My Name Is Earl
Tags: flashback

Plot synopsis:
Earl Hickey (Lee) is a small-time criminal, living in the fictional rural county 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, 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 in which Daly is interviewing country music star Trace Adkins. Convinced he has to turn his life around to survive, Earl gives himself over to the power of karma. As his first step of a makeshift twelve-step program to fix his misdeeds, Earl makes a list of every bad thing and every person he has wronged and commences efforts to fix them all. After doing a first good deed, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket that was previously 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.
After a year of doing good deeds, a major plot-twist occurs in season two. Earl's ex-wife Joy Turner (recently remarried to local "Crabman" Darnell Turner) steals a truck from a local "Bargain Bag" supermarket in retaliation for their refusing to process a return for the $3000 home-entertainment system she'd purchased (due to gum being on her receipt), and in so doing, accidentally kidnaps a Bargain Bags employee (who, unbeknownst to Joy, was in the truck's container). She is facing life in prison due to this being 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 takes the blame for the truck theft and kidnapping to protect Joy's freedom and family and is sentenced to two years in a state penitentiary. Behind bars, Earl is forced to surrender his original list, but continues to do good deeds. He also meets fellow prisoner and friend Frank's girlfriend, Billie.
In an attempt to re-capture an escaped Frank, Earl, his brother Randy, and Frank end up seeing Joy give birth.
Through Earl's captivity, the Warden grants more and more time off Earl's sentence for his good deeds. However, the Warden revokes all of this time off on what would be Earl's second-to-last day in prison, realizing that Earl was making him look good by solving so many problems in the prison. However, Earl eventually gains the upper hand and forces the Warden to honor his early release.
After leaving prison, Earl loses his faith in the list; he has spent years and all 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 Billie hits him with her car and sends him into a coma. Billie is subsequently hit by a car herself, leaving them both lying in the street. Eventually, Earl wakes up, finds Billie, and marries her, as he believes her to be Karma's reward for his years of effort. However, Earl and Billie argue about his list, and Earl eventually chooses the list over her, sending her into a rampage where she undoes the good things that he has accomplished to that point. However, Billie converts to a "Camdenite" (a parodic sect of the Mennonites) after hiding out in their territory to avoid arrest, and divorces Earl on friendly terms, giving him the settlement money from the person who ran her down in the street because she felt Earl deserved the money, and as a Camdenite, she wouldn't be needing it. Earl uses it to continue doing good deeds on his original list.
As he continues to perform good deeds, Earl's motives initially come across as shallow and selfish – that he is only doing good to improve his karma and by extension his own life. However, Earl begins to develop a genuine sense of morality and principles, refusing to participate in illegal or immoral activities – though sometimes finding himself in very awkward situations, including those involving 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 "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.
As another plot-twist, Darnell (aka, the Crabman) blows his Witness Protection cover when Joy goes crazy at an audition for a game show entitled ¿Estrada or Nada?. After Joy beats host Erik Estrada in the game show, they go through different covers, eventually stopping at an upper-class lifestyle. Soon, Darnell's father finds his son. It is then revealed that Darnell's name is actually Harry Monroe (although he is still called Darnell or Crabman). As a child, he was a spy in a top-secret espionage agency. Feeling that his job was immoral, he publicly testified against the agency, getting himself placed in the Witness Protection Program. Crabman, his father, and Earl (who must be drugged so he sees nothing) go on a final mission for the agency. After everyone survives a helicopter crash, life goes back to normal.
In many cases, Earl discovers that his crimes and misdemeanors had far more repercussions than he had known, and that complete fixes in those cases would require far more effort than he had first thought when selecting his list item. Yet he would also find that repairs would have deeper and more layered results, bringing the realm of the show into the religious and spiritual as well as comedic.
The series often ended its episodes with a final scene of Earl and Randy conversing in their shared motel room bed at night about a non-important, trivial topic.

Review: Time will tell how good or bad this show is but I think it is off to a great start..Almost every show that debuts today is simply the repackaging of a previous idea or concept.My name is Earl is an obvious attempt to provide something different and hopefully far better than todays traditional boiler-plate sitcom model.Expect that this show will break new ground in television and someday will be mentioned with other shows like "Married with Children " or" All in the Family" that stretched the limits while showcasing the dysfunctional direction of family life in todays America..
