Jason Lee Talks About How He and Fans Are Still Not Over the "Devastating" Cancelation of MY NAME IS EARL
Jason Lee has had a solid career, getting his start in Kevin Smith movies Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma, then appearing in classics like Almost Famous and the animated hit The Incredibles. He went on to star in some sequels, and the whole Alvin and the Chipmunks film franchise, but arguably his most popular work yet was his four-season series My Name is Earl.
The show followed Earl Hickey (Lee), a regular Joe who has cut some corners in life, and made some not-so-great decision in the past. He wins $100,000 on a scratcher, and is jumping for joy when he is hit by a car, and starts evaluating his life. He hears about the philosophy of karma in his hospital room, and he decides to dedicate his life to righting the wrongs of his past. He was joined in the cast by Ethan Suplee, who played his brother Randy, and Jaime Pressly, who played his ex, Joy, as well as Nadine Velazquez, Eddie Steeples, Louis T. Moyle, Trey Carlisle, Dale Dickey, and Gregg Binkley.
The show ran from 2005-2009, and its unplanned ending made fans so mad that Lee says, "There's probably not 4 days that goes by without somebody messaging me on Instagram, like, 'Dude, what happened to Earl?' Or some people thinking it's my fault, like 'Dude, you left us stranded, what the hell?' Like, I'm not NBC, man. I didn't cancel the show. It was out of my hands."
In a recent interview on The Nine Club, which you can watch below, Lee said, "It was really devastating," adding, "Greg Garcia the creator of the show...what he did with that show is incredible. He showed up on set one day and said, 'Hey, I have bad news, guys, looks like we're getting cancelled.' So like, 'Clean out your lockers' kind of vibe, and we're out of here."
It truly was a bummer to see the show go ahead of its well-deserved resolution. The show’s creator, Greg Garcia, did nod to Earl in an episode of his next series, Raising Hope, showing a clip on the local news, revealing that Earl finally completed his list. But when the anchor teases "...and you'll never guess how it ended," the TV was turned off.
Maybe in this day and age of reboots, we could actually get another season of My Name is Earl. I never say never at this point. Until then, I will always think of the series anytime I call someone a dummy, or quote guest star Christian Slater, saying, “Earl, I see your pickle,” which just happens to happen often around here.