My Name Is Earl

My Name Is Earl
Genre Sitcom
Created by Greg Garcia
Starring
Narrated by Jason Lee (as Earl Hickey)
Composer(s)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 4
No. of episodes 96 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s)
  • Jason Lee
  • Henry J. Lange Jr.
  • Danielle Sanchez-Witzel
  • John Hoberg
  • Michael Pennie
  • Kat Likkel
  • Mike Mariano
  • Jessica Goldstein
  • Hilary Winston
  • Chrissy Pietrosh
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 19-24 minutes
Production company(s)
Distributor 20th Television
Release
Original network NBC
Picture format 1080i (16:9 HDTV)
Original release September 20, 2005 (2005-09-20) – December 16, 2008 (2008-12-16)
Official website www.nbc.com/My_Name_Is_Earl/

My Name Is Earl is an American sitcom series created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to December 16, 2008, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, the title character. The series also stars Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez, and Eddie Steeples.

Most episodes from the first season, then only a few from the rest, begin with Earl presenting the premise of the series:

My name is Earl. You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting around the corner: karma. That's when I realized that I had to change, so I made a list of everything bad I've ever done and one by one I'm gonna make up for all my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better person. My name is Earl. BAM!

Synopsis

Earl Hickey is a small-time criminal, living in the fictional rural town of Camden, whose winning $100,000 lottery ticket is lost when he is hit by a car while he celebrates his good fortune. Lying in a hospital bed, he learns about karma during an episode of the talk show Last Call with Carson Daly. Convinced he has to turn his life around to survive, Earl gives himself over to the power of karma. He makes a list of every bad thing and every person he has wronged and make efforts to fix them all. After doing a first good deed, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket that he had lost. Seeing this as a sign of karma rewarding him for his commitment, Earl uses his newfound wealth to do more good deeds according to his list.[1]

Having divorced from his wife Joy Darville and their two kids Dodge and Earl Jr., neither of whom are biologically related to him, Earl moves into a motel and lives with his brother Randy, and they meet Catalina, the motel's beautiful maid who illegally immigrated from somewhere in Latin America. Earl works on the list which mostly involves strangers and old acquaintances he has wronged, but also contains items involving his family. Initially Joy plots to kill or extort Earl for the lottery money, but later gives up. Joy marries Darnell Turner, a mutual friend who works at a local restaurant called the Crab Shack, and with whom she had been having an affair. In the season 1 finale, Earl discovers he had bought the lotto tickets using money he stole from another person, but when he tries to return his winnings to that person, the latter is inflicted with bad karma, so he returns the money to Earl.

The second season has Earl continuing to work on his list, however, Joy gets in deep trouble when she steals a delivery truck and ends up kidnapping and assaulting the person who was inside. Joy is arrested for felonies that would put her in prison for life because it was her third strike. To soften the jury, she decides to have a surrogate baby for her half-sister Liberty Washington. When things do not go well at her trial, Earl sacrifices himself by confessing to all of Joy's crimes, and is sentenced to two years in a state penitentiary. Also during the season, Catalina was deported, so Earl and Randy visit her village in Latin America, and Randy marries Catalina in a green card marriage to bring her back.

In the third season, Earl is in the state prison, but continues to do good deeds despite not having his list. He meets Frank, with whom he had rented the trailer in which Joy and Darnell now live, while Randy gets a job as a warden to hang out with Earl. Meanwhile, Joy gives birth to Liberty and Ray Ray's child. Earl's good deeds attract the attention of the state warden Jerry, who offers Earl a reduction in prison time for helping him resolve his issues. When Earl is about to leave, Jerry revokes Earl's reductions as he would lose such a productive helper, but Earl eventually gains the upper hand and forces Jerry to honor his early release. After leaving prison, Earl loses his faith in the list; he has spent years and the last of his lottery winnings doing good things, but has nothing lasting to show for it, and is insistent that karma should have given him some kind of lasting reward by now. He reverts to his pre-list ways, doing reckless and bad things until Frank's former girlfriend Billie Cunningham hits him with her car and sends him into a coma, and is subsequently hit herself. Randy is able to revive Earl by working on the list. Earl finds Billie and marries her, thinking she is karma's reward for his years of effort. When Earl and Billie argue over the list, and when Earl chooses the list over her, Billie goes into a rampage where she undoes his good deeds. However, when Billie hides in the Amish-like "Camdenite" settlement, she has a change of heart. She divorces Earl and gives her the rest of her insurance settlement money.

