I Like My Name Is Earl

We’ve been watching season 1 of My Name is Earl on DVD, and it’s not the bestest ever comedy, but I’m entertained. Plus, the guitar part from the theme song is lodged in my head like a shell fragment.

What’s even more interesting to me though, is how much the show resembles a meditation on living a life trying following Christ, and how Earl’s (I don’t want to be so grandiose as to call it a journey) journey toward redemption parallels the behaviors and thought processes of a new believer.

Except Earl is following karma. Off and on, he refers to karma as an active force, something that pays attention and rewards him when he does good things, and punishes him when he slacks or rebels.

Earl’s grip on the subtleties of karma is loose, but he has a firm, manly handshake with moral behavior. He has a list of all the bad things he’s done, and he’s checking them off as he makes amends for them.

When his brother was trying to convince him to blow off the list on a technicality he said, “It doesn’t work like that. The list isn’t stupid.”

This is a guy bent on repentance. If this weren’t a sitcom, it would be the story of a guy running headlong at God. Hell, it still could be.

There are times when Earl mouths the word “karma” but is clearly talking about the living God. Other times, he treats karma like a cosmic vending machine. The fact that God set up in the universe in this Garbage In/Garbage Out kind of way makes this an understandable stopping point on the way to wisdom.

I’m fascinated and occasionally edified watching this show. Holy crap.

Meredith has pointed out that Jaime Pressley is the most believable person on the show, and she’s right. Jason Lee is funny and likeable, but I never quite buy that Earl is all that reprehensible. It’s partly the writers, who probably can’t make Earl as horrible as he should be, and partly because -- you can tell -- Jason Lee is just not one of these redneck people. He don’t got that jenny say kwa.

Jaime Pressley as Joy on the other hand, is thoroughly reprehensible, gleefully white trash, and packs comedic chops you never saw coming. She weaves between being Earl’s ally and enemy, an inept, yet menacing bitch, who somehow maintains a sympathetic humanity.

Don’t run out and watch My Name Is Earl. But when you get a chance, don’t pass it up.

BONUS: The List, in incomplete numerical order.