My Name Is Earl

I saw the first episode of "My Name Is Earl" last night, (9 p.m. on NBC) and I just had to plug it. I thought it was brilliant - wonderfully cast, written, and directed. 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. Seconds later he's mowed down by a car, and the ticket floats away in the breeze. 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 hope the show can keep the quality up as the season progresses. The bar's been set pretty high with this first episode.

Anyway, "My Name Is Earl" is on NBC on Tuesdays at 9:00. Give it a whirl, and let's keep this one on the air, as long as the creators can maintain the quality of its premiere. As long as it keeps its sharp wit and avoids sinking into maudlin sentimentality, it should stay a winner.

My husband and I are great fans of Jason Lee's movie roles. We were really looking forward to this show and it totally delivered. You know a show is good if the funniest jokes aren't wasted in the trailer. Funny, well-written with great timing and direction. I instantly set my DVR to record all episodes to make sure I don't miss a single one. I thought the premise was very unique and while Earl appears to be a stereotype, there are unplumbed depths. The peripheral characters are a hoot, the choice of music also elicited quite a few laughs.

I am hoping the rest of the season holds up to the extremely well-done pilot. I think this really could be a classic, besides we have the promise of 258 possible episodes!

12/27 Footnote: The show has exceeded all my expectations and I am happy to see Earl adding to his list - so we could have inifinite episodes - yippeee.

I rarely watch sitcoms any more because they are normally both inane and indistinguishable from one another. This show may actually induce me to watch it on a regular basis. If you liked "Raising Arizona", you just might like "My Name Is Earl". After I watched the first episode I did an online search to find out who the creative forces were behind it. In doing so I stumbled into a review that described Earl as the illegitimate son of Nicholas Cage in "Raising Arizona". That just about nails the character. In In fact, while recounting the season opener to a friend who had missed it, I nearly called Earl, Hi. Catch it before it's gone. If you didn't think the first episode was brilliant, then this show is just not for you.

I loved the show........but what I loved most was finally seeing something that showed some semblance of an original thought. 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.

And yes, My Name is Earl is literally about trailer trash, and hilariously so.

Even though Earl is reformed from his earlier days where nothing crooked or immoral was out of bounds, the same is not true for some of his friends. 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". Oh yes. Let you hair down and just laugh, for the laughs are there all show long, every show.