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SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
It’s a sitcom, created by writer Greg Garcia (“Yes, Dear”), about a ne’er-do-well who tries to right his many misdeeds after a winning lottery ticket helps familiarize him with the concept of karma. It stars Jason Lee (“Vanilla Sky”), Ethan Suplee (“The Butterfly Effect”) and Jaime Pressly (“Joe Dirt”). It will air regularly opposite Fox’s “House” and CBS’ “The Amazing Race,” as well as ABC’s “Commander-In-Chief,” The WB’s “Supernatural” and UPN’s “Sex, Lies and Secrets.”
“My Name is Earl” is fall’s best new sitcom, but that’s in truth not saying much.
Here’s how “Earl” shakes out for me. Take the brilliant “Raising Arizona” (one of the funniest movies ever made). Drain from it every ounce of the Coen Bros.’ genius. Hire a writer from “Yes, Dear” to approximate the convenience-store-robbing Nicolas Cage character suddenly trying to embrace the straight and narrow. Make sure the crook’s dialogue is as toothless as the poor white-trash hillbillies one finds mocked on “Blue Collar TV.” (One can’t imagine this series would indulge even a line even as gentle as, “I tried to stand up and fly straight, but it wasn't easy with that sumbitch Reagan in the White House. I dunno, they say he's a decent man, so maybe his advisors are confused.”) Hire the not-Affleck guy from those “Silent Bob” films and make him grow the H.I. McDonough mustache and sideburns. Have him adopt the H.I. drawl. Hope that the great North American viewing public is so anxious to get away from sitcom laughtracks they won’t notice that they, themselves, are really not laughing that much.
But what matters Herc’s opinion? Variety says:
Being funny is always a good place for a comedy to start, but when the title character is a crooked lowlife suddenly overwhelmed by the redemptive notion of karma, there's reason to fear that might not be enough. Blessed less with belly laughs than an amusingly wry tone, this single-camera half-hour disarmingly focuses on an underclass that seldom gets much attention in the neatly manicured world of primetime. Yet NBC has done this promising series no favors by asking it to be a self-starter, underscoring the deep state of disrepair into which the net's comedy footprint has fallen. Then again, the advance critical euphoria surrounding "My Name Is Earl" and a few other new sitcoms this fall actually relies in part on diminished expectations, which at least from a ratings standpoint might be the best thing "Earl" has going for it. … Lee brings such a goofy, dimwitted earnestness to the role that it's hard not to smile at him … The other characters aren't quite so convincing, though Suplee exhibits a daft, dazed look as Earl's brother who becomes "unpredictable" after too many beers, while Nadine Velazquez is a welcome addition to this year's bumper crop of sexy Latina comic support. Fortunately, "Earl" is pitched so broadly that no one should be offended, including rednecks. … "My Name Is Earl" isn't the best comedy around, but it's pretty darn good. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… The buzz is that "My Name Is Earl" is good, and the truth is that it's better than the buzz. TV's never had a character quite like Earl: naive, ignorant, without ambition and, as played by Jason Lee, impossible to dislike. … The ending comes a little too close to being shmaltzy but stops just short, providing a nice launching pad for subsequent episodes. Coupled with "The Office," this may well be the best hour of nonanimated comedy on TV this season. …
The Washington Post says:
… grab the remote and click yourself free of Earl and his torturously verbose autobiographical gibberish. … amounts to a character study of a character not worth studying. Derivative and repetitious, the comedy keeps hitting the same notes, then pounding and stomping on them. Worse, "Earl" will already seem familiar to fans of the wackily rollicking 1987 Coen brothers comedy "Raising Arizona." Jason Lee, who plays Earl, even looks something like Nicolas Cage as he appeared in the film (which also starred a buoyant Holly Hunter). Cage played a jailbird, petty thief and trailer park philosopher as oddly lovable as he was oddly innocent. Lee is just odd, though in a tame and prefabricated sort of way. … By this time in the show, all that you are likely to discover, if you're lucky, is a few new ways to yawn. "Earl" will exhaust your repertoire, partly because the narration is so naggingly incessant and because Earl has to explain the premise in detail to everyone he meets. There's also a wink-wink cuteness to the tone of producer Greg Garcia's script that makes Earl insufferable instead of adorable as intended. …
The Los Angeles Times says:
… smart-dumb comedy for a generation accustomed to seeing rednecks infused with slacker cool. By the end of the pilot, I did wonder how many weeks I would be willing to return to the premise of a goofball like Earl sticking to his self-invented philosophy, unless perhaps in a future episode he's going to be diagnosed … Watching "My Name Is Earl," you feel like you're in a movie, or at least a movie trailer. In ways more good than bad, it's immediately comprehensible. Competing with the originality is a certain overly tidy warmth, and there's something patronizing about the way Hollywood continues to cartoon up the South, neutering its lot into endearingly ill-informed as-seen-on-"Springer" types. But then, it's a sitcom, a blue state/red state pop-cultural exchange — like trading our fussy shrink Frasier Crane for your white-trash Earl Hickey, with funny sidekicks. Can't we all just play along?
