The VICIOUS DVD Wrap: My Name is Earl – Season One
Posted by Steve Vicious on 06.26.2007
One of the best shows to grace NBC's "Must See Thursday" lineup comes to DVD, but how does "My Name is Earl" stack up as a DVD set? Find out...
Introduction:
“My Name is Earl” premiered on NBC in the fall of 2005 and it was well received by viewers and critics alike. Jason Lee stars as Earl Hickey, a loser scumbag who one day manages to win the lottery only to lose the ticket because of his “bad karma.” This leads Earl to create a list of all the bad things he has done in his life and he promises to make it up to everyone on that list. With the help of his younger brother Randy (Ethan Steppe) and his illegal immigrant friend Catalina, Earl deals with every problems like his wife Joy giving birth to a black child. Can Earl break his bad karma? Let’s find out…
Disc 1:
“Pilot”
After getting hit by a car and losing a winning lottery ticket, Earl blames bad karma and vows to make amends for every bad thing he’s ever done. This leads Earl to write a list of all of the things he has ever done. The pilot gives us a nice introduction to all of the characters in the Earl universe. Everyone seems tailor made for their roles, which is great. ***1/2
“Quit Smoking”
Earl finds that even quitting smoking is easier than facing the man who went to prison for a crime that Earl committed. The guy who took the rap for Earl is absolutely great here, especially the scene where the paper boy tosses his paper, knocking over his beer. This leads the man to attack the paper boy while Earl and Randy watch on in horror. ****1/2
“Randy’s Touchdown”
The odds are against him when Earl tries to make up for having fixed a high school football game in order to win a bet. Meanwhile, Joy tries to get a loan from the bank and refuses to bring Darnell with her because they might freak if they see her with a black man. According to Joy, it’s not her rules, it’s America’s rules. ****
“Faked My Own Death”
The next item on Earl’s karmic agenda is to make up for the fact that he faked his own death to avoid having to break up with a girl. This is probably my favorite episode of the first season. Earl’s ex-girlfriend gives an excellent performance as a needy girlfriend who pushes Earl to fake his own death. *****
“Teacher Earl”
Earl tries to teach English to a group of immigrants to compensate for having made fun of people’s accents while his friend Ralph, just out of prison, plots to steal Earl’s money. Both plots come full circle with one another as the students end up saving Earl from Ralph after Ralph ties up Earl and Randy. ****
“Broke Joy’s Fancy Figurine”
The only way Earl can make up for breaking Joy’s fancy figurine is to participate in a beauty pageant…as the target of a mother/daughter knife-throwing act! However, Joy ends up against Earl’s mother and daughter in the beauty pageant. Joy ends up winning, which allows Earl to cross her off his list for the time being. ***1/2
“Stole Beer From a Golfer”
Randy’s excited about going to the country fair, but it will have to wait until Earl can clear up some bad karma at the local country club. Earl and Randy end up becoming good friends with the golfer, but things turn sour later on. The golfer is played by Johnny Galecki, David from “Roseanne”. ***1/2
Disc 2:
“Joy’s Wedding”
Earl tries to make up for ruining Joy and Darnell’s wedding, but he only makes thing worse when he winds up sleeping with Joy. You wouldn’t think Earl would feel bad for Darnell since Darnell slept with Joy while she was married to Earl. Overall, the episode goes at a decent pace, with Earl and Joy’s little secret taking center stage and rightfully so. ****
“Cost Dad An Election”
Four years ago, Earl’s unruly behavior cost his father the mayoral election, and now it looks like history will repeat itself. Earl’s dad is not too fond of his son, so you know what to expect from the conflict. It’s nothing you haven’t seen in other shows, but the first half of the episode was truly excellent stuff. ****1/2
“White Lie Christmas”
‘Tis the season, and when Joy’s parents come for a visit, Earl has to pretend that he and Joy are still married. Joy tells her parents that Earl was fighting over in the Iraq War, and the reason she did that was in order to prevent them from discovering she is married to a black man. ****1/2
“Barn Burner”
Hoping to get Joy’s children admitted, Earl returns to the “rotten kids camp” where he accidentally burned down a barn as a wayward youth…or did he? ****
“O Karma, Where Art Thou?”
