---
title: "My Name Is Earl"
year: 2005
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/my-name-is-earl"
fi1m_id: "my-name-is-earl"
imdb_id: "tt0460091"
tmdb_id: 2317
wikidata_id: "Q34659"
fi1m_score: 77
critics_reviews: 1
published: "2026-10-07T14:26:13.944102+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T14:26:32.973048+00:00"
region: "HU"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# My Name Is Earl (2005)

Created by Greg Garcia · Comedy

## Identity

My Name Is Earl

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/my-name-is-earl
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** my-name-is-earl
- **IMDb ID:** tt0460091
- **TMDB ID:** 2317
- **Wikidata ID:** Q34659
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460091/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/2317, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34659

**Fi1m score: 77** · Critics: 1 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* A moustache, a list and ninety-two episodes of saying sorry; more of them land than you would think

> Greg Garcia’s sitcom about a petty thief working through a list of his sins is sunnier and better written than its premise suggests, and Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee and Jaime Pressly carry it a long way. The formula starts to show by the fourth season.

## Synopsis

Small-town America, all motels, trailers and one bar. Earl Hickey (Jason Lee), a petty thief with a moustache and a flannel shirt, has decided that karma is running his life: every bad thing that has happened to him is payback for every bad thing he has done, and the only way out is to go back and make it up to the people he wronged, one at a time. His brother Randy (Ethan Suplee), loyal and slow, goes with him on each errand. Joy Turner (Jaime Pressly), the loudest person in his life, has her own opinion of the new project and shares it. Darnell Turner (Eddie Steeples) says almost nothing. Catalina Aruca (Nadine Velazquez) gets drawn into the brothers’ errands. When a wrong goes back far enough, the show cuts to Earl as a boy (Noah Crawford).

## Review

Greg Garcia’s premise fits on a scratch card. Earl Hickey, a small-time crook, decides that karma is to blame for everything that has gone wrong for him, and that the only cure is to go back and make up for everything he has done to other people. That is a sitcom engine with its own episode supply: one wrong a week, 92 episodes across four seasons, and the job still not done. It is a good engine. The series is funny, warm about people television usually sneers at, and sharper in its writing than a show about a man in a flannel shirt has any need to be. The engine starts to knock in the last season, and we will come to that.

Garcia, who created it and wrote and directed episodes himself, builds each episode on a cutaway. The original crime, usually five seconds long and usually the funniest thing in the episode, is shown in full, and then the camera comes back to Earl’s face while he takes in what he did. When the wrong goes back far enough, Noah Crawford plays Earl as a boy, with the same expression and a smaller moustache. The town is motels, trailers and a bar, and it is shot in hard daylight that makes everyone look slightly sunburnt. Nobody has decorated anything. The directors, among them Marc Buckland, Millicent Shelton and Craig Zisk, keep the camera still and let the cutting do the jokes.

Ethan Suplee’s Randy is the performance that stays with us. Randy follows his brother everywhere, misunderstands most of what is said to him and is never once used as a joke at his own expense. We laughed at him for most of an episode and then found we would have been upset if anyone on screen had been unkind to him. That is the show’s trick, and Suplee does it with his face alone, which is wide and open and takes a long time to arrive at anything. Lee, by contrast, plays Earl small. He is not clever, he knows it, and he is trying anyway, and Lee never asks for credit for the effort.

Jaime Pressly’s Joy is the loud one, and the 15 certificate is largely for her mouth. Beside her is Darnell Turner (Eddie Steeples), who says less in a season than Joy does in a scene. Pressly plays her as a woman who has never once considered that she might be wrong, and she is handed the hardest lines in the series, the ones about race and class and other people’s children, which the writers could not give to anyone they wanted you to like. We laughed at a few of them and then felt slightly ashamed of ourselves, which is a feeling the show produces on purpose and knows exactly how to time. Nadine Velazquez’s Catalina is given a good deal of standing around in the first season and more to do later. Bobby Bowman and Timothy Stack, who write and produce, are part of a room that keeps the jokes short and the sentiment shorter.

The flaws are the ones you would guess. One good deed a week is a format, and formats wear. By the fourth season, which runs to 27 episodes, the list has become a pretext, and the writers reach for guest stars and running gags that were funnier the first time. There is a stretch in the third season, which we will not describe, where the show changes its own rules, and it does not entirely come off. And the cutaways, the best thing in the first year, are doing the writers’ work for them by the last: a flashback tells us what Earl has learned where the scene in front of us used to show it.

Against the American sitcoms of its decade it sits comfortably in the upper middle. It has none of the clockwork of [*Arrested Development*](https://film.one/tv/arrested-development) and none of its cruelty either. It is nearer to *Malcolm in the Middle*, with which it shares a patience for stupid people and a refusal to tidy them up. It is also one of the few shows of its time to spend four years with people who live badly and work for other people without once suggesting they deserve to.

