"My Name Is Earl"
Posted September 25th, 2008 by Rich Heldenfels
Two hours of NBC comedy tonight, with the season premieres of "The Office" (which I did not get to preview) and "My Name Is Earl" (which I did). …
"Earl" faltered last year with that whole coma-fantasy storyline and it's back tonight with back-to-back half-hours where Earl is once again dealing with items from his list. Seth Green, above, plays a man done wrong by Earl back when Green was a Make A Wish Kid. The second finds Earl trying to make amends with a neighbor, only to set in motion a personal crisis.
There are funny bits — Randy almost always makes me laugh, and Joy is in full fury — but both episodes struggle some on their way from comic chaos to sweet endings. Still, while it's not a full rebound, it is better than a lot of last year. And I like producer Greg Garcia's title for the second episode, a message to his TV academy colleagues: "If You Vote for This I Will Do Something Crazy at the Emmys." And after the drubbing this year's telecast took, the Emmys would probably appreciate his effort.
