FROM IGN.COM;
Interview: Jason Lee and Greg Garcia
We talk to the star and creator of TV's My Name Is Earl!
by Brian Z.
December 21, 2005 - On Friday, My Name Is Earl star Jason Lee and creator/excecutive producer Greg Garcia took time out of Earl's production schedule to discuss the NBC series. Moving to Thursday nights at 9pm ET/PT starting January 5, My Name Is Earl follows Earl (Lee) as he tries to correct the many bad things he's done in his life by helping the people he affected. Earl's quest to cleanse his karma is aided by his brother Randy (Ethan Suplee), and hotel maid Catalina (Nadine Velazquez).
Garcia, whose previous credits include Consulting Producer on The Family Guy and Executive Producer on Yes, Dear, talked briefly about the move to Thursdays, saying, "it's very exciting that the network feels that we're strong enough and a quality enough show to be put in the slot that's housed a lot of great comedy over there."
When asked if the time slot move would affect their work Garcia said, "I was telling someone the other day that I get up every morning and go to bed every night absolutely terrified that I'm not going to do a good episode of TV. And I'm going to feel that way whether we're on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sunday mornings at 10am – it doesn't matter."
Jason Lee said he's a little surprised that the show is so popular, comparing it to Arrested Development, saying it's "a good example of a show that's critically acclaimed, everybody loves it, it's got a nice following but eventually has to get taken off the air because not enough people are watching it. So there was a little bit of that concern for me. We're trying to do something so different – here's a guy with a white trash 'do with a moustache and you know, how appealing am I gonna be? This isn't like hot actors in ER or something, this isn't like high-end drama, this is trailer park humor. But at the same time I knew that how likable the characters are and how much you can identify with them, I figured there would be more accessibility than with other shows. But I didn't know to this degree."
Lee continued that "it's nice to have kids come up to me on the street; moms and dads; I have a much different fan base now because of Earl. I'm finding out that kids were Earl for Halloween – 7-year-old kids – it's pretty extraordinary. People are embracing Earl 'cause he's the everyman – you like him, you want to follow this journey of his and see where it ends up."
Lee was asked if he's heard of people being inspired by Earl's karmic quest. He said, "I've heard things like that quite a bit, actually. On the radio, or somebody on the set mentioning something they heard being out in public, or from a friend or family member. I didn't expect it, to be honest; I just thought the show was funny. I knew there was something there that had a substance to it, but I didn't think people would literally start creating lists of their own. It's pretty fantastic that people are laughing because of the show but at the same time they're genuinely considering things that 30-minute sitcoms don't usually make you think about, and I'm proud of it. I think it's become an important show to a lot of people in that respect."
Garcia gave a little preview of some of the guest stars and plot lines Earl fans have in store for them this year. "We've some really good episodes with some great guests: Jon Favreau, Christine Taylor, Giovanni Ribisi coming back. We've got such things as Earl stole a laptop from a professor at a university and he has to go to a university and return it, which is an odd place for Earl to be. Plus he falls into a little bit of a romantic story while he's there."
Garcia described another upcoming episode, where Earl has to work at a fast food restaurant for a week. "He has stolen a guy's wallet and ends up having to work at a fast food place and comes in contact with somebody who he feels is not being punished by karma which kind of makes him curious about this whole concept.
The pair also shared that they're filming an episode this week "where Earl and Giovanni Ribisi had stolen a guy's little hot dog vendor's cart, and they need to actually kind of go into the corporate America world to go undercover and try to pay back the people that paid them to do it."
Garcia talked about what's on Earl's list – the scrap of paper he carries around, listing all the things he did wrong that he wants to correct. "I've decided about some of them. There's 200-some odd things on the list, so if I had all those things figured out my life would be a lot easier 'cause I'd know what all the stories were gonna be. So some of the stuff I've approved and some of the stuff is just stuff written on there we'll never get to."
Garcia continued, "I've read on the Internet that some people freeze [the show] and look at [the list] and have already called us on some mistakes or whatever, and I think that's kinda funny. We even put– one of the things on the list is 'Beat up Joy's nit-picking Internet friend.' We're having fun with it."
