His Name Is Jason Again - TBS Passes on "Earl"

[aenemaTron]

After a brief hope that the show might be rescued from 4th place network NBC's cancellation - what creator Greg Garcia referred to as "being thrown off the Titanic" - TBS passed on the chance to take on production duties. A press release from 20th Century Fox Television, which produced the show (confusing), reports that the show was simply too expensive to continue in its original form on the basic cable channel.

This show was never a favorite of AST posters, but there were certainly fans of it to be found here and there. Now that the show is off the air, it's time to talk about it - did you watch? Why do you think, despite getting what were called "solid" ratings, the show was cancelled? My take on it after the jump.

I watched the entire first season of My Name Is Earl and I found myself laughing a lot and really getting to appreciate the characters. I had always been a fan of Jason Lee's, and I thought Jaime Presley was a lot better of a performer than I had expected. Towards the end of the first season I even started outlining a spec script.

However, for some reason, the first few episodes of the second season really turned me off. I found the whole "we're all really dumb" angle to the jokes to be just, I don't know, tired. Old. Not funny anymore. I don't know what happened. I stopped watching after the first couple episodes.

[Bucky_Sinister]

The first two seasons I really liked. the third was when it lost me. I think as an 8 to 12 episode season it would've been much stronger. Like Eastbound and Down. Great show. Should we get 20+ episodes a season? probably not.

[Aaron1933]

Watched the first episode when it premiered and never watched again. I'm amazed that this ran for 96 episodes, and even more amazed that there are people who feel that wasn't enough. 96 episodes is more than enough for any show.

[BillBrasky]

Yeah, like you, 'tron, I really liked the first season and I think I watched every episode. That was back in 2005, when "The Office" was just starting out, and before "30 Rock", so the idea of a show that was single-camera and shot like a movie was still a novelty back then.
The first season had episodes written by people like Victor Fresco (of "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" and "Better Off Ted" fame) and Brad Copeland (An "Arrested Development" writer- he wrote probably my favorite episode in Season 1, "Barn Burner"). Greg Garcia wrote a lot of episodes that first season too.

By the time the second season rolled around, "30 Rock" was starting, and "The Office" was starting to become really good, so my attention started to shift towards those shows, and my interest in "Earl" started to wane. Looking at the list of 2nd season episodes, Garcia was still writing for the show here and there, but was already starting to hand the show off to other, inferior writers.

The third season is where the show started to really go off the rails. I think the season premiere had Paris Hilton in it, and there was that terrible fantasy episode where Earl was in a coma and he imagined himself inside various TV shows (actually, that may have been the same episode). Around this time, the focus of the show seemed to shift towards "Look at how many wacky guest stars we can get" and away from anything I wanted to watch.

I never really had a problem with the cast, I think Jason Lee, Jamie Pressly, Ethan Suplee, and the guy who plays Crabman are all pretty funny and likable in those roles. But it was really time for it to go off the air. With "30 Rock", "The Office", and "Parks and Rec" all offering intelligent, urban-based comedy that caters to more intellectual viewers and those in a higher income bracket, "Earl" was starting to seem more and more out of place. I think this is also the reason "Kath and Kim" didn't do well. Both "Earl" and "Kim" seemed like shows that would have better off on FOX.

[the groinery]

Loved it. I thought it took a dip and it was on it's way back up. "The bastard pulled a Castro on me!" - Norm McDonald

[DonTGD]

The high point of the first season for me was the concept of redemption. That someone could outline the bad things they did and attempt to repair them. I think it showed how criminals create their own negative world. The look and feel of the show was unique at the time and the characters that they had were absent anything on TV save for Reno 911.

The first season had many incredible scenes and situations.

However that third season was so incredibly bad and filled with so many truly terrible ideas that I virtually stopped watching the show and today I still have 17 episodes on Tivo, meaning I barely watched 5 of this season's episodes.

People can complain about the guest stars, but they had two amazing guests that few people were casting:
1. Lou Wagner (Planet of the Apes, Dragnet, CHiPs)
2. Dick Bakalyan (Computer That Wore Tennis Shoes, The Cool and the Crazy)

I am sure that the corn pone humor will keep this show in syndication for years.

[Reeleyes]

Earl was an OK show. It was never great and it was only horrible when he was in the coma but it was a great lead in to the Office because it wasn't awful to watch and it didn't suck to miss either. I still think Jason Lee's best work is his song in "Video Days".

[Chaza8]

I will miss seeing TV's Tim Stack on this show. I loved that they kept him in his Son of the Beach uniform.

[Neimo]

However, for some reason, the first few episodes of the second season really turned me off.

This is what happened to me.
I never loved the show, but I found the first season entertaining. I did love seeing Giovanni Ribisi, Silas Weir Mitchell, and perhaps some other guest stars I've forgotten about, on there.