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*'''Patty the Daytime Hooker''' ([[Dale Dickey]]).
*'''Patty the Daytime Hooker''' ([[Dale Dickey]]).
*'''Ralph Mariano''' ([[Giovanni Ribisi]]) - Earl's childhood friend.
*'''Ralph Mariano''' ([[Giovanni Ribisi]]) - Earl's childhood friend.
*'''Willie the One-Eyed Mailman''' ([[Bill Suplee]]).
*'''Willie the One-Eyed Mailman''' ([[[[Bill Suplee]].
*'''Billie Cunningham''' ([[Alyssa Milano]]).

Other recurring characters include Electrolarynx Guy, "Nescobar A Lop Lop, Didi", Doug, Jasper, Donny Jones, and Bob Smiley.
Other recurring characters include Electrolarynx Guy, "Nescobar A Lop Lop, Didi", Doug, Jasper, Donny Jones, and Bob Smiley.


Revision as of 23:56, 25 April 2008

My Name Is Earl
Title card featuring Jason Lee as Earl Hickey.
Created byGreg Garcia
StarringJason Lee
Ethan Suplee
Jaime Pressly
Eddie Steeples
Nadine Velazquez
Narrated byJason Lee as Earl J. Hickey
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes65 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersGreg Garcia
Marc Buckland
Tom Palmer
Camera setupSingle camera
Running timeApprox. 21 min. (30 min. with commercials)
"Super-sized" episodes: Approx. 29 min. (40 min. with commercials)
Two part and hour long episodes: Approx. 42 min. (1 hour with commercials)
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 20 2005 –
present

My Name Is Earl is an Emmy Award-winning American sitcom created by Greg Garcia. It is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. It is currently in its third season and is broadcast on the NBC television network Thursdays at 8:00 PM Eastern time. On March 3, My Name is Earl started airing on TBS.

Due to the recent Writers' Guild strike, only 22 of the 25 episodes originally planned for the third season were filmed. With the strike now concluded, new episodes began airing April 3rd. It has been renewed by NBC for a fourth season.

Overview

The series stars Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Eddie Steeples, and Nadine Velazquez. Lee stars as Earl J. Hickey, a petty crook with occasional run-ins with the law, whose newly won $100,000 lottery ticket is lost when he is hit by a car. While lying in his hospital bed after the accident, he develops a belief in the concept of karma when he hears about it during an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly. He decides he wants to turn his life around and makes a list of all the bad things he's ever done. After a few good deeds, his $100,000 ticket comes back to him. He sees this as a sign and, with his new lucky money, he proceeds to cross items off that list, one-by-one, by doing good deeds to atone for them.

Critics have claimed that the series has a Scientologist basis, with creator Greg Garcia, and actors Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee all being Scientologists. [1]

Conception

Creator Greg Garcia wrote the pilot while working on another sitcom, Yes, Dear. He initially pitched the series to Fox, which passed on the series. He then approached NBC, which optioned the pilot on a cast-contingent basis, meaning they would order the pilot provided a suitable cast could be assembled.

Jason Lee was approached for the lead role, but was uninterested in working in television and passed on the series twice before finally agreeing to read the pilot script. Though he liked the pilot, he was hesitant to commit until after meeting with Garcia.

Ratings

The series premiere on September 202005, drew in 15.2 million viewers in the United States, earning a 6.6 rating. By the airing of the third episode it was apparent that My Name Is Earl was the most popular of NBC's new fall offerings, and a full season (22 episodes) was ordered.[2] In its first month, it was also the most popular new sitcom of the season to air on any network and was the most popular sitcom on any network in the coveted 18–49-year-old demographic. The show was renewed for a second season (2006-07) and then for a third (2007-08).

Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode of My Name is Earl on NBC:

Season Timeslot (EDT) Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Rank Viewers
(in millions)
1 Tuesday 9:00 P.M. (September 20 - December 6, 2005)
Thursday 9:00 P.M. (January 5 - May 11, 2006) 		September 20, 2005 May 11, 2006 2005-2006 #40 10.9 [3]
2 Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 21, 2006 - May 10, 2007) September 21, 2006 May 10, 2007 2006-2007 #58 8.9 [4]
3 Thursday 8:00 P.M. (September 27, 2007 - May 15, 2008) September 27, 2007 May 15, 2008 2007-2008 TBA TBA

Characters

Main characters

Recurring characters

Major recurring characters are:

Other recurring characters include Electrolarynx Guy, "Nescobar A Lop Lop, Didi", Doug, Jasper, Donny Jones, and Bob Smiley.

