My Name is Earl
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My Name Is Earl, or "Earl" to fans, is an Emmy Award-winning American sitcom created by Greg Garcia. It is produced by 20th Century Fox Television.
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[edit] Overview
It stars Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, and Jaime Pressly. 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 the Carson Daly show. He decides he wants to turn his life around and makes a list of all the bad things he's 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.
Suplee plays Earl's simple but kind-hearted younger brother, Randy, who is his sidekick as Earl seeks to amend for his past transgressions. Pressly plays Earl's ex-wife Joy. The show also stars Eddie Steeples as Joy's husband Darnell, and Nadine Velazquez as Catalina, a good-hearted maid at the motel where the Hickey brothers live.
[edit] Ratings
The series premiere on September 20, 2005, 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 [1]. 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 the 2006–2007 television season.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main characters
- Earl J. Hickey (Jason Lee) — The protagonist and narrator of the show. In flashbacks, we see Earl before he began reforming himself: a jobless ne'er-do-well with no respect for authority or just about anyone. Self-described as the guy who would've stolen anything that wasn't nailed down, Earl now stands by the principle of good karma by doing good things and avoiding bad ones. He was supposed to be named after his father, Carl, but an extra loop on a cursive "C" was Earl's first step into a life of misfortune. Earl has never had a photograph taken without blinking at the wrong moment, something regularly demonstrated throughout the show.
- Randy Hickey (Ethan Suplee) — Earl's dimwitted brother who assists Earl with righting his wrongs. He initially assumed he and Earl would resume stealing once Earl completed his list. Despite his poor intellect, he often says profound things and has proven to be extremely helpful to Earl in his missions, though he is sometimes resentful when Earl's list forces him to make sacrifices. He has a boyishly innocent nature. He has a schoolboy crush for Catalina. It is also revealed that he has an extreme fear of birds. He is also afraid of the pope's mitre because he thinks there might be a chicken under it. He hates cats and is allergic to them.
- Joy Turner (née Darville, previously Hickey) (Jaime Pressly) — Earl's ex-wife, Darnell's current wife, and mother of Dodge and Earl Jr., neither of which are Earl's biological children. She operates a nail parlor in her home. Though she puts on a front of self-centeredness, she fully appreciates the people around her, even Earl, and has been found to be a dedicated, loving mom. She is also a very good fighter, a fact she puts down to "watchin' a lot of Springer" — when she was pregnant with Dodge, Joy knocked Earl's girlfriend Jessie (and her front teeth) out.
- Catalina Aruca (Nadine Velazquez) — A maid at the motel where Earl and Randy currently reside. She is an illegal immigrant who entered the United States on January 1st, 2000 (just as Earl and the gang assumed they were the last humans alive). She learned English a year ago. She worked for a month as a pole dancer at Club Chubby and was very successful at it because instead of dancing, she jumped. She has a fear of snakes and rape. Her mother is dead but says not to feel sad, as "It's OK, It was either her or me." She also says that her brother killed her father, and her cousins were slayed execution style in the Festival of Redemption. She and Joy have a mutual hatred stemming back from when they first met. (The first thing Joy ever said to Catalina was "who's the whore?"). During Season Two, she went back to stripping in order to help Earl, although she had to help Joy along the way. She seems to be very fond of Earl, even hitting on him when they first met. Earl appreciated but rejected the pass, because Randy called "dibs". Her last name Aruca has never been mentioned on the show but was revealed in a newspaper article in Bad Karma.
- Darnell "Crab Man" Turner (Eddie Steeples) — Joy's new husband and father of Earl Jr. Despite this, he and Earl are good friends (although they rarely do something together, they greet each other every episode with the famous lines: -"Hey, Earl!" -"Hey, Crabman!"). He works as a cook at the local Crab Shack (hence his nickname). It was revealed that his real name is "Harry Monroe," but he was forced to change it through the Witness Protection Program. Although generally calm and soft-spoken, Darnell is implied to be quite intelligent and occasionally makes highly intellectual statements, which the others usually ignore or brush off. He has a fondness for cheese and a pet box turtle named Mr. Turtle.