The pair also talked about what will happen to Earl when the lottery money that he won in the first episode runs out. Garcia said, "We've talked about some possibilities with that; I don't think it's anything we're going to address in the first season. I mean, the one thing we're very conscious of is spooning out Earl's kind of change in journey as we go. I like to think of a season as 24 days, not necessarily a year's time. We're definitely going to cross that bridge when we come to it. We have a story that's kind of about the money that's coming up soon that addresses a little bit of that stuff. And I'm sure if we're lucky enough to keep going a few seasons ultimately we will address the issue of possibly running out or looking towards the future with how long this money's gonna last."
Regarding Earl's money, Lee said, "I think he'll last a long time, 'cause who knows, with how frugal he is and how much he's dedicating the money to his list and not being selfish with it, I wouldn't be surprised if some other very fun and exciting thing happened to him financially."
Something that's clear to a viewer of My Name Is Earl is the delicate line that the show balances... it features what one may consider "white trash" characters but the series never makes fun of those characters; they're just treated as regular people, without any judgment. Many episodes also aren't afraid to be emotional or sweet, even though the show is at its heart a comedy. Garcia discussed how they approach the stories' sweetness. "I think the sweetness, the secret of that, just comes from the story. I mean, when we sit down to break a story, sometimes we don't even try to break a story thinking, 'Okay what's gonna be funny?' because we have very talented writers who are gonna make it funny. We think of 'What's a good story?'
"And as long as you have a story that earns you an emotional moment at the end I think you can go all kinds of places on the way there and hit all kinds of crazy and pushing the envelope moments as long as the audience really feels that there's a genuine emotional component that they can latch onto it. Not all of our stories are gonna have that; some of our stories are gonna have less of it than others 'cause it's hard to come up with 24 stories a season that really give you that true feeling at the end of it. So rather than try to force that feeling down someone's throat in a story that doesn't necessarily warrant it, we would probably go in the direction of just making that story funny."
My Name Is Earl returns after the holidays on its new night and time: Thursday nights at 9pm ET/PT on NBC, starting January 5, 2006.
A-Bomb
Interview: Jason Lee and Greg Garcia
We talk to the star and creator of TV's My Name Is Earl!
by Brian Z.
December 21, 2005 - On Friday, My Name Is Earl star Jason Lee and creator/excecutive producer Greg Garcia took time out of Earl's production schedule to discuss the NBC series. Moving to Thursday nights at 9pm ET/PT starting January 5, My Name Is Earl follows Earl (Lee) as he tries to correct the many bad things he's done in his life by helping the people he affected. Earl's quest to cleanse his karma is aided by his brother Randy (Ethan Suplee), and hotel maid Catalina (Nadine Velazquez).
Garcia, whose previous credits include Consulting Producer on The Family Guy and Executive Producer on Yes, Dear, talked briefly about the move to Thursdays, saying, "it's very exciting that the network feels that we're strong enough and a quality enough show to be put in the slot that's housed a lot of great comedy over there."
When asked if the time slot move would affect their work Garcia said, "I was telling someone the other day that I get up every morning and go to bed every night absolutely terrified that I'm not going to do a good episode of TV. And I'm going to feel that way whether we're on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sunday mornings at 10am – it doesn't matter."
Jason Lee said he's a little surprised that the show is so popular, comparing it to Arrested Development, saying it's "a good example of a show that's critically acclaimed, everybody loves it, it's got a nice following but eventually has to get taken off the air because not enough people are watching it. So there was a little bit of that concern for me. We're trying to do something so different – here's a guy with a white trash 'do with a moustache and you know, how appealing am I gonna be? This isn't like hot actors in ER or something, this isn't like high-end drama, this is trailer park humor. But at the same time I knew that how likable the characters are and how much you can identify with them, I figured there would be more accessibility than with other shows. But I didn't know to this degree."
Lee continued that "it's nice to have kids come up to me on the street; moms and dads; I have a much different fan base now because of Earl. I'm finding out that kids were Earl for Halloween – 7-year-old kids – it's pretty extraordinary. People are embracing Earl 'cause he's the everyman – you like him, you want to follow this journey of his and see where it ends up."