The fourth season focuses back on Earl and doing good deeds to cross off his list.[2] A major story arc during this season was that Darnell, who is actually a former assassin from a secret government agency, blows his witness protection cover. He, Joy and his family are forced to change identities and relocate until Darnell's father, also from the agency, goes on a mission with Darnell which clears them of needing protection. The season ends with a cliffhanger episode in which where Earl and the gang learn from DNA test results that Earl is actually Dodge's biological father, but that Earl Jr.'s biological father is not Darnell.

Cast

Jason Lee portrayed Earl Hickey in the series

Production

Conception

Creator and head writer 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 to his first TV starring role until meeting with Garcia, after which he signed on to play Earl Hickey.[3]

Locations

My Name Is Earl is set in fictional Camden County. Creator Greg Garcia says:

The show doesn't technically take place anywhere....we like to think it's anywhere. We don't really say exactly where it is.
Greg Garcia

In the episode "BB", Earl's driver's license address is at "Pimmit Hills Trailer Park, Space C-13, Camden County", but the state is not listed. Creator Greg Garcia said that Camden County is loosely modeled on Pimmit Hills, Virginia, the neighborhood where he grew up.[4][5] The actual location in Los Angeles was not a trailer park, but was built up to look like one.[6]

Many of the locations were filmed in San Fernando Valley in California. In the season 1 episode "The Professor", Earl receives a postcard from Alex with the address "Earl Hickey, The Palms Hotel RM 231, 9005 Lincoln Blvd, Camden USA" with Earl's hand covering up most of the postmark. The Palms Motel structure is actually motel in North Hills, California, now named the Palm Tree Inn Motel. It was also used to film other shows and films such as Gilmore Girls, The Mentalist, and Heroes.[7][8][9][10] Exterior shots of the Crab Shack and Club Chubby were also taken from locations in Van Nuys and North Hills.[6] Houses and shops for the various characters come from locations in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita, Northridge, Moorpark, Los Angeles, and other Southern California cities.[11][12][13] In the episode "Didn't Pay Taxes", Earl and Randy climb the landmark Artesia water tower, although they do not refer to it by name.[14]

Other episodes have listed states that were unlikely to have Camden County. In the episode "Our Other Cops is On", officer Stuart Daniels states that his surveillance equipment was "supposed to go to Camden, New Jersey, but came here instead". In "Earl and Joy's Anniversary", when killer bees have invaded Camden and then left, Iqball says that the bees are heading for Texas. The flashback episodes "Inside Probe" describe Camden County as trying to stay independent during the American Civil War and forming its own country called Central, which lasted less than a day.

Cancellation and future

The series ended abruptly on September 23, 2008 after running for four seasons. Season four had ended with the caption 'To Be Continued'. The series' producer, 20th Century Fox Television, approached the Fox,[15] TBS[16] and TNT[17] networks to continue the series, but they were unable to come to terms without "seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series."[16][18][19][20][21][22]

In October 2011, Jason Lee told E! Online he has been in talks with Greg Garcia to finish the list via a movie, possibly to be released online.[23]

On October 1, 2013, creator Greg Garcia participated in an AMA on reddit.com. Fan Jerry Denton asked "Who was Earl Jr's. real father and did Earl ever finish the list?"

Garcia replied:[23]

We never really got the chance to fully figure it out but the talk in the writers room was that Earl Jr.'s Dad was going to be someone famous. Like Dave Chappelle or Lil Jon. Someone that came to town on tour and Joy slept with. But when we got canceled we never got the chance to figure it out. I was worried about doing a cliffhanger but I asked NBC if it was safe to do one at the end of the season and they told me it was. I guess it wasn't.

I had always had an ending to Earl and I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to see it happen. You've got a show about a guy with a list so not seeing him finish it is a bummer. But the truth is, he wasn't ever going to finish the list. The basic idea of the ending was that while he was stuck on a really hard list item he was going to start to get frustrated that he was never going to finish it. Then he runs into someone who had a list of their own and Earl was on it. They needed to make up for something bad they had done to Earl. He asks them where they got the idea of making a list and they tell him that someone came to them with a list and that person got the idea from someone else. Earl eventually realizes that his list started a chain reaction of people with lists and that he's finally put more good into the world than bad. So at that point he was going to tear up his list and go live his life. Walk into the sunset a free man. With good karma.