[edit] Minor characters
- Dodge (Louis T. Moyle) — Joy's oldest son, born June 10, 2000. Joy was six months pregnant with Dodge when she and Earl got married the day after they met. In the pilot Earl tells us, "Joy didn't remember much about the boy's real father, except that he drove a Ford. So, we named him Dodge."
- Earl Jr. (Trey Carlisle) — Joy and Darnell's son, born April 3. After introducing Dodge in the pilot Earl explains, "A few years later we were having our first child from my own personal seed. Doctors had already told us he was going to come out a boy, so we went ahead and named him." But as the doctor holds up a newborn mixed-race baby, Earl gets a confused look on his face and finishes: "There he was — Earl Junior."
- Kenny James (Gregg Binkley) — Former victim of Earl's bullying as a child. The two became friends when Earl helped Kenny come out with his homosexuality. Kenny helps Earl with completing his list whenever he can with his job at a copy shop (fake birth certificates and résumés for example), usually to his comedic detriment.
- Patty the Daytime Hooker (Dale Dickey) — A prostitute completely devoid of shame, who typically works in the day. The viewers' introduction to Patty is her trolling for johns at a school bus stop in full view of children. She can speak Bengali. She once had the winning lottery ticket stuck to her boot but she didn't notice. Has been known to trade sexual favors for fast food.
- Ralph Mariano (Giovanni Ribisi) - A lifelong friend of Earl. Used to be part of "The Gang" along with Earl, Randy and Joy. Got out of jail one day early for good behavior, and immediately tried to get back to his crime. Seems to understand Earl's new outlook on life but has trouble staying out of trouble. Got a job as a lamp salesman and stole all the lamps from the store. In an episode where Earl brings together his old band to make up for destroying an old man's dream of being a rock star, he is forced into marrying Ralph's mom. After the band's only show, years ago, Ralph's mom was the only one around and he was drunk. Ralph threatened to kill him if he didn't marry his mom and "make her an honest woman."
[edit] The List
- For a complete version of The List, see The List (My Name Is Earl)
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.
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 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 ran Earl over in the first episode ("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. 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 that happened, she responds, "Because you're a good person, Earl."
In episode 1.15, however, 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't not help him. Earl even says that the list is making him feel things he didn't feel before.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] DVD releases
Season Releases
DVD Name | Release dates | Ep # | Additional Information
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Region 1 | Region 2
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| Season One | September 19 2006 | September 25 2006 | 24 | This four disc boxset includes all 24 episodes from Season 1. Bonus features include deleted scenes, cast and crew commentary track, selections from the season's two-hour gag reel, and a "kind of mini-episode" just for the DVD. |
The "mini-episode", titled Bad Karma, is an alternate version of the events of the pilot episode of what would've happened if instead of seeing Carson Daly talking about karma, Earl was watching Family Guy and Stewie Griffin on TV in the hospital. [2] [3]
The DVD set at Best Buy offers a replica of Earl's flannel shirt in the form of a collectable DVD cosy, as well as a limited-edition bonus CD with three songs, including the show's theme song. There are at least two variations of the material used for this flannel replica as well as two types of buttons. Pictures of these bonus items can be seen here.
The DVD set at Target stores also features a limited-edition bonus disc with the DVD.
[edit] Comic
On July 17, 2006. it was announced that a comic book based on the series is going to be released by Oni Press. Hunter Covington, the script co-ordinator and a writer for the show, will be among the first to write an issue. [4]
[edit] Trivia
- In the opening scene of episode 27, "Sticks and Stones," the word "Amish" is edited out of the line "You know how those Amish people all show up when it is time to build a barn...." This was shortly after a gunman killed five Amish girls at a school in Pennsylvania and Garcia has said [5] it was done to avoid starting a comedy show with a reminder of unhappy news.
- The pilot episode featured the 1980s songs "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock and "99 Luftballons" by Nena as well as the songs "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction and "Do The Monkey" by The Wiggles.
- The wayward lottery ticket may have been influenced by a Bette Midler short film called "The Lottery" where piano teacher Bette tries to chase down a winning $1 million lottery ticket that disappears out her window. In the short, Bette is beset by calamity during the chase [6].
