Episode 202 : Family Challenge Fran accuses Earl of not spending enough time with his family . When a meteor crashes through the roof of their home , destroying the television set , Earl begs the family to try their luck as game show participants in an attempt to win the grand prize of a big - screen TV . Earl bones up on obscure areas of knowledge , but is humiliated when all the questions focus on television shows . The family only gets 5 points and loses badly , but goes home with the consolation prize of a 13 inch set . Story . Fran wants to talk to the family during dinner , but the rest of the family would rather watch TV while eating . An enraged Fran throws the TV to the ground . With one set broken , the others watch TV in the living room . A DNN news report interrupts the show by announcing that a metor has been spotted ; said meteor abruptly lands on the television set . The next day , the Insurance Agent comes to look over the damages . Although Earl has meteor insurance , the agent informs it only counts as a meteor while still in space , and when it reaches the earth ' s atmosphere , it becomes a meteorite , and is not covered . With no television , Fran sees this as an opportunity for the family to talk about their day at the dinner table . A bored Earl leaves the house , and goes to the Meteor Tiki Lounge to watch TV . Roy tells Earl what he missed , and a depressed Earl fears that he will never be able to afford another TV , even one like the bar ' s set . However , Earl sees a commercial for a game show , " The Family Challenge " , and learns that the prize is a 90 inch television set . He goes home telling Fran that she was right about the need for the Sinclairs to do more as a family , and suggests that they compete on the game show , without mentioning the prize . Earl has the family practice , writing up three categories on a chalkboard . Ethyl wants to participate , and Earl only lets her join when he learns that she is an expert on ancient history questions ( because she was there ) . While they quiz each other , Earl realizes that they aren ' t very good at the game , and that television has limited their acquisition of knowledge . The family spends a month practicing for their appearance , and Earl starts to enjoy spending time with the family , no longer caring about TV . When they appear on the game show , they compete against the Nielsen family , a family of mammals who spend all of their free time watching television . After host Buddy Glimmer interviews the families , he presents the categories , all of which have to do with TV . Baby foolishly presses the button after a question is asked , but the Sinclair ' s lack of TV access has caused them to forget about television . Eventually , the Nielsens are in the lead , and Fran finds out that Earl ' s original motive for being on the game show was to win a television set . However , Earl tells her that he enjoyed spending time with his family , and would never trade the time they spent for television . He also says that if he had another chance to win that TV , he wouldn ' t take it . At this point , Buddy informs Earl that since they are way behind , they get another chance to win the set . Earl gets his choice of either answering a TV - related question that he has no chance of winning , or battling Mr . Nielsen in a sudden death round . Earl chooses to answer the question , which has to do with the life lesson that was taught on a TV show last night . However , Earl tells Buddy what he learned , that television shows come and go , but family is always there for him . Earl doesn ' t win the 90 inch set , but the family gets a consolation prize : a 13 - inch set . Soon , the Sinclairs are back to watching TV at the dinner table .