The other son, Cooper, is a doofus that mom has written off as useless. In this episode his girlfriend gives him skydiving as a gift and his reaction as he reluctantly goes through with it is hysterical. The daughter, Brandy, talks a bunch of nonsense and has a crappy husband whose only goal is to get rich quick. The customers are the real treat in this one, thus setting up never-ending possibilities for portrayals of lowlife jerks who were crazy enough to borrow money from these people. Throw in a pair of large Hawaiian brothers who are muscling in on the competition and we see this is a situation that can easily spiral out of control with fascinating results.
I laughed out loud when Morgan went to the house to find all the guys absorbed in a curling match on TV. My family is like that, so desperate for sports that they’ll watch anything. My other laugh out loud moment was when Morgan argued existentialism with the clerk at the book store while a long line of annoyed customers were behind them. Subtle touches like that are what defines well done shows and seem to be lacking in many new programs these days.
Quality Programming on The CW?
When I was done, I wondered what the hell this kind of show was doing on The CW. I thought I was watching HBO there for a second. I really hope Easy Money can find an audience, for quality programs like this belong on network television. Cable shouldn’t have all the fun. I’ve watched several of the new shows on network TV and have often compared them to this or that. This is the first new show this season that has stood out to me as unique and with a premise that can go places.
I did find it head-scratching that The CW ran promos for Gossip Girl, 90210, and Privileged during this program. I doubt many teens were tuning in. Smallville and Supernatural promos made far more sense (which aired also) and it also made me yearn for the return of Reaper. I know it sounds strange, expecting The CW to give me a few hours of quality shows instead of 13 hours of teenage fare, but such diversity certainly can’t harm this network right now. If anything, it will improve their rock bottom reputation and smooth over their current issues with affiliates.
Article comments
1 - LindsayW
Thanks to your blog, Alice, I'm so going to check out the CW's Sunday night lineup!!!
2 - Kari
I tuned in for Easy Money purely based on Laurie Metcalf's role, albeit with low expectations, and found myself pleasantly surprised! I'll definitely be tuning into that one again. Maybe I'll turn the CW on early and try out Valentine thanks to your review!