(S01E15) Tim Batale = Matt Albie.

Dave I. Bradey = Very Bad Idea.

I watch TV with the closed captioning on (my mother-in-law is deaf so my wife is used to it and besides, it's helping me learn how to read) so it was fairly easy picking up on the anagram.

What wasn't so easy was figuring out what purpose the Tim Batale plot device actually served...

Back in late 1999, there was a classic commercial produced by Nike that showed a guy going out for a run on New Year's Day morning, 2000. As he traverses through his neighborhood, ATMs are shooting out money, there's a power outage, and people are rioting in the streets. However, the message from Nike was despite all this mayhem, remember to "Just Do It." Funny, funny stuff. (If you want to see it, check it out at YouTube.)

Anyway, Earl Hickey wasn't immune from Y2K madness, and last night's episode was a flashback to the time when Earl and his gang decided to start a "new world" on January 1, 2000 since they think the world as they knew it came to an end at midnight. This was all predicated by Earl wanting to cross number 24 off his list--stole a red take-a-number-machine at Camden County's version of Wal-Mart, Bargain Bag.

Earl readily admits in his narration that usually he and his friends were too drunk during previous New Year's celebrations that fireworks went off at midnight and a parade took place the following morning, so they think they are the only ones left and want to start a new society at the store. Being the misfits that they are, things go awry quickly when everyone becomes territorial over areas such as the beauty and pharmaceuticals and TV departments.