The List

Main article: Earl's list

While hospitalized and under the influence of morphine, Earl hears Carson Daly talk about karma on TV and comes to the conclusion that his bad luck has been caused by his lifestyle. (It is typical of Earl that he believes Carson Daly invented the concept of karma.) He decides to make a list of everything bad he has ever done, with the intention of making up for all of his mistakes and crossing the items off the list as he goes. (It must be noted that the true concept of Karma is not what Earl understands it to be; see Karma.)

Earl's first good deed, picking up garbage, leads to him finding his lost winning lottery ticket.

Karma is a recurring theme throughout the show, and its effects are shown not just on Earl, but also on other characters, such as Earl's ex-con friend Ralph, who ends up wanted by the police again after refusing Earl's offer to help him change his ways and trying to steal Earl's money.

In some instances, Karma exists not only as a theme, but also a character that dictates Earl's actions. Earl will occasionally address Karma directly as if it were a deity or an otherwise omniscient and powerful being, and will (almost) always yield to whatever he perceives as its will. Earl proclaims in one episode, "I am Karma's bitch." The List is portrayed as the physical manifestation of Karma. Karma is also portrayed in the final episode of the first season as the old woman who hit Earl with her car after he scratched off his winning lottery ticket ("I saw Lady Karma again").

Earl's behavior raises an interesting question of morality: Is he motivated only by his desire to gain good 'karma', thus acting only in his own self-interest, or is he truly sorry for everything he has done, and has turned his life around? The show is somewhat ambiguous on this matter, with different episodes suggesting different answers, and some implying that it could be both. For example, in episode 1.04 Earl intends to confess to his ex-girlfriend that he faked his death to get away from her because she was too clingy. When Catalina points out that this will hurt her feelings and asks him what's more important, his list or someone's feelings, Earl responds, "I dunno. My list?" On the other hand, Earl shows true empathy in episode 2.02 when Joy is arrested. He eventually passes out from worrying about Joy. When he asks Catalina why he may have passed out, she responds, "Because you're a good person, Earl." Another case showing that Earl just might be becoming a better person, not just to get on "karma's good side" is episode 2.03. He meets up with a bearded lady named Maggie that he made fun of when they were kids. Before long, he sees what she's like on the inside and she appreciates that and tells him to cross her off the list. After leaving her house, Earl and Randy see a few other of the circus employees walking around and they begin to make fun of these people as well. Earl quickly realizes that he's "doing it again". He then says "What good is it to cross Maggie off my list if I'm gonna keep doing the same thing to other people?"

In a number of episodes, Earl will not cross something off if he isn't sure that he has solved all the problems that his actions caused. For example, in episode 1.15, Earl states that while he has crossed someone off his list, when he discovers that the person is going to kill himself, that he can not help him. Earl even says that the list is making him feel things he didn't feel before. It's been suggested that while Earl may have started the list for his own ends, he has eventually come to genuinely care about righting many of the wrongs in his life.

In the final episode of season two Earl truly shows his caring side. When Joy seems about to be sent to jail, Earl takes the bullet and confesses to the crime that he only partially took part in. He takes a sentence to jail for two years.

Episodes

Main article: List of My Name Is Earl episodes

DVD releases

Season Releases

DVD Name Release dates Ep # Additional Information
Region 1 Region 2
Season One[5] September 19, 2006 September 25 2006 24 The four disc box set includes all 24 episodes. Bonus features include deleted scenes, commentary tracks on selected episodes, selections from the season's gag reel, and a "mini-episode" vignette where Stewie Griffin from Family Guy tells Earl to get revenge on everyone who misdid him.
Season Two[6] September 25, 2007 January 28,2008 23 The four disc box set includes all 23 episodes. Bonus features include deleted scenes, commentary tracks on selected episodes, as well as other featurettes.

Season 1 DVD set

The season one "mini-episode", titled Bad Karma, is an alternate version of the events of the pilot episode featuring what would have happened if, instead of seeing Carson Daly talking about karma while in the hospital, Earl saw Stewie Griffin of Family Guy talking about vengeance.[7]

Season 2 DVD set

  • A limited edition Season 2 DVD set at Target and Best Buy contains a scratch and sniff card for use with the viewing of the "Get a Real Job" episode.[citation needed]

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Backstage.com The Actor's Resource: Casting Calls, Movie Auditions and Actor's Union News
  3. ^ Series
  4. ^ 2006-07 primetime wrap
  5. ^ "My Name Is Earl - The Complete 1st Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  6. ^ "My Name Is Earl - The Complete 2nd Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  7. ^ "My Name Is Earl - Season 1 DVDs To Have New Bonus Mini-Ep with Family Guy Crossover!". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  8. ^ Klein, Eric. "My Name Is Earl - The Complete First Season". DVDFanatic. UGO Networks. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  9. ^ "People's Choice Awards Past Winners: 2008". PCAvote.com. Sycamore Productions. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
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