|
My Name Is Earl is a comedy created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005 to May 14, 2009 in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television.
The series stars Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Eddie Steeples and Nadine Velazquez. Earl J. Hickey (Lee) is a petty criminal whose winning $100,000 lottery ticket is lost when he is hit by a car. Lying in a hospital bed, under the influence of morphine, he develops a belief in the concept of karmic retribution when he hears about karma during an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly. To turn his life around, he makes a list of every bad thing he's ever done in an attempt to correct them, as he believes that this is the only way he can gain positive karma. After doing his first good deed, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket he had previously lost. He sees this as a sign of karma rewarding him and, with his newfound wealth, he begins doing good deeds according to his list.[1]
As he continues to fulfill good deeds, Earl seems to be only doing so to improve his own life but begins to develop a sincere sense of morals and ethics, refusing to participate in illegal or morally wrong activities-though sometimes finds himself in very awkward situations including a suicidal stunt man, a second-hand hot tub that gives his ex-wife Joy a communicable toe disease, a Korean War veteran who wants to reclaim some possessions Earl destroyed (including the ear of a fellow soldier) and a psychotic 'witch woman' who proves him right in thinking she is evil when she knocks him and many others out and stores them in her basement.
Creator and head writer Greg Garcia wrote the pilot while working on another sitcom, Yes, Dear. He initially pitched the series to Fox. Fox 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 to his first TV starring role until after meeting with Garcia, after which he signed on to play Earl Hickey. [2]
The series premiered on September 20, 2005, drew in 14.9 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 highest rated of NBC's new fall offerings, and a full season (22 episodes) was ordered. In its first month, it was also the highest rated new sitcom of the season to air on any network and was the highest rated sitcom on any network in the 18–49-year-old demographic. The show was renewed for a second season (2006–07), a third (2007–08), and a fourth (2008–09).
The series ended on May 19, 2009 after running for four seasons. Season four had ended with the caption 'To Be Continued'. The series' producer, 20th Television, approached the Fox, ABC,[7]TBS[8] and TNT[9] networks to continue the series, but they were unable to come to terms without "seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series."[8][10][11][12][13][14]My Name Is Earl is syndicated on TBS.
Other recurring characters include Electrolarynx Guy, Bruce, Nescobar-a-lop-lop, Doug, Jasper and his Russian mail-order bride, Joy's deaf lawyer and her interpreter, DJ Dave, Slow Roger, Creepy Rodney, Bob Smiley, and TV's Tim Stack. Stack (also a writer for the show) usually appears in his Son of the Beach costume, completely intoxicated, or both.
Several of the show's characters appeared on the July 8, 2008 episode of Celebrity Family Feud: the Hickey Family (Earl, Joy, Randy, Crabman and Catalina) played against "Camden County" (Tim Stack, Patty, Wilford [Tim's agent], Kenny and Nescobar). The Camden County team defeated the Hickey Family but lost to the cast of The Office in the finals.
My Name Is Earl is set in fictional Camden County. Creator Greg Garcia says:
The show is filmed in the San Fernando Valley, in Southern California.
On the last DVD, in reply to a viewer's question, Greg Garcia admits that Camden is loosely modeled on Waldorf, Maryland.
The two-part episode "Inside Probe"[16] gives conflicting clues:
Outdoor scenes were actually filmed in Lake Balboa, California.
The show has been on the whole well-received by critics and audiences alike, on Metacritic it garnered a 77% "generally favorable" critics' metascore; 8.7 out of 10 users' rating.[17] One reviewer has speculated that Earl's forthrightness to having led a life of idiocy is what endears him to the viewer, and is what suggests there is a depth to his character beyond what is initially seen.[1] Many of the negative and ambivalent reviews center on what are perceived to be base[18] and bigoted humour.[19]
Some critics have claimed the series has a Scientologist bias or message, with actors Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee being Scientologists.[20] Reports in the British press incorrectly identified series creator Greg Garcia as also being a Scientologist, but Garcia himself has denied any affiliation with Scientology.[21]
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.[28]
Twentieth Television has cleared My Name Is Earl in nearly 50% of the U.S., said Bob Cook, the company’s president and chief operating officer. Twentieth has sold the off-net sitcom to the Fox, Tribune, CBS, Hearst-Argyle and Sinclair station groups for a fall 2009 debut.[31]
In September 2009, The Comedy Network in Canada began to show My Name Is Earl on a nightly basis at 8:30 PM EST.
Independent comic book publisher Oni Press had announced a comic book tie-in to the series in 2006,[32] and season one's DVD release included ads for the comic; but none was produced. Since the cancellation of the show, Oni has abandoned the comic.[33]
|