Watch the first two seasons in whatever order the evening allows; the episodes stand on their own, and that is the point of them. After that, carry on if Randy has got to you. He got to us.

*Fi1m score 77, published 7 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is My Name Is Earl worth watching?**

*My Name Is Earl* is worth watching for anyone who likes a warm, well-written sitcom about people television usually sneers at, and we scored it 77. The first two seasons are the strongest and the episodes stand alone; by the fourth, the one-good-deed-a-week formula shows. Ethan Suplee's Randy is the reason to stay.

**Where can I watch My Name Is Earl in Hungary?**

*My Name Is Earl* is streaming on Disney+ in Hungary. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is My Name Is Earl, and is it suitable for children?**

*My Name Is Earl* is not violent or frightening, but its 15 certificate is earned by its mouth, chiefly Jaime Pressly's Joy and her lines about race, class and other people's children. The crimes Earl atones for are small and played for laughs. It suits older teenagers and adults; younger children will not follow it and should not hear it.

**How does My Name Is Earl compare to Detectorists?**

*My Name Is Earl* is louder, broader and more American than [*Detectorists*](https://film.one/tv/detectorists), though both are comedies about hopeless men who are never made to look contemptible. The English series is smaller, quieter and more exactly written; the American one has more jokes and a sturdier premise. Choose Earl for an evening of laughs, Detectorists for silences and fields.

**What should I watch after My Name Is Earl?**

After *My Name Is Earl*, try [*Detectorists*](https://film.one/tv/detectorists) (2014, Fi1m 87): Two gentle English failures in a field; the quietest cousin to Earl and Randy. Then [*Arrested Development*](https://film.one/tv/arrested-development) (2003, Fi1m 87): Flashbacks and narration again, but built like a watch and twice as cold.

### Reviews we read (1)

- **Empire**, Kat Brown (85/100, inferred): Brown finds the series a consistently funny, daft treat. She singles out its sharp writing and barking supporting cast as the source of its comic madness. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/name-earl-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Greg Garcia
- **Creator:** Greg Garcia
- **Director:** Eyal Gordin, Marc Buckland, Chris Koch, Michael Fresco, Ken Whittingham, Victor Nelli, Jr., Greg Garcia, Millicent Shelton, Craig Zisk, Gail Mancuso, Tamra Davis, Lev L. Spiro, Jason Ensler, John Putch
- **Writer:** Hilary Winston, Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, Greg Garcia, Michael Pennie, Kat Likkel, John Hoberg, Vali Chandrasekaran, Bobby Bowman, Timothy Stack, Alan Kirschenbaum, Erika Kaestle, J.B. Cook, Patrick McCarthy, J. B. Cook, Brad Copeland, Ralph Greene, Hunter Covington, Barbie Adler
- **Producer:** Greg Garcia, Timothy Stack, Bobby Bowman
- **Cast:** Jason Lee as Earl Hickey; Ethan Suplee as Randy Hickey; Jaime Pressly as Joy Turner; Nadine Velazquez as Catalina Aruca; Noah Crawford as Young Earl; Eddie Steeples as Darnell Turner; Page Kennedy as Jamal; Lou Wagner as Mr. Covington
- **Release (Hungary):** 20 September 2005
- **Genres:** Comedy

## Where to watch in Hungary

- Disney+: streaming, hd

*Checked 2026-10-07.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Primetime Emmy Awards 2009: Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (nominated); Outstanding Stunt Coordination (nominated)
- Primetime Emmy Awards 2008: Outstanding Cinematography for a Half-Hour Series (nominated)
- Primetime Emmy Awards 2007: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (nominated); Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (won)
- SAG Awards 2007: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (nominated); Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (nominated)
- Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film 2007: Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (nominated)
- Primetime Emmy Awards 2006: Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series (won); Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (won); Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series (won); Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (won)
- SAG Awards 2006: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (nominated)
- TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy 2006: TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (nominated)
- TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy 2006: TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy (nominated)
- TCA Award for Outstanding New Program 2006: TCA Award for Outstanding New Program (won)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series 2006: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series (nominated)
- Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series 2006: Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series (nominated)
- Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series 2005: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series (won)
- Golden Globes 2005: Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy (nominated)
- Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy 2005: Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (nominated)
- Satellite Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy 2005: Satellite Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Raising Hope* (2010): Garcia’s next sitcom, poorer and kinder still, with a baby where the list was.
- *Malcolm in the Middle* (2000): The same affection for a loud, broke family that never once gets tidied up.
- *Trailer Park Boys* (2001): Canadian petty criminals, a camcorder and a far filthier mouth than Joy’s.
- *Detectorists* (2014), Fi1m 87: Two gentle English failures in a field; the quietest cousin to Earl and Randy. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/detectorists.md)
- *Arrested Development* (2003), Fi1m 87: Flashbacks and narration again, but built like a watch and twice as cold. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/arrested-development.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/my-name-is-earl