Line #7 YMMV/MyNameIsEarl


1	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Was Randy just a simpleton, going along with his brother's schemes and not in full control of his actions, or is he a fully aware person, who joined in on his brother's antics, because he wanted to? It doesn't help that DependingOnTheWriter, Randy swings between kinda slow but competent and borderline mental retardation.
2	* AngstWhatAngst: Despite the fact that he was doing his wife behind his back, and she eventually left Earl for him, Earl and Darnell are best buds, once even bonding over a shared naked dance from Joy. Darnell was hiding in the closet.
3	* AudienceAlienatingEra: Season 3. Earl goes to prison in order to save Joy from getting her third strike (which would never have happened in RealLife) and that leaves him unable to cross things off of his list. Then, once he is freed from prison [[note]]By getting an early release for blackmailing the warden after he shredded Earl's good behavior certificates[[/note]] he loses his faith in Karma and goes back to being "bad Earl", gets hit by a car (again) and is comatose, again being unable to cross things off of his list[[note]]His friends and family do it for him as a way of bringing him back[[/note]]. Upon waking up from his coma, he marries Frank's ex-girlfriend Billie, who's a bigger bitch than Joy ever could be and even threatens to ''kill'' him for working on his list instead of spending time with her. Then after Billie joins the Camdenites, she divorces Earl and everything is back to normal by Season 4. In all fairness, this season was being produced right in the middle of the 2007 Writer's Strike, which likely contributed to the poor quality.
4	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
5	** Joy. Some people think she's hilarious and has some redeeming qualities, others think she's a horrible {{jerkass}} who never really develops and stays the same selfish bitch from start to finish.
6	** Darnell. He's either a funny and kind OnlySaneMan who plays off the other characters well, a boringly perfect person, or lazy with his own quirks like everyone else. It's especially pronounced because Darnell suffers the most from DependingOnTheWriter. Then there was the secret agent plot, which was either funny in its own absurd way or just bizarre and stupid even for this show.
7	* BizarroEpisode: As [[DVDBonusContent bonus content]] on the season 1 DVD, there is an "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MfMvc7Z4xE alternate first episode]]" where Earl sees [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy Stewie Griffin]] talk about {{revenge}} instead of Carson Daly talking about karma, and he decides to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Until he gets killed by his friends and wills the show to Randy. Also a nice use of ActingForTwo with Jason Lee as a transvestite prostitute.
8	* CultClassic: Even now, the show has a pretty impressive fan club of fans who love the show because of its fairly progressive message, catchy humor and StealthParody on the American south.
9	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Didi is implied to have a couple of screws loose in her head. She is one of the single most violent and angry people on Earl's list.
10	* FanonDiscontinuity: Many fans like to avoid or disregard season 3 for its unnecessary story changes.
11	* FetishRetardant: Catalina tries to use this to make herself unappealing to Randy. It works, too. Unfortunately for her, it turned out that Randy was a nigh-on SexGod.
12	* GeniusBonus: "Pigsquatch"--the giant pig Joy tries to capture--seems like another wacky bit of legend just made up for the show. Then you find out several states in the American South have their own "Pigzilla" legends concerning gigantic swine cryptids.
13	* HilariousInHindsight:
14	** Following this series' cancellation, Creator/MikeOMalley's next recurring role is in ''Series/{{Glee}}'', where his main interaction is with his CampGay son.
15	** Patty once worked for a pimp named [[Series/JerseyShore Snookie]].
16	** A faith healer called "God's Little Finger" wears an outfit that will look mighty familiar to fans of [[WesternAnimation/GravityFalls a certain lil' future seer...]]
17	** The idea of Randy and Joy in a relationship in "Pinky" becomes this given that, in ''Series/RaisingHope'', Creator/EthanSuplee and Creator/JaimePressly play a married couple... and it plays out ''exactly like'' how Joy and Randy being married would play out.
18	* ItWasHisSled: Darnell is a former super-spy in Witness Protection.
19	* JerkassWoobie: Little Chubby. Sure, he's a psycho like his father, but, well, ''he's a psycho like his father''. Big Chubby apparently threw his wife out of a moving vehicle. That, along with God knows what else, is enough to understand why he acts the way he does. [[spoiler:And even though he tries to become a nicer man, twice, he ends up having a ball transplant, so he can be orrery enough to run the family business.]]
20	* MemeticBadass: Erik Estrada in his [[ShowWithinAShow game show]] "''Estrada or Nada''".
