Earl

Wow. For the sake of people who were waiting for the return of My Name is Earl, I hope that tonight’s episode improves dramatically after the fifteen-minute mark, because right up to that point it has sucked out loud. With a fairly gratuitous guest-shot by Marisa Tomei (she was better used on Seinfeld), a banal and unsurprising coma plot, uncharacteristically flat acting, and a retro-TV-comedy-fantasy plot device that I know I’ve seen a time or two before (as plot device, that is), this has all the earmarks of a shark jump.

Apparently, when your show is introduced by Jeff Zucker, entertainment doesn’t necessarily follow. That intro defined “lame and forced,” incidentally. If “JZ” intros The Office or 30 Rock, I may holler.

A few minutes later: Getting even worse. And hey, it’s a whole hour tonight! Don’t think I’ll stick around for the rest.

Similar posts:
When the thrill is gone
Rapid aging
Still outside the House
The end of the end credit
You’re not terminated, fucker