On May 20, actor Ethan Suplee announced on his Twitter page that NBC had canceled My Name is Earl, the karma-obsessed sitcom that starred he and Jason Lee. The pair first met on the set of Kevin Smith’s Mallrats and proceeded to star together in Dogma and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, giving them substantial geek street cred. At one point, Oni Press had announced a My Name is Earl comic book, but it was never released and apparently never even got to the point where a creative team was named. Oni’s FAQ page has it listed, with the answer simply “Sorry, it’s never going to happen.”
Neither, apparently, is the show’s fifth season (at least on NBC). The network axed the show in spite of the fourth season’s “To Be Continued” cliffhanger. Suplee has launched a Twitter campaign to save the show, and star Jason Lee has indicated that he hopes the show will be rescued by another network. If that were to happen, likely candidates may be ABC, which swooped in to take Scrubs from NBC last year (comic book connection: the cast of Scrubs made a brief cameo in Dark Horse Comics’s Perhapanauts: Second Chances by Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau. Now that there’s been a ninth season announced, maybe they’ll appear in the Image Comics version of The Perhapanauts), and the Fox network, whose production partner 20th Century Fox Television produces the show. As of this writing, neither has expressed a desire for the show. CBS did buy NBC’s canceled Medium this week, within a day of NBC’s cancellation announcement.
Maybe the most realistic chance for salvation is coming form Turner Media’s TNT network which, according to the Los Angeles Times, is trying to make itself a frontrunner in any bidding war that might happen. Reruns of My Name is Earl currently run on TNT’s sister network, TBS, where it’s one of their comedy staples, along with Earl‘s fellow NBC rerunner The Office and their original series My Boys.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:54 am
No! They can’t cancel Earl that sucks. Someone rescue it, please!
May 24th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
i hope it stays canceled.
Now Jason Lee can get back to his Skateboarding Career that he neglected while he was selling out.
May 24th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
save Earl it is cleaver and funny. remember Star Trek don’t be foolish
May 24th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
this is just NBCs way of trying to lower the actors salareys.NBC should be ashames of themselves.We all need to ban together and BOYCOT NBC for at least a week if not a month starting June 1st and at least untill June 7th if not longe.The executives need to know that we the veiwers are what generates the incomes for all these fat cats.they wouldnt be fired if they demanded a raise and would sue if they were fired. So laets all ban together and on the 1st of the month BOYCOT NBC for Earls contined veiwing.TBS we are depending on you or Fox but preferably a cable network.You guys hav egreat shows and arent greedy like the rest of the networks.We should even BOYCOT the Superbowl and really send them a messag.Though by then we will all be eating nachos and drinking beer so they will probbably be safe.BUT LETS SAVE EARL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
SAVE EARL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Umm wow, nice article but you totally left out the part were TNT has expressed major interest in picking up the show for a 5th season
May 24th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
NBC has way too many other shows that should be canceled before My Name is Earl. Are they retarded?
May 25th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Tech savvy people – help! Many Earl fans cannot get heard, because, like Earl & friends, many cannot afford tech stuff, (or refuse to buy hot(karma)stuff), so please help save Earl for the voiceless. Thank you, Camdenite
May 25th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Earl was my gateway to Thursday nite NBC lineup. I suffered through such shows as Kath and Kim, recently Parks and Recreation
Just to fill the void between Earl and the Office. Guess I`ll be hitting the road NBC. I can always find the office on the net.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
David M – There wasn’t really a coherent story yet to pull together the various disparate elements when I wrote this up, and so I hadn’t heard anything about TNT at the time. Editing now to add it; thanks for the heads-up!
May 26th, 2009 at 11:12 am
what is NBC thinking? The ones that made that decision are dummer then a sack of Randy’s!!! Ward has a good ideal an I’m going to act on his suggestion and boycot the station. I really think if we all ban together another station will pick it up. “PLEASE TBS the show is worth saving” Its hard to find a show thats funny and has a good moral meaning. SAVE EARL,SAVE EARL,SAVE EARL!!!!!!!!!!
May 26th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
who gives $h1t about kath and kim? no one has even heard of parks and wildlife! wtf is that about anyway?! screw you nbc
May 26th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Karma will strike back at NBC
May 28th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
to hell with NBC. Is it that sales of mech for the show is going down? the economy sucks, ass heads! I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! I will boycott NBC FOREVER!!! Somebody else please pick up earl so I never have to go back on this promise!