Tonight's episode of "Ed" may not be the last, but it sure looks like it. Which would be too bad.
Officially, NBC has made no decision about the show's future and won't until the fall schedule is announced in May. But the network is running promos calling this the "final" episode and telling viewers that Ed and Carol's wedding is the "end" of their romance.
Either the show isn't coming back or NBC is taking the rather interesting position that marriage kills romance.
One way or the other, this is the final episode of "Ed's" abbreviated fourth season (17 episodes instead of 22). But if this is indeed the end, it's a nice send-off for the show and a Valentine to its fans.
As advertised, it's Ed (Tom Cavanagh) and Carol's (Julie Bowen) wedding day. And they're planning one of the worst weddings in the history of television. Carol wants it to be something out of the ordinary, something with a theme, so Ed comes up with what he thinks is the perfect idea.
A circus-themed wedding, complete with costumes, clowns and an elephant. (Well, sort of an elephant.)
On the way to the happy ending, there are some nice moments for the series regulars. Mike (Josh Randall) is feeling inadequate as a best man. Molly (Lesley Boone) is worried about her own romantic future. Phil (Michael Ian Stubbs) wants to perform the ceremony and gets in a lottery dispute that pulls in Eli (Daryl "Chill" Mitchell).
Warren (Justin Long) is working on a video that retells the story of Ed and Carol's pothole-laden road to romance. And you've got to hear Shirley (Rachel Cronin) sing her version of that tale to the tune of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song to believe it.
The finale is sentimental at times without being sappy. And it's not all sentimental — the story even mocks the TV cliche of happy endings with the conclusion of one of its storylines.
I'm not giving anything away by telling you there is a happy ending. The title of the episode is, after all, "Happily Ever After."
Adding to the bon voyage-party feeling is the post-ceremony picture album of sorts, which sort of lets the regulars say goodbye. And pay attention to one brief sequence that features a smiling Ed with his arms around two guys who you may take for wedding guests as Carol stands to their left — those guys are Rob Burnett and Jon Beckerman, the show's creators and executive producers.
Looks like they were there more to say "Goodbye" than "Congratulations." Although they certainly deserve plaudits for bringing on some new writers this season, making "Ed" the best its been since its first year on the air.
Too bad NBC couldn't do more to bring viewers back to the show.
SMART MOVE: Good move for KSL to buy out KJZZ's contract on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and move the daytime talker to its weekday schedule at 3 p.m. And certainly a big improvement on the dopey "Retro TV" packaging of old sitcoms that nobody was watching.
You might have thought that a show featuring DeGeneres would be an anathema to KSL programmers. (Although, as an NBC affiliate, Ch. 5 is the home of first-run "Will & Grace.")
But DeGeneres has made good on her promise to make her show all about entertainment and not about her personal life. And she's proved that she's the best new host on the best new daytime talk show to come along in several years.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com