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/ Home / HDTV Programming / Show Reviews / My Name Is Earl /
 Show Reviews

 
 My Name Is Earl
 Dennis Burger
 12/01/2005

Produced by: 20th Century Fox Television
Network: NBC
Scheduled: Tuesday, 9 p.m.
Reviewed on: WSFA-DT1, Montgomery
Channel: 12 (14.1 Digital)

The ever-brilliant Jason Lee, whose name is synonymous with second-billed best-buddy roles and the occasional Kevin Smith flick, lights up the small screen as a poor white trash miscreant who vows to turn his life around after he’s struck by a car and watches a winning lottery ticket float away in the breeze. To reverse his bad karma, Earl sets out with his delinquent brother Randy (Ethan Suplee of Mallrats fame) and a hot Latina motel maid (Nadine Velazquez) to find the people he’s wronged and make things right, while trying to avoid his money-hungry trailer trash ex-wife (Jaime Pressly).

Given its satirically lowbrow concept, My Name is Earl’s cinema- tography is startlingly slick, with interesting framing and an intermittent freeze-frame technique that is pulled off with enough panache to avoid being passé. Sadly, NBC’s presentation is a bit soft, and the only high spot of the mostly front-heavy 5.1 audio is the music—an eclectic bass-heavy mix that runs the gamut from redneck chic to Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock. Don’t let the tarnished presentation scare you away, though: My Name Is Earl is so decadently good, it is sure to be cancelled before the end of its first season.

 
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