If you’ve been following the ratings and cancellation predictions, you’ve known that the Jason Lee sitcom had been “on the bubble” for a few months.
Last week, NBC announced that they weren’t going to pick up My Name Is Earl for a fifth year. Interestingly, the show’s creator found out about the cancellation just 30 minutes before the network released its schedule.
Greg Garcia told the LA Times, “They woke me up at 7:30 to let me know. I e-mailed Jeff Zucker [president and chief executive of NBC Universal] on Sunday, and I never got a response. But this is show business. The writing was on the wall. When you go to bed the night before the schedule is out, and no one has spoken to you, you know what’s happening. You get somewhat frustrated with how it’s being handled, but that’s the business we work in. I’ve never fooled myself that it’s a fair or friendly business.”
To add insult to injury, during a conference call with reporters, Ben Silverman dissed both Earl and also-cancelled Medium. The co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios said that the network decided to cancel the series because neither the fans nor the advertisers had waged a campaign to save them — unlike the outpouring of support for Chuck.
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Garcia took it in stride, responding, “If that’s how they’re running their network, good luck to them… I don’t believe that for one second, but if that’s true, if that’s how they’re deciding what shows to pick up, wow.” Garcia also noted, “It’s hard to be too upset about being thrown off the Titanic,” referring to NBC’s ongoing ratings struggles.
Though NBC cancelled it, Lee has said that he’d like to continue doing the show. Garcia and the show’s studio, 20th Century Fox Television, agreed to try to sell Earl to another network. Both FOX and ABC have been interested in the past and TBS, who airs the show in syndication, also expressed said they’d be open to picking it up (presumably with a lower budget).
Having already sold the show into syndication, finding a way to add to the episode count makes sense financially. Garcia notes, “There’s a lot of reasons the show would work well on another network, and I think we’d do very well with some promotion. We certainly feel like we have more stories to tell. That’s why we left the show on season four on a cliffhanger. And I know we’ve got at least another season in us and a lot of great ideas. So if another network wants to put us on, fantastic. Nothing that would make me happier.”
Since 20th Century Fox Television produces the show, it was assumed that FOX would most likely pick it up. Still, the odds of one network taking another network’s cast-offs are never very good and FOX execs downplayed the possibility. After all, the network has already committed other sitcoms, including the low-rated ‘Til Death.
The possibility of the show continuing was apparently put to rest over the weekend. Ethan Suplee, the actor who plays Randy on the show, broke the cancellation news to fans via Twitter last week. On Saturday, he communicated that the show was indeed over.
He wrote, “Thanks for the effort guys, we appreciate it. It seems that Earl is actually dead. Fox has passed. The mustache will live on in our hearts.”
There’s no word on the state of other prospects for the sitcom but it sounds like the show is over.
Are you disappointed or had Earl already overstayed his welcome? Should an ending be filmed to wrap everything up?
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Image courtesy NBC.
My family and I love My name is Earl and all the characters on it. I feel that it should not be cancled. It is a very funny show and i enjoy every minute of it. If it does go off
NBC, I hope it at least gets bought by another channel!!!
My family and I are very angry with NBC for the cancellation of My Name is Earl.
We have very busy lives like most American families and look very forward to 30 minutes of constant laughter on Thursdays at 8:00. The writing is very creative and we enjoy every character. We certainly hope to continue watching our favorite show on another network!
I am becoming angry at NBC. I have really enjoyed watching ‘My Name Is Earl’. The subtle morality lessons, accompanied with well earned humor has made my Thursday watching Must See TV. NBC could easily limit ‘The Office’ to 30 minutes, and still run Earl.
I will be absolutely miserable about losing ‘Medium’ – Twice!
Looks like I’ll be watching more cable….. again.
The show must go on it should survive like herpes cancelling the show will make alot fans upset they might swear off the whole network out of spite .It really dosen’t matter the network could recieve a million letters to save the show but will mean nothing, like finishing second in a contest good luck to great cast that should have no trouble finding work but the great characters they portrayed were authentic.
rating systems are not fair alot of people who live in mobile parks do not have tv. They all might gather at someone else’s home so you have seven people watching from one set. Jason lee is a star whether or not hollywood reconizes it. You can’t force people to log on to the site either not everyone has a pc or the internet .In my strong opion studio executives ruin everything they touch, not being actor how do you know what the viewer wants to see. Who tells their boss I dont like the way you run things reguardless… Read more »
That’s very disappointing indeed. With the exception of The Office and Chuck, I won’t really be watching NBC anymore. I had hoped another network might pick up the show so they could finish the story at least, instead of leaving us hanging. That sucks!
save earl the only show we watch on nbc
I really loved this show. I especially praise Mr. Garcia for incorporating the Latino actors. I guess NBC did not comprehend the premise of the show with the word KARMA! It was great to see the Earl character make amends every week. My almost favorite was the one about the circus peeple, it really discribed some truth to societal expectations. Other than Earl, my tv time with NBC is about done.
you watch a TV show for four years and invest time into it and they cut you off without finishing the story. I will never again start watching a show on NBC. And since Earl was the only good thing on NBC now I’ll just take NBC out of my channels lineup altogether GOOD RIDDEN NBC YOU SUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My Name is Earl was is funniest show on television. This is just more proof that NBC is in last place, because they make bad decisions. I use to go out of my way to watch it, but they kept changing the time slot so often I got tired of trying to track it down. Once it was available from NBC’s web page I started watching it again. If TBS is smart enough to pick it up I hope they will also be smart enough to give it a stable time slot. #SaveEarl
Lousy decision NBC. Earl was a great show. At least don’t leave us on a cliffhanger.
Looks like I won’t be watching NBC except on Monday for Chuck…and probably Heroes, even though the latter continues to suck. When did NBC start to bite, seriously? I love Earl and will miss it greatly. Parks and Recreation is not even in the same league… Strike that, it’s not even the same sport. The Office and Parks are two very lame shows with very lame premises that somehow continue to survive. I weep for the future of entertainment. Thank goodness I also like to read. I pray that they find some way of wrapping up Earl, as I would… Read more »
I suppose that a better caption might read, “NBC Makes Another Decision That Reeks Like A Septic Tank In A Trailer Park”. I suppose that might be too lengthy though. I would have to agree with Greg Garcia that basing the outcome of a shows lifespan solely on web response is total BS. Theres a million things to blog about out there, and some of us have better things to do other than log onto websites daily to gripe about yet another poor corporate decision being made. Earl is a great character. He helps us believe that if you do… Read more »
Scratch another Season Pass off the Tivo. There’s hardly anything to watch anymore if you don’t like cop or doctor shows.
Another show everyone loves gets sabotaged and cancelled by NBC. I guess they didn’t learn anything from doing the same thing to Scrubs.