Greg Garcia

Critical reception

The show was well received by critics and audiences alike. One reviewer 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 is perceived to be base[24] and bigoted humor.[25]

Some critics claimed the series had a Scientologist bias or message, with actors Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee being Scientologists.[26] In 2008, Alec Baldwin publicly named Earl creator Greg Garcia as being a Scientologist;[27] Garcia quickly denied any involvement with Scientology, claiming that the Daily Mirror had incorrectly reported him to be a Scientologist.[28]

The series was nominated twice for Best International Programme at the British Academy Television Awards in 2007 and 2008. The pilot episode won Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing and Directing in a Comedy Series for Greg Garcia and Marc Buckland respectively at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards. Jaime Pressly won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Other Emmy nominations include Beau Bridges and Giovanni Ribisi for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 24 September 20, 2005 (2005-09-20) May 11, 2006 (2006-05-11)
2 23 September 21, 2006 (2006-09-21) May 10, 2007 (2007-05-10)
3 22 September 27, 2007 (2007-09-27) May 15, 2008 (2008-05-15)
4 27 September 25, 2008 (2008-09-25) May 14, 2009 (2009-05-14)

DVD releases

Season releases overview

DVD NameRelease datesEp #Additional Information
Region 1Region 2
Season One[29]September 19, 2006September 25, 200624The 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 influences Earl to get revenge on everyone who wronged him.
Season Two[30]September 25, 2007January 28, 200823The four disc box set includes all 23 episodes. Bonus features include deleted scenes, commentary tracks on selected episodes, as well as other featurettes.
Season Three[31]September 30, 2008[32]October 20, 2008[33]22The four disc box set includes all 22 episodes. Bonus features include a gag reel, "Creating the characters" featurette and deleted scenes.
Season Four[34]September 15, 2009October 5, 200927The four disc box set includes all 27 episodes. Bonus features include deleted scenes, a gag reel, "Earl's Fan Mail" featurette and a movie trailer inspired by the premiere episode. Also released on Blu-ray.

Ratings

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), a third (2007), and a fourth (2008).

Season Timeslot (EDT) Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Viewers
(in millions)
1 Tuesday 9:00 P.M. (September 20-October 18, 2005)

Thursday 9:00 P.M. (October 25-December 27, 2005)

September 20, 2005 December 27, 2005 2005 10.9[35]
2 Thursday 8:00 P.M. September 21, 2006 December 19, 2006 2006 8.9[36]
3 September 27, 2007 December 25, 2007 2007 7.3[37]
4 September 23, 2008 December 16, 2008 2008 6.6[38]

Syndication

20th Century Fox 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. 20th had sold the off-net sitcom to the Fox, Tribune, CBS, Hearst-Argyle, and Sinclair station groups for a fall 2009 debut.[39]

My Name Is Earl aired in off-network syndication and on TBS, Ion Television, and MyNetworkTV in the United States, and is currently available on the streaming service Netflix. Canada airs the series on Joytv. The series premiered in January 2006 on Channel 4 in the UK. The fourth and Final season was shown on E4 in October 2008. In 2013, 5* gained the repeat rights to the series.

Adaptation outside the U.S.

A Greek adaptation entitled Με λένε Βαγγέλη (My name is Vangelis), starring Vasilis Charalampoupoulos as Vangelis, Makis Papadimitriou, Klelia Renesi, Anna Dimitrievic and Michalis Afolayan, premiered on November 14, 2011 on Mega Channel.

A Turkish drama featuring a moustached man looking like Jason Lee's character and using the "list" element in the character's search for repentance for past crimes has been airing on Turkish television and in a dubbed format in various Arab channels.

