the_excerpt_reloaded()

I couldn’t find the answer to my question, so i was hoping someone (Kafka, pretty please?) could smack me over the head with the correct answer.

I have used the_excerpt_reloaded plugin. I’m working on the theme in a localhost environment, so I can’t show a link, but I’m using this idea, and trying to incorporate the-excerpt_reloaded plugin with it.

My theme is in the very basic state right now – I have only 3 calls in the stylesheet – so I know it’s not the stylesheet that’s messing with me. In fact, when I view the source code, the part that’s missing isn’t showing in the source code, either.

So here’s the thing – the “more” link isn’t showing on the site. The thing works just as it’s supposed to, but I can’t get the “more” to show up at the bottom of the excerpt. My code looks like so:

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php query_posts("showposts=5"); ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post();
      $postclass = ($post == $posts[0]) ? 'entry-1' : 'entry'; ?>

<div class="post<?php echo $postclass; ?>" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
<small><?php the_time('F jS, Y') ?></small>

<div class="entry">
<?php if ($postclass == "entry-1") { the_content('Read More &raquo;');}
else { the_excerpt_reloaded(50, '', '', TRUE, 'Read More &raquo;', TRUE); } ?>
</div>

I’ve even tried replacing that string with just “the_excerpt_reloaded();” to just go with the default settings, and still nothing shows up.

Would anyone know what I’ve missed? (because I *have* to have missed *something*!) Thanks ??