The New York Times says:
Offbeat and utterly charming … the network's first new sitcom that has wit and its own pace and tone, decidedly different and better than NBC's recent slew of "Friends" imitations or copycat versions of British hits like "Coupling" and "The Office." … "Earl" is not as spikily satirical and eccentric as "Arrested Development." The farce is softened by sentiment. But Mr. Lee has a lot of charisma and makes Earl endearing, as are his family and oddball friends. And luckily, the series has a wicked spirit coursing beneath its amiable do-good surface, with enough bite to entice viewers and maybe even to bring NBC back from the brink. …
Newsday says:
… beneath the unfurling banner that reads "Something Very Different" comes "My Name Is Earl," a new NBC comedy already blessed by buzz - mostly NBC-generated - that the sitcom messiah has arrived. … But beware of buzz, which can quickly turn into fizz. "Earl" is undoubtedly different, but the last time we checked that was hardly a requisite for success and possibly even a prescription for disaster. Most viewers (who should blame the networks) have become irredeemably conditioned to the one-two tango of standard-issue sitcoms, which have ensured that good shows like "The Office" and "Earl" remain risky business for the Big Four. That's also a reason to catch "Earl" tonight, and maybe even continue watching if only because "Earl" and its title character, played by Jason Lee (Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy" and "Mallrats"), are so congenial. … And speaking of the pits, NBC could use a little good karma right about now, and maybe "Earl" is its own winning ticket.
USA Today gives it three and a half (out of four) stars and says:
…one of the season's brightest new sitcoms … Earl shares the look and heavily narrated sound of Arrested Development, but it has its own scruffy comic tone. ...
TV Guide says:
… You can’t help but root for Earl, and for “Earl.” Lee is one of the most adorably scruffy schnooks we’ve ever seen, and the blissfully original “Earl” manages to be both crude and sweet, a feel-good comedy with a proudly white-trash veneer …
9 p.m. Tuesday. NBC.
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It's a good show, original in the sitcom field (feels more like a movie). And bones was boring, another CSI clone.
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Truly tongue-ulous.
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But House gets my vote on Tuesday nights. I've loved Hugh Laurie ever since he played Lord Snot, or whatever, in the Young Ones episode "Bambi." Genius. He and Stephen Fry, both.
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I mean, I'm not watching it, but JASON FREAKIN' LEE!!!!!
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or does this show and The Office seem like it can make a pretty solid hour of comedy ? I'm certainly looking forward to it. I've never gotten into to House, so I'm only worried about this running up against Veronica Mars and the World Series of Poker.
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I watched the pilot that NBC put into EW mags. It's clever, and Jason Lee is pretty funny in it, but I think that it's going to run out of steam. The gimmick will be stale by the 5th episode. TiVo if you must, but don't skip House for it.
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"Everybody Hates Chris". Hilarious, not gimmicky, and some real good performances. The kid is great as a young Chris Rock.
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his opinion matters naught, with him having proven his utter worthlessness as a reviewer. Commander in Chief? Bah! Earl is terrific. If he wasn't laughing much, it's because he hath not the sense of humour.
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... is NBC's ONLY new sitcom. The network whose success was build on "Must-see" comedies (and last year, except for Scrubs and The Office, "Must-flee" comedies) only has four on the schedule. Yes, two hours: one on Tuesday, one on Thursday. Very f---ed up.
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The sitcom was NBC's foundation in the 80s & 90s. Loved Conan's comments at the Emmys - said NBC's season starts, end ends, Monday. CBS seems to be the king of sitcoms this year. Like everyone else, I too am tired of the laugh-track. Either do without or film in front of an audience, a big audience, one that laughs when they want to, not when they are told to.
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Sep 20, 2005 11:07:07 AM CDT
Everybody Hates Chris isn't as good as every one is saying i
by chorleyfm
It isn't actually that funny but it is very easy to watch. CBS' two new monday night sitcoms were crappy apart from Dougie Houser "Suit up!". Kitchen Confidential was again easy to watch but not particularly funny. I haven't seen Earl yet but I want some Jason Lee. Also to those who are slagging off Herc's Whedon fetish you have some justification, but not in this thread where he exhalts a show that has no Buffy involvement over two that do.
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even though it seems repetitive, since I'm already watching a sourpuss in an army jacket at 8pm on Tuesday. Come on; doesn't Earl look a little like Luke on the Gilmore Girls?
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Looked like PC garbage. The show looks like another stereotypical male show that the male will be bashed for being a caveman. Also at first I thought it was a comedy based on Raising Arizona because the Earl character looked just like Nick Cage. for a sec or two at least.
