My Name is Earl
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My Name Is Earl is an American sitcom created by Greg Garcia. It is produced by 20th Century Fox.
It stars Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, and Jaime Pressly. Lee stars as Earl J. Hickey, a scruffy, 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. He develops a belief in the concept of karma when he hears about it during the Carson Daly show while lying in his hospital bed after the accident. He decides he wants to turn his life around. After a few good deeds, his $100,000 ticket comes back to him. With his new lucky money, he proceeds to make a list of all the bad things he's done, and cross items off that list, one-by-one, by doing good deeds to atone for them.
Suplee plays Earl's "simple" but generally very kind hearted younger brother Randy, who is his sidekick as Earl seeks to amend for his past transgressions. Pressly plays his ex-wife Joy. The show also stars Eddie Steeples as Joy's husband Darnell, and Nadine Velazquez as Catalina, a good-hearted friend and maid at the hotel where the Hickey brothers live.
Contents
Ratings
The 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 [link]. 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 has already been renewed for the 2006–2007 television season.Characters
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.
- 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 schoolboy crush for Catalina. He also has an extreme fear of birds. He also fears the Pope's hat, but only because he thinks that there is a chicken under it.
- 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. 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 (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. 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."
- 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.
Minor characters
- Didi (Tracy Ashton) — The one-legged girl from whom Earl stole a car after telling her he loved her. She works at Yummy's Donut Shop and has a fast one-armed, no-legged boyfriend, whom she met while hopping after the winning lottery ticket as it blew in the wind. She is still angry at Earl and had her boyfriend chase him away when he tried to apologize.
- 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 black baby, Earl gets a confused look on his face and finishes: "There he was — Earl Junior."
- Carl Hickey (Beau Bridges) — Earl and Randy's father. He ran for mayor twice but lost both times after Earl was arrested. He is sorely disappointed in his sons but puts all the blame on Earl. However, he and Earl are mending their relationship with the help of an old Mustang.
- Kay Hickey (Nancy Lenehan) — Earl and Randy's mother. She is also disappointed in Earl but is more tolerant than Carl. She is happy Earl is trying to turn his life around. She spends a lot of time dealing with Carl's battered ego.
- Ralph Mariano (Giovanni Ribisi) — Former partner in crime of Earl's, who goes in and out of jail on an almost weekly basis. He isn't the smartest person in the world, doesn't quite get the whole karma thing, and will do anything for $200. He has a sister who dances at Club Chubby.
- 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.
- Donny Jones (Silas Weir Mitchell) — Earl's friend and fellow reformed criminal. Donny was wrongly convicted of attempted robbery (it was Earl wearing Donny's jersey). Donny found Jesus in jail and once Earl confessed, Donny had no choice but to forgive him. He has 2 tattoos, one of Jesus on his chest from which he occasionally asks for advice and one of Moses parting the Red Sea on his buttocks.
- Patty the Daytime Hooker (Dale Dickey) — A prostitute completely devoid of shame. 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.
- Willie the One-Eyed Mailman (Bill Suplee, father of Ethan Suplee) - A local mailman with a patch over one eye, Willie is friendly but somewhat lazy as he has been seen throwing mail on the floor of someone's home or simply throwing it in the garbage. He nearly got Earl's winning lottery ticket when it blew away in the wind, but his lack of depth perception prevented him from picking it up.
- Nescobar-A-Lop-Lop (Abdoulaye N'Gom) - An African immigrant from Earl's English class. Like other class members, he proudly greets Earl with his first English phrase: "My. Name. Is. Earl." He is also known to repeatedly say, "Seacrest. Out."
- Creepy Rodney (Clint Howard) - A criminal, known to steal anything whether it has value or not. He is also easy to fool, as Randy and Earl did several times attempting to bait him into committing a crime.
The List
- For a complete version of The List, see The List (My Name Is Earl)
Earl's first good deed, picking up garbage, leads to him finding his lost 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 series 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?"
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.