I hope the show is a hit and keeps it up.If the Coen brothers wrote and directed a TV sitcom, it could be very much like this show.The premise is simple: Earl (the very likable Jason Lee, often seen in Kevin Smith films, and whose on screen demeanor sometimes reminds me of Chevy Chase in his youthful prime) is Earl, a small-time raggedy thief who snags a $100,000 winning lottery ticket.
While recovering in the hospital, doped up on morphine, he watches a TV show with MTV host Carson Daly talking about doing good deeds so that good things will happen to you...and he comes up with the the idea of repairing his mess of a life by making a list of all the people he's harmed in the past, tracking them down one by one, and making amends however he can.When Earl briefly thinks of backing out on his plan, the ticket miraculously floats back seemingly out of nowhere..inspiring him to keep up the good work.
Karma is a funny thing, as the tagline says.The inimitable evil vixen Jaime Pressley (as his trashy ex-wife Joy) is part of a great supporting cast, and the superior writing and directing of the show gives it a comedic, quirky quality that reminded my husband and myself of Coen brothers' films such as "Raising Arizona".
I think this is going to be a huge hit for NBC and Lee. The cast was awesome and a great combination.
It's almost as good as if Kevin Smith himself directed & produced the show himself I hope this show continues to be as funny as the pilot & stays on the air for years and years to come..
"My Name Is Earl" is about this guy named Earl (Jason Lee) who is a redneck and one day he wins $100,000 off a lottery ticket and then decides to make a list of things that he did wrong from his past with his new realization about how much his life sucks.
So I think this show will probably be a hit and go for a few seasons since I'm sure that every episode is going to be where he is checking off his list and making sure that his life gets better.
Comedy, Action, Suspense, Horror, Romance...The best part is the suspense maintained throughout each episode from starting to end.The cast chosen is perfect, their role is perfect, the acting is perfect.
The show is so awesome that even if you watch it 100th time, you wont feel bored instead it feels like a new episode.After everything I still don't understand why the ENDED the series in middle..
Realizing that his life is terrible due to him being a generally terrible person, Earl plans to turn his life around and writes a list of all the bad things that he's ever done, ranging from little things like bullying some kids in his days in school, to huge, punishable-by-law crimes, and hopes to make up for it along the way.It's a simple premise, but one that is full of possibilities, and Greg Garcia never ceases to surprise the audience through the course of the series.
Even the least likable of characters, the ones whom the cast want you to hate, have an incredibly human side to them that you will soon discover as you watch the show that will make them carve a special place in your heart.It also goes well with the acting, which, while it sadly won't win any Oscars (the acting is purposefully lack-luster), has a certain childish charm that really brings out the character in an almost theatrical light that will connect you with the stage that is Camden County as a theatre production may connect you with the characters of Shakespeare's work at a live performance.
Jaime Pressly, for example, shines as an over-the- top, selfish, heartless "dumb blonde" that is Joy Turner, but there are more than enough times when with that same childish nature of the casts acting she shows a surprisingly massive level of depth beneath her otherwise paper-thin character, partly due to the sharp writing and character design, partly because of her enthusiasm for the role, and with it, takes the stage every time she makes an appearance in each episode.
Even though most of the show seems to be a situational comedy which focuses mostly on events rather than the words being said, when Earl, himself, begins narrating and tries to make sense of the impossible events that occur to the best of his abilities, or when his loyal brother Randy interjects into a conversation with a ridiculous statement, hilarity is guaranteed.My Name is Earl is, without a doubt, among the funniest and full of heart shows to ever air on TV, anywhere, and you'd truly be missing out by skipping this one.
Earl doesn't get all virtuous about his job; he does it because he thinks it's the right thing to do, even if it means helping his repugnant "family"- his loathsome ex-wife Joy (brilliantly played by Jaime Pressely), her layabout boyfriend and their two kids.
My Name is Earl also had crisp production values, likable characters, interesting story lines and hilarious jokes and writing.In conclusion, a wonderful show and for a long time was one of my favourites.
I was already a big Jason Lee fan since we was in movies like Mallrats and Chasing Amy.Earl and his dimwitted brother Randy are con men/thieves until Earl wins $100,000 in the lottery but then instantly gets hit by a car and loses the ticket.
Earl seeing Carson Daly on TV talking about karma and saying that good things happen to good people.
He makes a list of every bad thing he's ever done.Other characters in the show are Joy who is Earl's ex-wife, crabman aka Darnell who works at the Crabshack and ends up marrying Joy and Catalina who's the housekeeper at the hotel that Earl and Randy live in and also a dancer at Club Chubby..
