Instant karma is going to get you….to laugh your arse off. Earl has a list of wrongs that he has to right if he’s going to get back on the good side of karma, with hilarious results. Earl’s fans must have good karma because this 4 disc set is here.
Earl J. Hickey (Jason Lee) is the na’er-do-well’s na’er do well. He steals anything that isn’t nailed down and is generally on the wrong side of the law. One day he wins $100,000 in the scratch off lottery and dances into the street to celebrate and is run down by a car and his winning ticket is blown away in the breeze. While recuperating in the hospital he watches the Carson Daly show and Carson is talking about karma, if you do good things then good things will happen to you.
Earl takes this to heart and decides to turn his life around by making a list of all the people that he’s wronged and making right by all of them. He’s joined in his quest by his not-to-bright brother Randy (Ethan Suplee). He and Randy move into a fleabag motel and also get support from Catalina (Nadine Velazquez) the cleaning lady.
Karma smiles upon Earl and the lottery ticket is soon back in his hands and the winnings committed to helping mark people off his list. However, a constant thorn in his side is his ex-wife Joy (Jaime Pressly) who is after his money and divorced Earl in his sick bed to marry Darrell “Crab Man” Turner (Eddie Steeples).
Earl is the fly on karma's windshield
Disc 1
Disc 2
Randy is living the high life - no more generic cereal for him
Disc 3
Disc 4
My Name is Earl is a damn funny show. Thanks to the solid comedic acting by Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez, and Eddie Steeples. Jason Lee has Earl down pat and is just a wonderful comic actor. Whatever Earl tries to set right sometimes ends up blowing up in his face to begin with and this creates some great comedy (stole a car from a one legged girl comes to mind).
Joy and Darnell (Hey Crab Man)
Even when he does find a task that he can accomplish to cross off his list the results are comedy gold. For example, in the pilot he thinks that Kenny is lonely and needs a woman. Only Earl and Randy discover that women are not exactly Kenny’s cup of tea. After running out of Kenny’s house in reacting to meeting their first gay, Earl feels bad and returns to then find Kenny a man.
The supporting cast is also, well, perfectly cast. Jamie Pressly steals every scene that she’s in as Earl’s trailer park trash ex-wife. Ethan Suplee is wonderful as Earl’s dimwitted (think Lenny from Mice and Men) brother and his comedy timing is fine tuned. However, let’s not forget Nadine Velazquez (also a hottie) and Eddie Steeples (Hey, Crab Man).
I’d like to yammer on about my favorite episodes but I’ll let you discover them on your own. They’ll have you laughing your head off – hey I wouldn’t lie to you, it would be bad karma.
My Name is Earl is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Fox knows that anyone buying this set has good karma so they’ve laid on the special features (those with bad karma will find that they’re missing a disc or they’re all scratched up). There are multiple commentaries on the discs. The Pilot episode has one from creator Greg Garcia, executive producer Marc Buckland, Jason Lee, and Ethan Suplee. Teacher Earl has commentary from Garcia, Lee, Suplee, and Giovanni Ribisi. Joy’s Wedding has commentary from Garcia, Buckland, Lee, and Suplee. White Lie Christmas has commentary from Garcia, producer Tim Stack, Jaime Pressly, and Nadine Velazquez. O Karma Where Art Thou? Has commentary from Garcia, Lee, Suplee, and Jon Favreau. Dad’s Car has commentary from Natalie Garcia, Mary Buckland, Carol Lee, and Debbie Suplee (otherwise known as the Moms of Greg Garcia, Marc Buckland, Jason Lee, and Ethan Suplee). Number One has commentary from Garcia, Buckland, Lee, and Suplee.
Catalina
Each disc also offers a selection of deleted scenes with optional commentary from Garcia and Buckland. The rest of the special features are located on disc 4. They include a special “lost pilot” made especially for this DVD called Bad Karma. It has Earl turning the channel from karmic Carson Daly and instead listening to the advices of vengeful Stewie Griffin from Family Guy. He decides to avenge himself on everyone that he feels has done him wrong, with hilarious results.
This episode also features an optional commentary from Garcia, Buckland, Lee, and Suplee. Next is the 38 minute “Making Things Right: Behind the Scenes of My Name is Earl.” It has interviews with creator/executive producer Greg Garcia, executive producer/director Marc Buckland, Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez, Eddie Steeples, director of photography/director Eyal Gordin, head hair stylist Patricia Gundlach, head makeup artist Peggy Teague, editor Billy Marrinson, associate producer Kim Hamberg, editor Lance Luckey, Gregg Binkley, and executive producer/writer Bobby Bowman. There’s also a 20 minute blooper reel and a 30 second soundtrack promo.
My Name is Earl is the most fun I’ve had watching a DVD set in awhile. The show is a hoot and fans that caught it on TV (I’m not too big on network telly, prefer to catch up with DVD season sets) will be happy that there’s a great selection of special features. Give it a try – your karma will thank you.
My Name is Earl – The Complete First Season is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
USA
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