On the spur of the moment tonight, Herb and I watched the premiere of “My Name is Earl,” and I am prepared to go on record as saying that something twisted this way comes.
It’s about a loser redneck guy who concludes one day that his life stinks because he’s never done anything good for anybody. A little concept called karma. So he makes a long list of all the bad things he’s ever done and sets out to make it right.
Not a revolutionary concept, but the execution is priceless. In the first segment, Earl tries to do right by a kid he tortured in grade school by fixing the now-grown nebbish up with a woman — specifically, a hooker. Not just any hooker, but a daytime hooker. In one of the great tossed-off lines in the history of television, she explains to Earl afterward that she tried, but no dice: “I did everything I could. I even pulled out my good boob.” Turns out, the guy is gay.
The actors, led by Jason Lee as Earl, are authentically redneck. It would be like a reality show, except that it’s not mean-spirited. It’s laugh-out-loud funny. What it reminded us most of was “Raising Arizona.” And that’s high praise for a TV show. You can have the ponderous costume dramas like “Rome” (which I like to describe as “Sex in the (Ancient) City”). My money’s on Earl, baby.
4 Comments
I’ll have to watch that next week, Susan. It sounds hilarious! I won’t be able to make the get together this weekend; Dan and I are getting out of town and celebrating our 24th anniversary. I’ll miss you guys A LOT!!
I am sooo out of the TV loop! When and what station. Sounds like a hoot!
My husband & I watched it last night, too, and said the exact same thing — they totally nailed that “Raising Arizona” flavor…
I was completely caught up in it. When they went to the commercial break right after Earl decided that he didn’t have to make things right with the nerd due to the “extenuating circumstances” (he’s gay), I was devastated! I was so afraid that they were going to leave it there and go on to the next one, and that the promising beginning was for nothing. Too great how the karma kicked back in to nudge him back on the path of making amends. Love this show.
I won’t be missing “Earl” if I can help it — even when we’re off camping in two weeks.
TiVo it if you got it, people.
(Earl is on Tuesdays at 9:00 on NBC http://www.nbc.com/My_Name_Is_Earl/)
I saw an interview with Jason Lee and it really made me want to watch it. It sounded good, I will have to tune in!!