Date of airing: February 19, 2000 (CBS)
Nielsen ratings information: 7.45 million viewers, 4.8/9 in Households, 2.2/7 with Adults 18-49
written by: Lorin Wertheimer
directed by: Julia Rask
EARLY EDITION came back onto CBS's Saturday night schedule earlier than expected after a two-month hiatus, thanks to the fact that their game show WINNING LINES – CBS' answer to ABC's monstrous success that was WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? – was a ratings flop and got canceled two days before this EARLY EDITION episode aired. The fact that CBS even thought about putting this series on a longer-than-usual hiatus, so that a game show can air in its stead, means that the network was already thinking about canceling the show outright, to not give it a fifth season. You do not put a show into a hiatus and think that the viewers may forget about it, and you especially do not put a show on a months-long hiatus when the possibility arises that, if the show returns, some episodes will ultimately air outside the normal TV broadcast season (which back then lasted from September to May, with the summer months usually reserved for repeats, cheaper-to-produce shows, or the burn-offs that could not find a spot during the main broadcast season)
This is an episode in which the writers wanted to create a mystery hour without going too violent, but could not hold themselves back to depict two people shooting at each other like this is a duel at high noon. So much for family-value entertainment on Saturday nights, but it is not like CBS already abandoned that formula long ago, with all the assassination and terrorist and mobster plots EARLY EDITION has brought over the course of its lifetime. I think this might be the most violent episode of the series yet – yes, you did not see blood, but people were definitely getting shot here, making this episode PG-rated instead of G-rated, which the show was supposed to be from the beginning to the end.
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| This is the thanks Gary gets for saving a life. |
The episode was close to being a true PI crime episode, edging on a noir drama with its dark elements, as well as the choice of a slow jazz score and a fancy cocktail bar as one of the settings. Three and a half seasons in, and EARLY EDITION might have been a show trying to test out different genres, just to see if the show can be more entertaining in any of them, but let me tell you when I say that the private investigator crime novel genre is not working for the show, even if the story happened to be intriguing. This was an episode that came straight out of the writers' room for 2011's RINGER, a one-and-done CW drama starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. There was a good twin and an evil twin, one of them was ready to kill and murder everyone, and the other did not know what the heck was going on. Certain story choices were chosen, and none of them made any sense, because of course they would not. And then, Gary suddenly realizes the conclusion of the story, out of nowhere, just because the episode was already running almost 40 minutes in length and needed to end right away.
Yes, the general premise was good, and it made me wonder if RINGER came from this idea (although the good vs. evil twin story does not seem to be unique), but a few plot holes were to be found here, beginning with Rose deciding to stay in Chicago, be out in the open for her ex-boyfriend to find and kill her, when she planned to have her twin sister be his victim, going over to the police not having identified the body the first time around when Gary read in his paper that an unidentified woman was found dead (even though she should have been quickly identified as Rose Archer, the fugitive with a criminal record). Also, and this is not really a plot hole, I have no idea if Rose was aware of Lily’s amnesia. The way Lily told how it happened sounded like Rose was just lucky she did not become the victim that night, but would Rose not be weirded out a little, knowing that her twin sister cannot remember anything? Would Rose not want to use that to her advantage somehow and get away from her ex-boyfriend instead of staying in Chicago? Would that be the story if this did not happen to be a 43-minute long episode and instead expanded into a feature film?
Yes, the story had some holes in it, but at least the viewers were in for a bit of a ride here, wondering if Rose was conning Gary for real (and to con Gary into giving you $25k, you have to know he receives tomorrow’s newspaper, which means you were accepting of his acceptance that everything about Rose was real and he wanted to do everything to help her), or if she might have had multiple personalities, which was in fact what I thought was the case here, after the writers made sure every crime procedural beat was on Rose being a different person – smooching around with Gary, almost going for a smoke, not remembering who he was when the two were in a cab. That sounded like dissociative identity disorder on paper, and all I wanted was a 1990s procedural trying to get into that medical premise without knowing what it actually was.
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| Meet retired detective Marion Zeke Crumb, who is now a private investigator. |
In the meantime, Crumb was in this episode for a reason and I do not know why. Gary could have solved the case without the retired Detective who now moonlights as a private investigator and looks the part. Maybe Crumb was included to make it easier for Gary to get into investigative mode, to remind the viewers that there are still recurring characters out there ready to take part in Gary's life choices and stories. But I do not think Crumb was really needed. The old man was an unnecessary add-on, which clunks your device and makes it heavier and slower than it should be. Although I do have to say, the backstory for Crumb that was developed for him in the third-season episode "Crumb Again" was neat – it showed that some stories had consequences for some of the characters, and they continue to have a lingering effect. Something I wished for the writers to have done with Gary also.