Episodes
DVD Releases
Creator/show runner Garcia commented on DVD release contents and plans at a February 2006 event held by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences[link]. Garcia expects to 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 first season is currently scheduled for a September 26, 2006 release in the United States.[link]
Season 1 DVD box set is set for a UK release on 28 August 2006. [link]
Trivia
- Earl's last name, Hickey, is a reference to the lead character in Eugene O'Neill's classic play The Iceman Cometh, who comes to realize that resisting the judgement due (his karma) is making his life unbearable.
- 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 song "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction.
- 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, Nick Drake, Guns N' Roses, Queen, The Cardigans, Nancy Sinatra, AC/DC, Jet, Ted Nugent, Santana, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Doors, Dire Straits, Canned Heat, and Bob Marley.
- Earl's truck is a 1973 Chevrolet El Camino. In episode 1.10 Earl says it has a 1977 door (the blue driver's door) and a 1987 Camaro transmission.
- 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 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.
- Every time Earl gets his photo taken, his eyes are closed. This is considered to be a nod to the movie Forrest Gump in which every photograph of Forrest shows him with his eyes closed.
- Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee also co-starred in numerous films directed by Kevin Smith, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma (Voice). A possible "View Askewniverse" reference was made when Earl claimed to have robbed a "Qwik 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 will be in the sequel to Clerks.
- Twice in the series, Randy has uttered the words "poopie trim" while waking up. A reference to anal sex, the phrase is from the film Mallrats which starred both Suplee and Lee. The phrase was also spoken by Chris Rock's character Rufus in the film Dogma. It is generally uttered as the character is waking up or snapping out of a daze.
- 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.
- Randy is a better liar after drinking four beers but becomes unpredictable if he consumes more.
- The state in which the show takes place is never mentioned.
- 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 TVsas they go to sleep and prepare for the next day after Randy comes up with the idea of using tickets
- In 1.23, the close up of Earl's driver license shows he lives in Pimmit Hills Trailer Park, Space C-13, Camden County. His date of birth is 4/25/1970 (Jason Lee's birthday), his height is 6'1", his weight is 190, his eyes (closed in the picture, of course) and hair are brown, and he is an organ donor. It's a class 1 license, #023052378, expiring on 4/25/2009, issued on 4/25/1970?
- In the episode 'The Bounty Hunter', Jaime Pressly remarks that she "watches a lot of Jerry Springer." Pressly herself was the star of Jerry Springer's film, Ringmaster.
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[link]:- 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, 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 south of the USA.
- 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. Director Buckland noticed this after a take, and asked him why he was doing that. Suplee told him that his character had a deviated septum and was looking for aliens.
Randy holds up a sign reading "High Def Rocks!" in an easter egg visible only to high definition viewers. Click for detail.
- 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 high definition [link].
- 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) [link].
- In "Barn Burner" (1.10), 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 "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" [link].
- In "Number One" (1.24), Catalina again delivers a message in Spanish. She says, "With this we conclude our first season of Earl. We are very thankful for your company, and are looking forward to seeing you next fall."
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 in 2006 (Screen Actor Guild) for best actor in a comedy series.
- Cast nominated in 2006 (Screen Actor Guild) for best ensemble in a comedy series.
- Jaime Pressly nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (2006).
Broadcasters
Earl appears on:
- CNBC-e in Turkey.
- NBC in the United States.
- Global TV in Canada.
- Channel 4 and E4 in the United Kingdom.
- Seven Network in Australia
- Channel 6 in Ireland.
- Jack TV in the Philippines.
- TV3 (New Zealand) in New Zealand.
- TV3 (Viasat) in Sweden.
- TV3 (Viasat) in Norway.
- ntv7 in Malaysia.
- FX in Chile, Brazil and Argentina.
- Yes (Israel)+ in Israel.
- M-net in South Africa.
- RTL 5 in The Netherlands
References
External links
- [My Name Is Earl] at NBC.com
- [My Name Is Earl at tvrage]
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