My guess is, this date is NOT "The Beginning."

Here's a nice couple sitting at a table at TGI Fridays. The female is a chirpy, toothy little thing who throughout the commercial is WAY too excited to be at this chain restaurant. The guy is an average-looking, balding, dumpy doofus who is way too interested in keeping this date within the parameters of a pretty damned tight budget.

"I'll have the Green Bean fries" this woman practically squeaks at the waitress. "Ah, a light eater!" her miserly prick of a date thought-bubbles approvingly.

"For the entree, I'll have the Sizzling Chicken" she continues. Now her date is suddenly alarmed- "Entree?" Clearly, he didn't count on this. He figured he'd get this girl in and out of this restaurant with the spare change from his car's ashtray.

"And for desert, I'll have the Cheesecake!" our heroine concludes, showing all 32 teeth and a beaming smile that gives the impression that being brought to TGI Friday's is the Greatest Experience of Her Life. At this point, The Guy Who Will Get the Damage is nearing his own breaking point- "Dessert?? What does she think I am, a bank???" I'm not kidding.

Then the guy notices the "Three Course Meal for Only $12.99" label on the front of the menu. Oh, thank goodness! This isn't going to break him! "I'll have the same" he informs the waitress, earning a dimple-filled gushy smile of delight from the girl- seriously, it does NOT take much to send this woman into spasms of ecstasy, does it?

Apparently, this guy invited this girl to dinner hoping that she would say "no." Once she said "yes," he hoped that she would order a side salad and a glass of water, and then offer to cover the tip. In other words, he's a cheap bastard who suffered waves of intestinal agony at the thought of shelling out $20-$30 on something as inconsequential as a date with a cute girl.

Apparently also, this guy doesn't eat at TGI Friday's very often. TGI Friday's is exactly the kind of place you take a date when you aren't sure if you really like the person you are escorting all that much, and don't want to drop a wad of dough on something that might not pan out. Olive Garden is too cheap, Ruth's Chris is too upscale. You go to TGI Friday's because you know it's pretty damned impossible to overspend there- for this guy to freak out because his date (gasp) orders an entree tells me nothing good about him.

I don't think that his date's ridiculous smile is going to last very long- maybe when she finds out that "Dinner and a Movie" means TGI Friday's and then back to his apartment to watch whatever showed up in the mail from Netflix that afternoon, it will finally be wiped from her silly face.