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But the commercial is ridiculously bad. "Thanks Earl, you've changed my life, you've given me the confidence I never had before, *insert meaningful exchange of smiles* you can cross me off that list Earl." I'm hoping that line has a punchline in the show, cause it can't really be that saccharine, can it?
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Nip/Tuck season 3 premier!
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...it looks interesting, I suppose. I would go easy on Herc, though. A lot of the buzz for this show comes from NBC. I'm intrigued enough by the premise to give it a look-see for a few episodes, at least, but "Yes, Dear" gives me hives.
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I'm not going to go out of my way to catch this. I keep hearing it's funny, but I heard the same thing about Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Scrubs, and Will & Grace. To me, most network sitcoms = extremely not funny. Actually, outside of Venture Bros., the last new show that I actually found to be really freaking hillarious was Action. Thank God FX picked it up after FOX lost their balls...
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But my hopes are not high. It seems every year the new shows get worse and worse.
Or could I possibly be getting just a little bit smarter? .... Naaah! The shows just suck more. -
would probably be the best TV show ever.
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Sep 20, 2005 7:52:40 PM CDT
"grab the remote and click yourself free of Earl and his torturo
by voice o. reason
Oh, the irony.
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i'm not feeling the first episode.
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and I hate sitcoms.
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He should've been handing out notebooks instead of crabmeat. Also, that maid was HAWT~!.
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nobody writes "torturously verbose autobiographical gibberish" without actually thinking about it first. Maybe.
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There were some legitimate laughs in this thing. "Muscle don't buy MadDog" and "I even took out my good boob" were pretty great lines, and if they make the fact that this bonehead has Carson Daly, one of the most completely worthless celebs in modern times, as his sage and a running gag, this thing might just get me to keep watching for awhile. Yeah, I would've preferred to maybe see the gay guy get 'beercan tagged' and knocked unconscious right after he lets Earl off the hook, but really...I certainly had more laughs watching this than I have with any other recent sitcom. I'm gonna give it a few weeks to see if it sustains and builds.
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You know "sitcom" is a dead, empty word when even the high-falutin click, rag, and bugle press misuse it, succumbing to the easy dumbing down of language. "Sitcom" has now been reduced to meaning "tv comedy of 30 minute length... which pretty much makes it generic as "tv comedy". ..... PS--"M.N.I.Earl" follwed by "The Office" is some must-see-tv, as opposed to so much of the musty-tv out there.
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"Dibs."
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This was pretty damned good. It was a lot like ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT in presentation, only less biting and not nearly as funny. But still quite funny, and with plenty of potential and room for improvement. And it was sweet - so maybe that will bode well for mass reception. I could see myself making a point to watch it pretty regular.
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The expectation that this garbage could actually be a "hit" is unbelievable.
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R.I.P. Long live the yet-to-be-named-funny-half-hour-show-but-not-a-sitcom genre. Long live Arrested Development! That being said, 'Earl' was great, I look forward to next week.
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tuesday nights officially belong to NBC now. Earl and the Office were both great.
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Wow -- and to think I was totally in love with him once (Brodie, Banky, Azrael, that guy in Almost Famous). This is his nadir -- not even Affleck would do something this lame, and *his* career is totally in the toilet. Sad.
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Herc loves to be in the minority and draws from a 1987 comedy to prove his point. I love "raising arizona" however I dont see how "earl" is influenced by it. Oh well.
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That doesn't mean that it is a comedy filmed entirely on one set, but a comedy that revolves around repeating situations. The format developed into and primarily stayed as one where everything took place on a soundstage in front of a live studio audience as it was cost effective.
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not sure exactly what I was expecting. I liked it, and think it has a little promise, but it wasn't the laugh riot I thought it might be. First episodes always kind of suck, though, because they have to kind of give you all the backstory (what there is) early on.
Jason Lee's character, though, was pretty intriguing, and that's critical if the show is going to develope. Supporting cast was okay, though Jamie Pressly annoys me - even though she's pretty nice to look at.
All in all, It's on my DVR series list and whether it stays there for the whole season is up to them. -
Sep 21, 2005 10:25:19 AM CDT
Sorry, Chorley, you'vw forgotten one half of the meaning of
by diskatopia
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Sep 21, 2005 10:42:54 AM CDT
Sorry, Chorley, you've left out the main half of the meaning
by diskatopia
...and that is that where the scenes are situated (locale) remains basically the same. Otherwise, all tv comedies would be sitcoms ("Monk" even, although it would have to be a "sitdramedy" or a "sitcomyst"), since they all pretty much involve repeating situations (same characters, different day)."The Office" could mostly correctly be called a sitcom, since characters AND locale (the office) remain mostly the same week to week , but MNIEarl, and also ArrestedD, cannot, as the locales are often changing. From Wikipedia: "A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. Sitcoms usually consist of recurring characters in a format in which there are one or more humorous story lines centred around a common environment, such as a family home or workplace." http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&oi=defmore&q=define:Sitcom
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15 million + watched Earl last night. NBC have a a huge hit on their hands.
