Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

My Name is Earl on NBC

What if The Cosby Show‘s Claire and Heathcliff Huxtable got divorced? What if Cheers took place in a park?  Neither of these changes would make any sense. The Huxtable’s marriage was the central plot of The Cosby Show, just as a bar was the essential setting of Cheers. Yet the writers of My Name is Earl have made just such a nonsensical change, altering the essential concept of the show.  The original premise of Earl was that of a man trying to correct the wrongs he has done in his life. While the program had slowly inched away from its premise over the last season, in this episode Earl completely rejects doing good for people because he is receiving nothing good in return.

The episode entitled “Bad Earl” (originally aired on January 10^th, 2008 and rerun on March 13th) begins just after Earl has blackmailed his way out of prison.  Earl decides to try resume working on his list of people to repay for his past misdeeds, and elects to help a stripper who he caused to break her back by pointing a laser pointer at her while she danced. The stripper tells Earl that he can make up for her injury by performing a striptease at Club Chubby. Earl is shown parading around the stage while wearing tassels on his nipples.

Earl’s life spirals downward and he finds himself poor and homeless.  He becomes furious with his circumstances when one of his best friends, Ralph, disguises himself as the husband of a woman with dementia. Ralph, who makes no positive contribution, is able to live comfortably while Earl sleeps on the street. Earl renounces his belief in karma and vows to look out only for himself.  He steals Ralph’s costume and plays the role of the demented woman’s dead husband.

What was once a positive program has now completely deserted its premise and is empty of purpose. The only consistent element to the show is Joy’s foul mouth. My Name is Earl is now less fit for family viewing than ever before, and is once again our choice for Worst of the Week.