Earl fills in at a fast-food restaurant, and his faith in karma is shaken by his new boss, reprehensible jerk with an enviable lifestyle. Earl’s experience at the restaurant is worth the price of admission here. ****1/2
“Stole P’s HD Cart”
The fast food wars are on as Earl tries to put a well-liked hot dog vendor back into business. ***1/2
“Monkey’s in Space”
While Randy searches for his purpose in life, Earl tries to brighten the day of an old buddy who is being transferred to the state prison. This leads Earl to be accidentally thrown in prison as well where he ends up in the hole. ****1/2
Disc 3:
“Something to Live For”
While trying to compensate for having stolen some gasoline, Earl becomes determined to help a suicidal man find a reason to go on living. ****
“The Professor”
It’s back to school time! Earl becomes a guest lecturer and Randy pledges a fraternity when the two head to a university to return a stolen laptop. Christine Taylor guest stars as the professor who lost her laptop. *****
“Didn’t Pay Taxes”
Earl gets tangled up in red tape as he tries to repay his debt to the government. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t want Earl’s money, so he has to find another way to pay them back.
“Dad’s Car”
As a Mother’s Day gift to his mom, Earl tries to mend his strained relationship with his father – a task easier said than done. The guys Earl has to take on in order to get his dad’s car back are hilarious. *****
“Y2K”
Earl fondly recalls New Year’s 2000 when the Y2K bug spelled “doomsday,” and the gang had glorious plans for building a new world. This was probably my least favorite episode due to all of the characters being in one place. In other words, there were too many faces on my screen at the same time. ***1/2
“Boogeyman”
Earl has his work cut out for him as he tries to cross “made a kid scared of the boogeyman” off his list. How can you go wrong with a kid yelling to the cops that Earl kidnapped him? *****
“Bounty Hunter”
With a warrant out for her arrest, Joy is stalked by a vicious bounty hunter who happens to be Earl’s embittered ex-girlfriend. I’m sure you can guess that Joy gets herself in all sorts of trouble in this episode. ****
Disc 4:
“Stole a Badge”
Earl and Randy return a stolen police badge and try to help its owner get a promotion, but all he wants is to become a professional bowler. Ron Howard’s brother plays a dumb thief in this episode that also steals the badge and goes on a rampage in a diner. It’s one of my favorite scenes in the first season of Earl. ****1/2
“BB”
Earl helps to reunite a former crush with her estranged father in order to make up for having shot her with a BB gun. Unfortunately, the girl doesn’t want anything to do with her father because he was a drunk. In the end, Earl manages to fix the situation and it’s another victory for Earl Hickey. ****1/2
“Number One”
Earl decides to cross the first item off his list, but what he thinks will cost him just ten dollars, winds up costing him all of his lotto winnings, leaving him broke and wondering when his good karma will kick in. Earl really goes up and down in this episode like a rollercoaster ride. During the middle portion when Earl was down on his luck again, I started to get a little tired of this episode. But it picks up again towards the end. Overall, it was a nice season finale to cap off the first season. ****
VIDEO: [9.0/10.0]
The video is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. Everything looks really good, but you really get your money’s worth if you’re using a widescreen television set.
SOUND: [8.0/10.0]
The English audio track is in Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. It sounds very good, but it really doesn’t make full use of all of your speakers since it’s a sitcom.
EXTRAS:
“Audio Commentary”
Audio commentary for the episodes “Pilot,” “Teacher Earl,” “Joy’s Wedding,” “White Lie Christmas,” “O Karma, Where Art Thou?,” and “Number One” are provided by creator/executive producer Greg Garcia, executive producer/director Marc Buckland, producer/actor Jason Lee and actor Ethan Suplee. There’s also another commentary for “Dad’s Car” with the mothers of Greg Garcia, Marc Buckland, Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee. They should have gone with the dads, I guess.
“Bad Karma”
Is the much-hyped featurette where Earl listens to Family Guy’s Stewie Griffin’s advice about screwing people who screw with him. The rest of the feature sees Earl act like a jerk for the entire time. I didn’t think it was too great of a feature.
Deleted Scenes (w/ optional commentary from Greg Garcia and Marc Buckland)
There are a few deleted scenes for selected episodes. They don’t add much to the episodes, which is probably why they were axed.
“Karma is a Funny Thing”
This is a blooper reel from the show.
“Making Things Right: Behind the Scenes of My Name is Earl”
As you can probably guess from the title, this is a behind the scenes look at the show.
The 411: “My Name is Earl” is definitely one of the better shows on all of television right now. The first season was a breath of fresh air. However, the extras found in the season one DVD set were a little thin. I would have liked to have seen a few more audio commentaries or deleted scenes, but the set is still a nice package.
