noticed for the first time during this episode is that Gary has been more annoyed about the reactions from the people he is helping out. Granted, he already said once before that a "Thank you" would suffice, but this episode was going a little too heavy on Gary getting pissed off by not getting some appreciation, or at least a listening ear to his concerns. It is almost like Gary has lost a little bit of faith during this episode, in which a church choir needed rescuing. Henry noticed immediately that Gary may have been a bit crazed during this hour, because Gary might have had it up to his neck helping out Chicago citizens and not getting any “Thank you kindly, stranger”-type recognition, especially when people like Maddie Stefanovich come along and yell at him.
Although maybe Gary should be hissed at, judging by the way he comes storming at you to help you. Having to touch you to get you out of the way of danger and certain death? Cutting part of your dress without warning? I am sure any other person would deserve the wrath Gary has gotten in this episode, but maybe Gary should just save the people and move on to save the next person. Why even wait to get recognition? It's not like his world is going to end when he does not receive any...
Of course, the episode had some absurd moments again, beginning with stripper Chantal, who, for some reason, turned up at the final accident site and decided to chat up Gary who was in the middle of doing hard labor. How convenient that she and her two biggest assets were available to stop the bus, because Gary certainly was not capable of doing that. Let's continue with Henry, who probably has had experience in feeling the vomits after filling himself with candy and ice cream, and yet has decided to munch a whole mountain of ice cream, knowing that he is going to feel bad in an hour or two. As always, kids never learn. And as always, when that is part of a fictional narrative, it annoys me greatly and I just want for it to stop. Although it has to be said that Henry functioning as Gary's little sidekick of sorts was interesting to watch, even if it sometimes reminded me of comic books of the 1960s, in which teenagers were the "official" sidekicks of superhero characters – for a show that was trying to get a younger audience, EARLY EDITION was definitely getting many of its writing hands on old, true and tested narrative devices.
And then there was Gary, who just could not prevent the bus accident from happening. I guess he did not get the idea to just ask the driver to take an alternate route, because the planned route was ... I don't know, closed due to construction or something? That would have probably been easier to do before trying to cut the tires of the bus to make it immovable. Sometimes, the resolution to changing a headline is pretty simple, but Gary does not seem to think of that resolution and instead goes the extra mile, making his life that much harder in the process. Yes, if he takes the easier way out of a mess, it would make for a less interesting story, but since he was already running from one accident site to another in this episode, preventing the bus accident and then moving on to the next disaster would have been fine.
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| What is the quickest way to immediately stop traffic? |
I did like the idea of Gary and Henry spending the day together, and not just because it makes the kid look like the superhero's sidekick. It helps to get Gary and Erica together as a couple (and now that Kristy Swanson is in the title intro, it is guaranteed that she was about to make out with Kyle Chandler), and it sort of helped the audience to accept the fact that sometimes, Gary has help on the streets of Chicago. Okay, Henry did not do anything to help Gary but make him aware of new headlines in the paper, but it was about time that Gary would think about maybe relegating some of the hard work and not carrying the weight of Chicago's world on his shoulders alone. In a way, Chuck was properly replaced in this episode by Henry, which is why I find it fitting that Fisher Stevens directed this hour. While kids can be annoying most of the time, it can be interesting to see Henry being involved more often in Gary’s lifesaving schemes, especially since Henry really just wants to help. He made Gary aware of the changes on the front page, and he made his way to the chemical plant, wanting to help Maddie. Gary is indirectly creating moral reasoning within Henry's mind, and that can only lead to good things.
