My Name is Earl

As I do every year, I try to catch my fair share of new shows.

"Reunion": Each episode highlights a year in the life of six friends from their 1986 high school graduation to their high school reunion in 2006. Somewhere along the way, we're gonna find out that one of them has been murdered. It's just getting started - hope it gets better...

"Bones": It's as fascinating as your "CSI"s and "Law & Order"s but isn't compelling enough for me to continue watching. I like a continual story when it comes to my dramas so I'll pass on this one...

"Head Cases": Argh. Why did I watch this? Never again! Waste of an hour...

"My Name is Earl": This show was too funny! It's so clever and I'm definitely looking forward to the next episode. The first episode was probably the best first episode of a sitcom that I’ve ever seen… Earl, played by Jason Lee, is your stereotypical trailer park loser. Earl narrates the show which opens up with him stealing worthless crap out of someone's car (hence, Earl being a loser). Earl has a beautiful wife, Joy, but he suspects that she's been cheating on him. Though she's given birth to two children while they were married, neither belongs to Earl. She was already six-months pregnant with the first, Dodge, when they got married (he was drunk) and the second baby, Earl Jr, is black. We then meet Randy, Earl's brother, who's by Earl's side most of the time. Randy's drinking limit is four beers or else he starts doing crazy things. Randy can't help but bust out dancing when his favorite song, Rob Base & D.J. E-Z Rock 's "It Takes Two", is playing on the jukebox. Randy likes to reel in a dance partner with his imaginary fishing pole.

The show starts off three weeks ago when Earl bought himself a winning $100,000 scratch ticket. As he's celebrating, Earl inadvertently walks out onto a road, gets slammed by a car, and loses the scratch ticket. He wakes up in a hospital with an injured neck & leg and Joy asking him to sign some papers. He does so with no question but finds that she's divorcing him to be with Earl Jr's father, Darnell "Crabman" from Ernie's Crab Shack. As he's lying in the hospital, Earl happens to flip the channel to Carson Daly's late night talk show. The person Carson's interviewing asks Carson how he's been so fortunate in his life. In the words of the Great Carson Daly, "It's just Karma - good things happen to good people". This is suddenly an epiphany for Earl who attributes himself being in the hospital and losing the scratch ticket to all the bad things he's done in his life.

After being released from the hospital, Earl & Randy make a rundown hotel their new home. As Randy is trying to hookup with the maid, Catalina (which he called “dibs” on), Earl writes a list of all the bad things he's done in his life, intending to make them all right. He starts, randomly, with #136… littering. As he's picking up garbage from the hotel parking lot, the lost winning scratch tickets rolls right next to him. "Son of a bitch, it's working!"

Earl claims his winnings and sticks the cash in the glove compartment of his El Camino. He decides to work on #64, Kenny James, a guy he tormented in elementary school. Earl stalks Kenny for a few days and finds that he's got a great life - he's an assistant manager at Copy Hut, he owns a powder blue LeCar, and he has the nicest house on the block. Unfortunately, Kenny has no one to share it with. So how does Earl decide to make things right with Kenny? He attempts to get Kenny laid.

Earl gets Daytime Hooker, Patty, to have sex with Kenny. After Kenny politely refuses her services at his home, Earl & Randy march inside to find out what the deal is. When Kenny sees Earl, he frightfully retreats to the corner of his bedroom where he tries calling 9-1-1. As Earl tries to calm Kenny, Randy casually goes through Kenny's bedside drawer to find... gay porn. The reason Kenny rejected Patty wasn't because she was disgustingly scraggily - it's because Kenny is part of “The Gay”.

Earl & Randy “escape” from Kenny's house back to the hotel. Earl takes him off the list due to "special circumstances." It’s his list – he can do whatever he wants. But right after he does this, Joy shows up demanding half of Earl's winning and whacks him over the head with a telephone. Earl realizes that Joy’s actions is the result of Karma - so he decides to give helping Kenny another try.

Earl goes to Kenny’s house and explains why he wants to help him, citing the Great Carson Daly and Karma. While doing so, Earl insensitively calls Kenny “queer” but quickly corrects himself by saying, “Uhhhh… Homosexual American?” Kenny admires Earl trying to making things right. He tells Earl how difficult it is to find a man in their small town. Earl suggests Kenny try going to a gay club in the city. But that’s something Kenny had already unsuccessfully tried in the past. Earl agrees to help Kenny by going with him (and Randy). Once they get to the club, Kenny immediately sees someone he likes. Earl offers to go up to the guy but Kenny tells Earl that he’ll be able to do it on his own. His newfound confidence is because of Earl’s acceptance. If Earl, the childhood bully, could accept him for who he was, then everyone else should. So Kenny confidentially approaches his interest and the show ends with Randy reeling in a dance partner ‘cause “It Takes Two” is playing. With his partner being male, it could only mean Randy had over four beers… Oh well, Kenny’s new confidence clearly meant success for Earl – marking Kenny off the list. Only 258 to go…

This first episode was very smart with its talented cast. I’m expecting more laughs in the future… I loved the quick flashbacks (ala Family Guy) and I think the show will have much success as long as people watch it. How can you go wrong with Jason Lee? I can’t wait for more… Here’s what one reviewer had to say:

On first description, “My Name Is Earl” sounds like an attempt by NBC to dumb down its heritage of classy, urbane sitcoms and improve its sagging ratings in the rural and conservative red states. Looks can deceive. This is a show so subversively, so outrageously cool that Larry David would appreciate it… But this is not “Hee Haw” with a plot. Nor is it a hick version of the blue-collar “According to Jim.” Maybe it’s best thought of as a post-“Seinfeld,” post-modernist version of “Dukes of Hazzard.” Creator Greg Garcia’s show is hip and irreverent, sophisticated even when its characters do dumb things, and slyly winking at an audience bright enough to get its references and be intrigued by its stylishly cinematic production values…In short, it’s another intelligent NBC comedy -- only in disguise. And that makes this brave, clever attempt to shake up the staid world of sitcoms both praiseworthy and risky. This is a major departure from the network’s stale world of big-city-singles shows, yet its zippy aesthetic can be appreciated by those very educated singles who identified with “Friends” or “Seinfeld.” - By Steven Rosen , Los Angeles writer, Sept. 20, 2005 © 2005 Media Life