And of course since each show has Earl attempting to right a past wrong, we get to see just how depraved Earl was for most of his life.The writers' creativity stretches far, for they have now produced a LOT of shows with fresh ideas and situations both funny and completely out of left field.
How they come up with things like "fish wings" I'll never guess, and I'm not bad at coming up with funny stuff myself.Is a lot of Earl "low-brow".
His first good deed sees him reunited with his winning lottery ticket  thus setting him up with the resources to tackle the rest.Along with "Everybody Hates Chris", My Name is Earl came to the UK with lots of praise and critics hailing it as one of the saviours of the American sitcom.
I've always liked him and with Earl, Jason Lee seems to have found a character that suits him perfectly and whose only downside may be that he'll never get better.
Suplee is great fun as Randy, getting a lot of the best lines and making him lovable and dumb, as opposed to the type of dumb that would turn the audience against him.
Overall then a very enjoyable series that had me consistently amused and laughing, using a clever concept to produce good stories and delivering them with great imagination, humour and wit.
Casting Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee as Earl and Randy Hickey respectively was a stroke of genius.
This makes Camden County very believable as a small county town.In closing, this is not your regular comedy, it his held up by a strong and very original story, as well as great characters.
Not only has this show actually made me laugh out loud really hard for the first time in ten years of watching ridiculously unfunny sitcoms (I barely watch T.V. now because of the tripe filled with commercials and I never watched reality crap), It has the best message on T.V. Shows today are either unfunny or vulgarly funny with no moral message.
Jason Lee hits a home run as the character or Earl, a small town thief who gets a run of good luck and bad luck.
There was many moments of the show that made laugh a lot .The characters were original (like they were from a movie of the Coen Brothers ) and very likable and funny .
And after only three episodes, most of the people on this show seem like little more than caricatures: the scheming ex-wife, the stupid brother, the ex-con who's found Jesus, the squirrelly little gay guy, etc.There have been several clever and original bits: the giant-type Bible, and Randy asking the guy with the throat mike to say "Luke, I am your father," for example.
But too much of the show relies on people acting stupidly and/or getting out of a bad situation through dumb luck or a quick spin: the bad things Earl has done turn out to be not-so-bad after all.Also, while I like looking at hot babes as much as the next guy, how plausible is it that the two main female characters in these guys' lives (Joy and Catalina) would both be drop-dead gorgeous?
The character played by Jason Lee, although unlikely to be as clever or as 'honest' as a stereotype would be in real life, is extremely likable, and anyone who enjoyed the early series' of Friends for the Joey and Chandler moments, (before it went bad) then this is for you.
Jason Lee is playing a character like no other - taking him out of the Kevin Smith movies realm.
I decided to write this review, because I believe that the series is greatly underestimated, it has everything you need for a comedy series: the former negative main character, who reincarnates into a positive, younger brother of a low mind, former wife, untold good luck and failures, friends from a black past.Always when Earl gets into different situations, fulfilling an item from the list, it looks funny how he tries to cajole people who have suffered damage from him.
In this day of any reality show concept under the sun being green-lighted for pilot and six-to-thirteen episodes,it's great to see not just a unique and funny idea for a sitcom,but one that is filled out by a sharp cast,clever writing and NO LAUGH TRACK,there's hardly any shame in admitting to liking this.Earl Hickey(Jason Lee,in quite a departure from his film career,mostly in appearance)is a lifelong loser who,when he sees his dream of wining the lottery scratched due to some very unfortunate circumstances,he has a revelation(from a hospital bed,watching Carson Daly,no less!)that tells him that why his life is rotten and how he can rectify it.
Karma,as it were,has told him this.So each episode,with the help of his nearly retarded brother Randy(Ethan Suplee),Earl sets out to make right what who he has done wrong.
Jason Lee is a talented actor, but is trapped in a helpless role in this horrible "comedy".Earl is now in jail for this current season.
Last night on NBC, they aired 4 episodes and I was in love with Jason Lee and Earl.
Low-life Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) buys a winning lottery ticket but loses it when he gets hit by a car.
His ex-wife Joy (Jaime Pressly) has remarried to Darnell Turner (Eddie Steeples) who works the local bar with waitress Catalina (Nadine Velazquez).Earl Hickey and his friends are all trailer park trash.