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I didn't laugh my ass off or anything, but it was enjoyable and did make me smile a couple of times. Not a bad way to spend the 30 minutes before 'The Office'. At least it is a bit different from your 'Raymond', 'Friends' etc. comedies on network tv.
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My prediction is that "Earl" will climb to the top of the ratings, and be on NBC for many years. Fantastic comedy, and sharp writing.
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It's TV!! Who cares!?!?
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While it's not confined to its sets, it is still largely centred around them: The Model Home, Lucille's Apartment, The Office, The Prison, The Banana Stand. M*A*S*H* also was a situation comedy. Generally - and this should be common sense - the situation comedy is the name for the comedy that comes from a cast of recurring characters who find themselves in comical 'situations' on a weekly basis (and usually a central location, which in the case of EARL may be the motel room, or maybe even just the town). Most comedies on tv *are* situation comedies, and the term as it is used really just distinguishes from variety, stand-up, prank shows, etc.
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The only negative thing I can say is that some of the editing needed work. Otherwise, I thought it was too good for TV. This is more like 20 minutes from a movie. Very well made and the characters are great.
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it is wider in scope.
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Sep 22, 2005 10:48:25 AM CDT
Sorry, guys, but you're wrong, at least with respect to the
by diskatopia
... my argument that the word is becoming generic, as most of those are clearly the newer and less in-depth definitions. It's the "dry-the-cat-in-the-microwave" syndrome-- repeat the urban legend enough and people make it true.
All this e-banter is proving my initial point, that the term "sitcom" is being generified down, from it's original more specific meaning, to just mean "tv comedy". Limited locations and, some would argue, the 30minute length are an integral part of the specific definition. You are generally arguing from the stance of how click/rag/bugle writers are (incorrectly) using the term now, which is correct in the sense that, yep, they are using it in that (incorrect) way. The point is, that is not the historical meaning of the term. And no, I don't think AD is a sitcom, from the high number of new locations they have nearly episode (M*A*S*H was-- it was centered on the base in probably more than 95% of the scenes ). AD alone this week had AT LEAST 5 new locations where they have never shot before. And they will probably have 5 more new locations next week. And, to get to the forum topic, of course "MNIEarl" is not a sitcom, as far as we can surmise from ep1, as most of it's locations will change week-to-week. To repeat: if one defines sitcom as vaguely as just same characters having situations happen, no matter where the action takes place, that pretty much would include "Monk" and nearly every non-skit comedy on the teevee. There are of course some shows that do straddle the gray area, but "MNIEarl" clearly doesn't, so far, unless his car counts as the centering locale ...... in summation, many "sitcom" definitions based on the historical term define the limitations similar to this: "Possible narratives and characterizations are constrained by:
short running time (25-30 mins), limited sets/locations, limited number of characters" ...... -
To me, Earl is not a sitcom. Three's Company was a sitcom. MASH was not a sitcom. Hope & Faith is a sitcom. Soap was not a sitcom. But in a world where The Bachelor and The Apprentice are considered "Reality TV" I guess we can say that Earl is a sitcom.
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Sorry, reading you whiny bitches argue over the defenition of sitcom made me think of the grandpa from Sixteen Candles explaining quiche to Long Duck Dong. My Name Is Earl is a half hour show made w/ the intentions of making the audience laugh. Don't define it, just watch the fucking thing. I thought it was good w/ the exception of the old white-chick-has-black-baby-making-white-dude-look-like-a-loser gag. Not gut busting hilarious yet not horrible. I will definitely give it another shot, next week he tries to quit smoking. I'm quitting myself & really hope I can get away w/ murder because of it. GOOD GOD I WANT A FUCKING SMOKE!!!!!!!
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M*A*S*H was a sitcom because it was a dramatic and funny (thus the comedy part) look at the Korean War (the "situation"). MNIEarl is a sitcom because he has a particular situation- he's got a specific goal and/or mission- and it's comedic. Whether or not it's a sitcom has nothing to do with having a standard setting or location, but having a standard SITUATION that persists throughout the series. It would cease being a sitcom if Earl stopped wandering around seeking to make up for his bad behavior. Does "sitcom" mean you can't have any drama or sorrow? No. Just like a drama can have comedy, a comedy can have drama. It's not "where the scenes are situated" but the SITUATION the main protagonist is in. Earl is in a very clearly defined situation that will persist for the whole run of the series.
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Started well enough, and we will see if they can keep it interesting and funny, or if it will become repetitive...
Fairly clever writing and good "voice" for Earl's character. The one surprising LMAO moment: "I even pulled out my Good Boob!"
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