- The show is unusual among sitcoms not only for its lack of a laugh track, but also for its soundtrack. The music on the show includes bands as widely varied as Thin Lizzy, The Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Buckethead, Meshuggah, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Steepwater Band, Nick Drake, Guns N' Roses, Queen, The Cardigans, Nancy Sinatra, AC/DC, Jet, Ted Nugent, Santana, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Doors, The Wiggles, Dire Straits, Canned Heat, Bob Marley, ELO, and Beastie Boys, as well as a blues underscore by composers Mark Leggett and Danny Lux.
- The scene in which Earl is hit by a car was shot on Pennsylvania Ave. in Beaumont, CA, near the intersection of Pennsylvania Ave and E. 6th St. The car wash and convenience store are easily visible in the background.
- Whenever Earl wakes up Randy, for some odd reason, the first thing that Randy says is "Poopie trim." (This is a homage to Kevin Smith. In Mallrats, when Ethan Suplee's character is interruped from trying to see the magic eye, he says, "poopie trim.")
- The street scenes (seen in most episodes, most famously during the drag racing scene in "Dad's Car") are shot on Woodley Avenue in Van Nuys, CA, next to the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area. Joy's wedding and the Win a Dodge Neon contest ("White Lie Christmas") take place at the Recreation Area.
- The exterior hotel shots are filmed at the Hometown Inn in North Hills, California.
- The set for the trailer park where Joy and Darnell live is situated in the parking lot of a church in North Hills, California. The church itself appeared as the orphanage Joy visits in "Broke Joy's Fancy Figurine" (1.6).
- In "Teacher Earl," Earl says that a yin and yang symbol (a Taijitu) is Karma, while in fact it is a Taoist symbol with nothing to do with the Indian concept of Karma.
- Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee also co-starred in numerous films directed by Kevin Smith, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. A possible "View Askewniverse" reference was made when Earl claimed to have robbed a "Quick Stop," which was where Smith's breakout feature, Clerks, took place, which is the only Viewaskewniverse movie that neither actor has been in. Incidentally, they are in the sequel to Clerks.
- During "Cost Dad the Election," Beau Bridges (who stars in Stargate SG-1) claims that Earl has paid money back to John Sheppard. This is the name of one of the main characters in Stargate Atlantis.
- The state in which the show takes place is never mentioned. When they take road trips, though, they seem to end up in Western Maryland (in Hagerstown to find the dog and at Frostburg State University, Greg Garcia's alma mater, to return the computer). There is a Texas shaped, "Lone Star State" neon sign inside the Crab Shack which may indicate that the show is actually set in Texas.
- In "Y2K," Timothy Stack makes a cameo as the grand marshal of the Camden County New Year's Day Parade as himself. On the car is a sign that reads: "TV's Tim Stack from Son of the Beach," however, Son of the Beach had not yet premiered when the scene takes place on January 1, 2000.
- In "Y2K," the Ring can be seen in the background on the TV as they go to sleep and prepare for the next day after Randy comes up with the idea of using tickets.
- In the episode "The Bounty Hunter", Jaime Pressly remarks that she "watches a lot of Springer." Pressly herself was the star of Jerry Springer's film, Ringmaster.
- Each time Earl and Darnell meet, the greeting procedure is Darnell saying, "Hey, Earl," and Earl replying "Hey, Crabman." Even though Darnell starts most greetings, it does vary from episode to episode. The only exception in the wording seems to be the very first time Darnell is shown in the "Pilot" (1.1) where the dialogue is "Thanks, Crabman," and "No Problem, Earl," regarding the delivery of free crab meat. In "O Karma Where Art Thou" (1.12) Earl greets Darnell and his turtle while in the restaurant, "Hey Crabman, Hey Crabman's Turtle" and "Hey Earl. That's from both of us". In "Van Hickey," a drunken Earl responds to Darnell's "See ya, Earl" with "See ya, Earl."
- In what may be yet another reference to Jason Lee's admitted "man crush" on actor Burt Reynolds, Joy's maiden name of Darville is shared by Reynolds' character in Smokey and the Bandit, Bo "Bandit" Darville.