Lee was asked if he's heard of people being inspired by Earl's karmic quest. He said, "I've heard things like that quite a bit, actually. On the radio, or somebody on the set mentioning something they heard being out in public, or from a friend or family member. I didn't expect it, to be honest; I just thought the show was funny. I knew there was something there that had a substance to it, but I didn't think people would literally start creating lists of their own. It's pretty fantastic that people are laughing because of the show but at the same time they're genuinely considering things that 30-minute sitcoms don't usually make you think about, and I'm proud of it. I think it's become an important show to a lot of people in that respect."
Garcia gave a little preview of some of the guest stars and plot lines Earl fans have in store for them this year. "We've some really good episodes with some great guests: Jon Favreau, Christine Taylor, Giovanni Ribisi coming back. We've got such things as Earl stole a laptop from a professor at a university and he has to go to a university and return it, which is an odd place for Earl to be. Plus he falls into a little bit of a romantic story while he's there."
Garcia described another upcoming episode, where Earl has to work at a fast food restaurant for a week. "He has stolen a guy's wallet and ends up having to work at a fast food place and comes in contact with somebody who he feels is not being punished by karma which kind of makes him curious about this whole concept.
The pair also shared that they're filming an episode this week "where Earl and Giovanni Ribisi had stolen a guy's little hot dog vendor's cart, and they need to actually kind of go into the corporate America world to go undercover and try to pay back the people that paid them to do it."
Garcia talked about what's on Earl's list – the scrap of paper he carries around, listing all the things he did wrong that he wants to correct. "I've decided about some of them. There's 200-some odd things on the list, so if I had all those things figured out my life would be a lot easier 'cause I'd know what all the stories were gonna be. So some of the stuff I've approved and some of the stuff is just stuff written on there we'll never get to."
Garcia continued, "I've read on the Internet that some people freeze [the show] and look at [the list] and have already called us on some mistakes or whatever, and I think that's kinda funny. We even put– one of the things on the list is 'Beat up Joy's nit-picking Internet friend.' We're having fun with it."
The pair also talked about what will happen to Earl when the lottery money that he won in the first episode runs out. Garcia said, "We've talked about some possibilities with that; I don't think it's anything we're going to address in the first season. I mean, the one thing we're very conscious of is spooning out Earl's kind of change in journey as we go. I like to think of a season as 24 days, not necessarily a year's time. We're definitely going to cross that bridge when we come to it. We have a story that's kind of about the money that's coming up soon that addresses a little bit of that stuff. And I'm sure if we're lucky enough to keep going a few seasons ultimately we will address the issue of possibly running out or looking towards the future with how long this money's gonna last."
Regarding Earl's money, Lee said, "I think he'll last a long time, 'cause who knows, with how frugal he is and how much he's dedicating the money to his list and not being selfish with it, I wouldn't be surprised if some other very fun and exciting thing happened to him financially."
Something that's clear to a viewer of My Name Is Earl is the delicate line that the show balances... it features what one may consider "white trash" characters but the series never makes fun of those characters; they're just treated as regular people, without any judgment. Many episodes also aren't afraid to be emotional or sweet, even though the show is at its heart a comedy. Garcia discussed how they approach the stories' sweetness. "I think the sweetness, the secret of that, just comes from the story. I mean, when we sit down to break a story, sometimes we don't even try to break a story thinking, 'Okay what's gonna be funny?' because we have very talented writers who are gonna make it funny. We think of 'What's a good story?'
"And as long as you have a story that earns you an emotional moment at the end I think you can go all kinds of places on the way there and hit all kinds of crazy and pushing the envelope moments as long as the audience really feels that there's a genuine emotional component that they can latch onto it. Not all of our stories are gonna have that; some of our stories are gonna have less of it than others 'cause it's hard to come up with 24 stories a season that really give you that true feeling at the end of it. So rather than try to force that feeling down someone's throat in a story that doesn't necessarily warrant it, we would probably go in the direction of just making that story funny."
My Name Is Earl returns after the holidays on its new night and time: Thursday nights at 9pm ET/PT on NBC, starting January 5, 2006.
A-Bomb
