The talented cast of My Name is Earl

An underrated actor, Jason Lee has carved a respectable film career as the perennial best friend. He was best pal to Tom Cruise in Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky, played Ben Affleck's best buddy in Chasing Amy, and provided emotional support to the town shrink in the delightful but little seen gem, Mumford. Finally, Lee takes center stage with a sharp comedic turn as the title character in NBC's fresh and funny new comedy, My Name is Earl.

Lee plays Earl, a petty thief, who finds his life taking a turn for the worst after he wins and then loses a winning lottery ticket. Lying in a hospital bed after being hit by a car, Earl turns on an episode of Later with Carson Daly and takes to heart the host's remark that good things happen to good people. Determined to turn his karma around, Earl makes a list of all the wrongs he's committed in life and sets out to make amends.

For starters, My Name is Earl's original premise should provide a welcome relief for the weary television viewer tired of shuffling through the slew of family sitcoms and crime series populating the air. But Earl has more than originality on its side. The show is downright good thanks to Lee's dry delivery, a slick pace and a snappy script filled with often bizarre but hilarious jokes. Of course, a quality television series needs a strong ensemble backing its leading players, and Earl's cast is up to the challenge. As the hotel maid turned friend, Nadine Velazquez makes a strong impression, while Ethan Suplee earns big laughs as Earl's lowlife cousin. Jaime Pressly as Earl's ex-wife, Joy, and Eddie Steeples, as her new boyfriend, Darnell, also score with some choice lines.

If you've wandered even 5 feet away from your home in the last couple of months, you can't have missed the huge publicity blitz NBC is showering on Earl. Lee's grin dons everything from movie theatre banners to billboards to sides of buses. While I can't blame NBC for championing their winning new comedy, the cynic in me wonders if its unconventional humor will transfer to a large audience. More realistically, I predict that Earl might have a series life akin to that of Scrubs, a well-liked show but not a mega-hit. So long as Jason Lee's hapless character lives long enough to complete his off-the-wall journey to redemption, that's fine with me.

C.R.

Photo by NBC Universal Photo: Mitch Haaseth