Comic book

Independent comic book publisher Oni Press had announced a comic book tie-in to the series in 2006,[40] and season one's DVD release included ads for the comic; but none were produced. Since the cancellation of the show, Oni has abandoned the comic.[41]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 DeWolf Smith, Nancy (September 16, 2005). "Arts and Entertainment Review". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  2. ""My Name Is Earl" Season 4 Preview: The Legend Of Dan Coscino - Channel Guide Magazine". channelguidemag.com. September 19, 2008. Retrieved August 4, 2017.
  3. My Name is Earl season 1 DVD extra: Making Things Right: Behind the Scenes of My Name is Earl Featurette
  4. Seibel, Deborah Starr (October 9, 2004). "Comedy Means Always Having to Say You're Sorry". New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  5. "The surprise hit of My Name is Earl". Entertainment Weekly. January 13, 2006. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Chas Demster (September 2014). "My Name Is Earl - The Main Locations". Chas Demster. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  7. Blake, Lindsay (January 29, 2016). "The Palms Motel from “My Name Is Earl”". Iamnotastalker.com. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  8. Hutchinson, Guy (November 2, 2007). "My Name Is Earl hotel". Bunchojunk. Retrieved July 21, 2017 via Blogspot.
  9. Hutchinson, Guy (February 17, 2012). "Film locations: The "My Name is Earl" motel". Locationsfromfilms. Retrieved July 21, 2017 via Blogspot.
  10. Hoffarth, Tony (January 28, 2010). "My Name is Earl". Flickr. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  11. Chas Demster (September 2014). "My Name Is Earl - The Houses Of Camden County". Its Filmed There. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  12. Chas Demster (September 2014). "My Name Is Earl - Businesses, Churches And Schools Of Camden County". Its Filmed There. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  13. "My Name Is Earl - Other Memorable Locations". Its Filmed There. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  14. Official City of Artesia, California (2015). "Investigating the Water Tower's Structural Integrity". Retrieved July 21, 2017 via Facebook.
  15. Fernandez, Maria Elena (May 19, 2009). "'My Name Is Earl' creator is OK with being 'thrown off the Titanic'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
  16. 1 2 Littleton, Cynthia (June 8, 2009). "TBS may give new 'Earl' segs a whirl". Variety. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  17. Flint, Joe (May 20, 2009). "TBS ready to be lifeboat for 'My Name Is Earl'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  18. Suplee, Ethan (May 23, 2009). "Thanks for the effort guys…". Twitter. Retrieved May 23, 2009.
  19. Chambers, Elizabeth; Godwin, Jennifer (June 9, 2009). "Could My Name Is Earl Be Saved?". E!. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  20. O'Connor, Mickey (June 10, 2009). "My Name Is Earl in Talks to Move to TBS". TV Guide. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  21. Godwin, Jennifer (June 11, 2009). "My Name Is Earl Dead, Deal with TBS Won't Work Out". E!. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  22. Ausiello, Michael (June 11, 2009). "This just in: 'My Name is Earl' will NOT live on". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  23. 1 2 "Jason Lee on My Name Is Earl Movie: "It's Time!"". E! Online. October 21, 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  24. "We learn that the items on Earl's list include No. 86, "stole a car from a one-legged girl," and No. 22, "peed in back of cop car." Gosh, what swell episodes those ought to make." Quote by Shales, Tom (September 20, 2005). "Earl Defines What It Takes To Be Sorry". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  25. "My Name Is Earl is not a stupid sitcom – that is what makes its sexist and homophobic jokes so maddening... Viewers aren't encouraged to laugh at Earl, as much as they are with him – at the people on his list." Citation from Will karma smile on NBC's 'My Name Is Earl'?, Baltimore Sun, by David Zurawik, 20 Sept 2005; text retrieved from AV Science Forum, Feb 2009.
  26. Donaghy, James (June 29, 2007). "My name is L Ron Hubbard". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
  27. Gawker article: "Alec Baldwin Doesn't Take Any Shit From Scientologists Archived March 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.."
  28. Spiegelman, Ian (April 17, 2009). "Greg Garcia Responds to Baldwin: 'I'm Not a Scientologist.'". 'Gawker.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009.
  29. "My Name Is Earl – The Complete 1st Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  30. "My Name Is Earl – The Complete 2nd Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  31. "My Name Is Earl – The Complete 3rd Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  32. "My Name Is Earl - Season Three (2009)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
  33. "(UK) : My Name Is Earl: Season 3 (4 Discs) : DVD – Free Delivery". Play.com. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
  34. "My Name Is Earl – The Complete 4th Season DVD Information". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  35. "Series". The Hollywood Reporter. May 26, 2006. Archived from the original on December 8, 2006. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  36. "2006–07 primetime wrap". The Hollywood Reporter. May 25, 2007. Archived from the original on October 25, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  37. Justin Van De Kamp (June 1, 2008). "TV Ratings: 2007–2008 Season Top-200". televisionista. blogspot.com. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  38. "Season Program Rankings from 09/22/08 through 05/17/09". ABC Medianet. May 19, 2009. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  39. Paige Albiniak (January 8, 2009). "Twentieth Clears 'Earl' In Half The Country". Broadcasting & Cable. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  40. "'My Name Is Earl' to become a comic book". Upi.com. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
  41. Archived March 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

Further reading

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