I wish Earl was my brother or first cousin and I could drink beer with him and look over his list!Viewers who were born after 1965 might not find this show as funny as others do (born 1940s-1950s) but as a member of the baby-boomer generation who once wore "hippie" bell-bottoms, sported long hair and grand mustaches, drove highly souped-up to barely-functional automobiles, married under "it-was-there-so-do-it" circumstances, housed and supported less-affluent siblings and disagreed automatically with parents .....
I would definitely like to see that.it's really funny, everything: Earl, with his "fancy" haircut and nice mustache:) his dumb brother Randy who sometimes says something no one can understand but they realize it makes sense or something like that:) Lets not forget Catalina..
It is produced by 20th Century Fox. It stars Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, Ethan Suplee as Randy Hickey, and Jaime Pressly as Joy Turner (née Darville, previously Hickey).
Earl discovers karma and makes a list of all the bad things he's ever done so he can make up for those mistakes.
"My name is Earl" is just great, lots of fun, easy to watch...and when you see the whole season you scream for more and more.
Earl is trying to be a better person, having compiled a list of bad things he's done that he needs to right so he'll have good karma (as he understands it).
The recurring characters that become Earl's friends through his good deeds also continue to add spice in subsequent episodes.Who'd have thought that a show about thieves and adulterers would make us laugh while teaching us a little bit about honesty, forgiveness, and loyalty?
The karma format is really strong and leads to a lot of really funny plots, jokes, etc.- all in all I think this show is one of the best I have seen in the past 5 years-except for Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Scrubs and Two and a Half Men. It's only flaw is that Channel 4 (who show it here) put it on too late..
Well when i first heard about this show, in all honesty, i wasn't thrilled, but when i found out Jason Lee was the leading man, i watched the pilot show straight away, and i wasn't wrong at all, this show is fantastic.Every Episode Earl has to cross something off his list and every episode it gets even funnier, i never miss an episode and if i do, I'm watching it on E4 the Thursday after, so far I've watched every single episode and its just amazing.The whole cast in my opinion is amazing, each actor/actress plays their part so well, my favourite character apart from Earl has to be crabman, its his one liners that crack me up, like when he comes over and says "Joy told me to give you these poison cookies" then when Earl replies "thanks Crabman" he goes " No Problem Earl" So funny.This show is genius and i recommend that you watch it, just give it a go, and i promise you, you wont regret it, it doesn't sound like everyones cup of tea, but trust me, you will be drinking your tea while watching this..
it also gives Jason Lee to show his true talents not restricted to K.S. movies.I really don't know what else I can say It's just a great show and the only good thing NBC has..
The series is well written with a few well written and well used characters.Jason Lee is great as Earl.
The show opens with Earl starting of by saying something along the lines that if you think that by looking at him he's like your typical stereotype, that you would be right, cause he is!
Last night's episode, Earl's ex-wife gets remarried, has to be one of the best comic programs I've seen in a long time.
And not only that, the show's premise is karma, the love you make is equal to the love you take; bad things happen to bad people; there was an episode about homosexuality and Earl's reaction to that lifestyle (not dissimilar to my own); there was a show about addiction (to cigarettes); shows about honesty and selfishness and greed.
I'd just like everybody to know that My Name is Earl is a very, very funny show.
Jason Lee plays Earl who was a man that was a no-gooder, who recently won $100,000 on a lottery ticket, and decided to become a do-gooder, with the help of a list and his brother Randy (Ethan Suplee).
Ethan Suplee adds a pretty good character to the show as well as he plays the part of Earl's nit witted brother Randy.
This is not just great writing, it's great acting.Earl makes you want to go out and do good deeds.
One thing that makes it so great, we all know a few "Earls"I love how he tries so hard to quit smoking.
Out of the so-far two episodes, each one has left you feeling good at the end that there's at least one fictional character who's out to do the best he can to improve the world.
My Name is Earl was very funny and had a good message that was part of the show, not thrown in your face like your 5 years old.
Jason Lee does this some of the time, and the only one who acts in any way believable is Jamie Presley, who can't save her character from being atrocious.This show is clever for people who don't get actual clever comedy.
(Jason Lee as Earl plus the story lines..) Two points.Supporting cast..
Jason Lee is great as Earl, a lowlife criminal trying to turn his life around.
Earl (Lee) wins the lottery, decides to give in to the concept of karma, and writes up a list of all the bad things he's done in his life, so he can make up for it with the people's he's wronged.