I thought it was pretty friggin hilarious. I'll definitely keep watching.

Oh and Miss Presley and the maid are both smokin. I loved the looks they kept shooting each other in the hotel room.

I think the obvious difference is that EARL is "smart" dumb, while TWO & 1/2 MEN is just dumb, dumb, dumb.

I wasn't impressed by this either. Based on that episode, I can't believe all of the good reviews it has gotten. I'll probably rewatch this one again, to see if it stands up to repeat viewings (I was distracted during a couple of scenes as well, so maybe that is why I didn't find it as funny as most others).

Definitely lived up to my expectations. I'll be watching for sure.

For some reason, this pilot reminded me of "Bottle Rockets" in tone. Given Earl's past, the show is so open-ended, and offers the most hope for a long run on TV.

I find that is usually a big factor in things that I don't like on a first viewing.

Holy shit, that was funny. The best new show this season, hands down.

Loved this show. We watched it in the office on last Friday - a preview CD from Entertainment Weekly.

I watched it again last night! This show is a keeper - Jason Lee is great (I like his voice over)

-Since all of us seem to like it.... I have a feeling that it will be canceled First moved to Friday night - then canceled, eventualy picked up by some cable channel. (Please I hope this does not happen)

Very funny pilot. I wonder if we'll see the woman with one leg next week.

That was the funniest thing I've seen on TV in a long time.

My sentiments exactly. I casually watched the show not expecting much, or perhaps better stated, not knowing what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised. Hope it keeps up.

I agree with the majority here! I was really excited about this show because of the previews, and was nervous I'd end up hating it. It completely lived up to my high expectations. Did anyone see Jason Lee on Conan last night?

"Dibs!!" lol

I didn't find the first few minutes hilarious, so I was worried...but man did it get awesome. This was probably the funniest show of the new season. I hope that this paired with the Office does some big ratings...Tuesday is such a packed night, I just hope people can find this show, because it has the promise to be a new classic, like AD.

Lee is excellent and Suplee was really great. I loved when they were kicking it old school... and beer can tag! Awesome.

MATT

HAHA! This was great. Can't wait for The Office to get out of the way and this to go back-to-back with Scrubs.

"I know this might sound crazy in this day and age, but we live in a small town and I've never been face to face with a gay before. I understand now the runnin' probably wasn't necessary."

"Yeah, well, I wanted a legitimate baby and a wife who didn't huff paint on Thanksgivin'. BUUUT I guess life's full of little disappointments, now ain't it?"


I mean, he said "a gay". If that doesn't prove how backwards Earl is, I don't know what will. Homosexual-American. At least he's trying!

I don't think that would be a good idea. While I love the narrated comedy, I really don't know that an hour of narrated comedies in a row is a particularly good idea. I know I have watched Arrested Development back to back to back, and it works well that way. I think my appreciation for How I Met Your Mother was harmed by going right from Arrested Development to it because it was narrator overload. I think, for me at least, I need a longer break than two minutes to adjust to a new narrator.

Very funny. The pilot was a little rough due to all the time devoted to exposition, but now that that's out of the way I have high hopes.

If this show hits big enough, maybe we'll finally get that Fletch movie from Kevin Smith.

Take it back!

Take what back? I think The Office is terrible. I love the BBC version and thought the NBC version steadily got better last season, but last night's opener was a step back, imo. It had some funny moments (the 5-05-05 party, spicy curry) but the characters seem forced to me and I don't buy it, especially Carrell's character, Michael Scott and the show only works if he is believable. It's earned the right for one more chance, but it's got to change my mind soon.

As per zap2it.com:

One thing Earl hasn't realized yet, is that $100,000 isn't exactly a lot of money and correcting that many mis-deeds will probably cost him a lot more than his lottery winnings.

At any rate the show is good enough to keep me interested.

I'm not sure if I could disagree more. I'm a huge fan of the British version, and I think the US version is great as well, though in a completely different way. I fail to see how any of the things Michael Scott does are any more ridiculous/less believable than the things David Brent did. I thought last night's episode was great, probably in the top 3 or 4 of the 7 shows they've done so far. For me, the more the US Office strays from elements of the BBC classic, the better/funnier it is. NBC has a great pairing on their hands for Tuesday night; I'm really looking forward to this combo for the entire season.

Wow, looks like I'm one of the few voices going the other way on this. I thought the show was average and predictable. There were several moments that made me chuckle but as a whole the episode fell flat for me. Furthermore, I think this show has the potential to be a one-trick pony and wind up cancelled after 2 or 3 seasons.

Also, there are so many Jason Lee fanboys in this thread that he could have a show on the Food Network and it'd be acclaimed by the bunch of you.

I'll continue watching in hope that it gets better but as it stands now, it's a "I'll watch if I come across it but I won't be Tivo'ing it anytime soon" show.

I hope you're right. I enjoyed Earl. I always enjoy Scrubs.

It isn't so much that what Michael Scott and David Brent do are different, but how they are acted. I think Gervais has a much better way of delivering it. Carrell just seems like forced idiocy and, like I said, if he doesn't work, the whole show doesn't work (to me).

I completely agree with you here. I just don't think they've gone too far into their own deep end to judge it on that yet. The Pam/Jim thing seems way underdeveloped and only there because Dawn/Tim was so important to the BBC version. Did you see the inflatable doll in the preview last night? If that doesn't scream direct copy of Tim's birthday present, I don't know what else it could be. I've stuck with it for 7 episodes hoping to enjoy it for what it is. FWIW, I thoroughly enjoyed the Health Care and Basketball shows last season, they gave me hope it was taking off on its own.

Anyway, back to Earl... I too hope it isn't a one-trick pony. The first half of the show was exposition for the whole series and they won't have that to fall back on so much, I think. Hopefully he's dealing with more than 1 person on his list for many episodes. I'm sure he'll mess a few things up along the way helping people too, increasing his list.

Well, I've added My Name Is Earl to the short, but growing, list of TV shows that I actually watch every week. Here were my favorite parts:

-"Yeah he's gay, but he aint gonna bite me...He aint gonne bite me is he?"

-"I know this might sound crazy in this day and age, but we live in a small town and I've never been face to face with a gay before. I understand now the runnin' probably wasn't necessary."

-"Oh no you didn't! Tell me you didn't just go old school!"

-"I didn't wanna be the only non-gay there so, luckily Randy agreed to go as soon as he heard there were gonna be bubbles."

-"...so we named him Dodge."

Jason Lee is awesome on this show, Jaime Pressley is perfect for her role, the maid is freaking smokin', and the brother is awesome.

This one is a keeper in my book.

Seems like Earl and the Office got pretty good ratings.