My Name Is Earl | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by | Greg Garcia |
Starring |
Jason Lee Ethan Suplee Jaime Pressly Nadine Velazquez Eddie Steeples |
Narrated by | Jason Lee |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 96 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Gregory Thomas Garcia Marc Buckland Bobby Bowman |
Producer(s) | Jason Lee Henry J. Lange Jr. Danielle Sanchez-Witzel John Hoberg Michael Pennie Kat Likkel Mike Mariano Jessica Goldstein Hilary Winston Chrissy Pietrosh |
Camera setup | Single camera |
Running time | 19-24 minutes |
Production company(s) | Amigos de Garcia Productions 20th Century Fox Television |
Distributor | 20th Television |
Release | |
Original network | NBC |
Picture format | 1080i (16:9 HDTV) |
Original release | September 20, 2005 | – May 14, 2009
My Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Jason Lee as Earl Hickey, the title character. The series also stars Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez, and Eddie Steeples.
Most episodes from the first season, then only a few from the rest, begin with Earl presenting the premise of the series:
You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting around the corner: karma. That's when I realized that I had to change, so I made a list of everything bad I've ever done and one by one I'm gonna make up for all my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better person. My name is Earl.
Earl Jehoshaphat Hickey (Lee) is a small-time criminal and thug, living in the fictional rural county of Camden, whose winning $100,000 lottery ticket is lost when he is hit by a car while he celebrates his good fortune. Lying in a hospital bed, under the influence of morphine, he develops a belief in the concept of karmic retribution when he hears about karma during an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly in which Daly is interviewing country music star Trace Adkins. Convinced he has to turn his life around to survive, Earl gives himself over to the power of karma. As his first step of a makeshift twelve-step program to fix his misdeeds, Earl makes a list of every bad thing and every person he has wronged and commences efforts to fix them all. After doing a first good deed, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket that was previously lost. Seeing this as a sign of karma rewarding him for his commitment, Earl uses his newfound wealth to do more good deeds according to his list.