- In the pilot episode, a character named Sonny is introduced, shown playing "beer can tag" with Earl. It is implied that he is one of Earl's friends. Though it seems that Sonny would have become a major or recurring character, he has yet to appear in any subsequent episodes.
[edit] Cast- and crew-supplied trivia
Several bits of trivia were made public at a February 2006 event held by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences[7]:
- Garcia first pitched the show to Fox, which passed on it. About eighteen months later, people at NBC got interested after reading the pilot script that Garcia had sent to several networks.
- The show takes place in the fictional town of Camden County (not to be confused with the actual Camden Counties in New Jersey, Missouri, Georgia, and North Carolina). Creator Garcia said that the town is named after his son. The references to Maryland locations (such as Hagerstown, Cumberland, Shady Grove, and Frostburg State University) are due to his familiarity with an area he hails from and that "the show doesn’t technically take place anywhere ... we like to think it’s anywhere. We don’t really say exactly where it is," although the accents and lifestyles of many of the characters suggests a setting in the American South or Appalachia. However, the pilot episode showed that Earl and Joy drove from Camden County to Las Vegas, Nevada within a single night, suggesting a location in the American Southwest.
- Although Lee and Suplee had worked together before, Garcia didn't discover Suplee because of that. Garcia discovered him while watching the DVD version of Without a Paddle, looking at the film because another actor in it had been recommended to him. What convinced Garcia to bring Suplee in for an audition were comments about him he heard on the DVD's commentary track. One of the actors in the commentary told the story of a dispute between the film's director and Suplee. The scene the actor described was one where Suplee's character was supposed to be pointing a gun at some people Suplee and others had captured. The commentary noted that Suplee had insisted that he shouldn't point his gun at them after all, since in Suplee's mind, it had taken so long to capture the people that it had given the character time to rethink his motives. Suplee got his way in the scene, over the director's objections. The fact that Suplee would think so much about such a small detail was enough to get Suplee an audition. Garcia and the show's writers have subsequently used Suplee's attention to detail to the show's advantage, in various "pestered by a bee" background activities that Suplee's character does in various scenes. The first such scene was an improvisation in the pilot, where Suplee is looking up at the ceiling with his mouth open.
[edit] Easter eggs
- In "Randy's Touchdown" (1.3), when Earl is in the copy store, Randy is in the background holding a handwritten sign that reads "High Def Rocks." The sign can only be seen when the show is viewed in 16x9 widescreen associated with high definition digital broadcasts.
- Another sign only legible in high definition reading "Carl Hickey loves High Def" can be seen among the campaign materials in "Cost Dad the Election" (1.9).
- In "Something to Live For" (1.15), when Earl brings Philo to the Crab Shack to see Joy, the beer spigot (out of frame in 4:3) says "HD Draft". The second season is being broadcast in letterbox format on standard-definition channels, so further widescreen gags are unlikely.
- In "Barn Burner" (1.11), it appears that Catalina is cursing out Joy in Spanish. Actually, what she says is "I want to thank the Latino audience that tunes in to watch the show every week. And to those of you who aren't Latino, I want to congratulate you for learning another language."
- In "Number One" (1.24), Catalina responds to Joy's drunken insults with what appears to be a slew of invective in her native español. What she actually delivers is another message to Earl's viewers: "Con esto, concluimos nuestra primera temporada de Earl! Estamos muy agradecidos con su acompanimiento, y anticipamos verlos el proximo otoño!" ("With this, we conclude our first season of Earl! We're very grateful for your company, and we hope to see you next fall!")
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Nominated for 2006 Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
- Jason Lee nominated for 2006 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
- Jason Lee nominated for 2005/06 Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a comedy series.
- Cast nominated for 2005/06 Screen Actors Guild award for best ensemble in a comedy series.
- Jaime Pressly nominated for a 2005/06 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
- Marc Buckland won the 2005/06 Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (episode: Pilot).
- Gregory Thomas Garcia won the 2005/06 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (episode: Pilot).
[edit] Broadcasters
[edit] References
- Template:Cite news
- Nominations and Winners. Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved on January 13, 2006.
[edit] External links
- My Name Is Earl at NBC.com
