If you’re a fan of the TV show “My Name Is Earl” and you haven’t yet heard the news, wipe your Cheetos fingers so you don’t get orange stripes on your face after I tell you this: NBC just cancelled it.
Yes, I know we still don’t know who Earl Jr.’s real daddy is, but there’s still hope. A Twitition (Twitter petition) is already under way.
Greg Garcia, the show’s creator, received the phone call at 7:30 this morning Pacific time, according to the LA Times, after getting the cold shoulder from NBC executives before the announcement of the 2009 Fall schedule. Garcia took the news in stride, looks like, and didn’t hesitate to throw a jab at the network: “It’s hard to be too upset about being thrown off the Titanic.”
Currently NBC is being crushed by other networks in terms of ratings, and though MNIE consistently attracted six million viewers (not great for Thursday night prime time), the show was also consistently in last place to dramas and reality shows on other networks, programs like Grey’s Anatomy, CSI and CSI NY, Survivor, Bones, and Hell’s Kitchen—meaning that if NBC has it’s way, there’ll be no way for smart comedy fans to escape formulaic programming and British guys who shout too much.
Well, okay, they’re pouring on the Saturday Night Live pretty heavy on Thursdays next fall, with SNL Weekend Update in Earl’s spot; NBC’s also bringing Chevy Chase back from the dead in a show called “Community.” But they’re also bringing back both tired old Law & Orders, I suppose because CBS’s CSI-All-The-Time ways are a bad influence.
NBC’s also bringing back “Chuck,” saved from cancellation by Internet geek activism.
According to the LA Times:
Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, said the network opted to cancel “Earl” and “Medium” because neither the fans nor the advertisers had waged a campaign to save them the way viewers and the Subway restaurant chain did for “Chuck.”
And that is obvious bullbutter because even the MNIE’s creator didn’t know the show was going to be cancelled until this morning, and I can pretty much bet fans of the show are shocked. Ethan Suplee, who plays Earl’s brother Randy, tweeted his disappointment:
“Just got the call that My Name Is Earl has been canceled. They sure did take their time with that decision or rather informing us of it.”
Alyssa Milano, who played a short-lived character on the show, retweeted the newly created Earl Twitition Twitter account, which has amassed about 400 followers in the past few hours. Maybe with some celebrity help, that will beef up.
If not, and NBC can’t be convinced to change its mind, Garcia says he’s open to a move to Fox or ABC. Both networks have expressed interest in the show, so maybe Earl can pull a “Scrubs” and switch networks. Even better if Earl could pull a “Family Guy” and actually survive the switch.
At least we might get to find out who Earl Jr.’s daddy is and whether Crabman’s gonna put up with that.