21	* MisaimedFandom: Although the concept of karma has nothing to do with Scientology, some people liked to blame this show for propaganda of Scientology, based only on the fact that Creator/JasonLee and Ethan Suplee were members of this church.
22	* MoralEventHorizon:
23	** Ralph was already a petty thug, with a huge ChronicBackStabbingDisorder, but he hit a new low, when an elderly woman takes him into her home and mistakes him for her dead husband. The first thing he does is ask for his ATM number, then proceedes to take full advantage of the situation.
24	** Billie trying to undo all the things Earl crossed off of his list (re-tipping the Turners' trailer over, bringing a group of tourists to make fun of the carnival people, stealing Didi's leg after she ''finally'' forgave Earl, making Nescobar A-Lop-Lop listen to his own accent, burning down Pop's Hot Dog Cart) because Earl wasn't spending enough time with her. As if that wasn't bad enough, she threatened to ''kill'' Earl after the police were called on her. While she ultimately redeems herself by becoming a Camdenite and renouncing both her criminal ways and her settlement money, viewers were less willing to forgive her prior actions.
25	* RetroactiveRecognition:
26	** Creator/ShaileneWoodley appeared as the young Gwen Waters in the episode "BB".
27	** Creator/ChloeGraceMoretz as Candy, the knife throwing child Earl helps in the episode "Broke Joy's Fancy Figurine"
28	* TheScrappy:
29	** Billie is not very well liked by the fandom. While no more flawed than any other character in the series, Earl's obsession with her and Earl's bad karma being blamed for her behavior (rather than blaming ''her'' for her behavior) left a bad taste in the mouths of many.
30	** Ralph is an obnoxious thug whose primary purpose is to make life harder for Earl through either ChronicVillainy or sheer callousness, and unlike Joy he had barely any redeeming qualities and received next to no character development whatsoever; his antics were almost always more annoying than funny, and he remained a largely one-note borderline-deranged [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Friend Nobody Likes]] all the way up until he was finally dropped in Season 4.
31	* SeasonalRot: Season 3 is usually regarded as the worst with Earl and Randy in prison in the first half and the second was Randy working on the list while Earl was in a coma. Though season 4 went back to formula.
32	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
33	** Billie [[spoiler:getting hit by a car]] in "Bad Earl" is obvious, very poor CGI.
34	** Probably the best example of the bunch is the hilariously bad CGI-rendered tornado and resulting debris that blows through Camden in Season 4.
35	* SpiritualSuccessor: This series eventually gained one in ''Series/Sprung2022'', another Greg Garcia production. Although not as explicit as ''Earl'' regarding Karma, ''Sprung'' repeatedly shows people taking advantage of the COVID-19 Pandemic having their ill-gotten gains stolen from them, while those who are trying their best to do good receive windfalls. Jack, who's responsible for targeting the bad and helping the good, eventually [[spoiler:earns his own opportunity for a happy ending where he continues to help others by taking care of his parents and teaching at a high school so he can make sure kids don't get in trouble like he did]].
36	* {{Squick}}:
37	** Only this series can take sex with Creator/JennaElfman ''as a highly flexible cheerleader'', and turn it into ''this''.
38	** Little Chubby's batting cage scene.
39	** Joel's disfigured hand, which he aptly describes as a "clump of spastic meat".
40	** Joy's toe infection. Also, some of Earl Jr's and Dodge's games around the trailer.
41	--> Get Mommy's thong off your head. You just had pinkeye!
42	* TakeThatScrappy: Earl punching Ralph in the face and stealing Doris from him in "Bad Earl". This is also the final episode that Ralph appears in.
43	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
44	** The fact that Catalina longed for Randy after their night together and Randy was no longer in love with her wasn't picked up after the episode "Foreign Exchange Student." The following episode had a brief nod when Catalina smelled his hair affectionately, but it never went anywhere beyond that. It does get a brief mention in season 4 when Randy is presented with his own car and Catalina is showing it off, and assuming his gift is her, he states he already had her, and she wasn't that good.
45	** Additionally, Catalina having feelings for Earl was alluded to in the pilot and when Catalina gets deported, but Earl refused to act on them due to Randy calling dibs. This was never brought up again, even after Randy was over, Catalina and her and Earl could have been together.
46	** When Joy fled to Mexico, a bounty hunter was sent after her. Instead of Jessie (who still had a bone to pick with her) they used [[Series/DogTheBountyHunter Dog]].
47	** In the Season 2 finale, Earl goes to prison and discovers that Ralph is his cellmate. In the very first scene of Season 3, Ralph escapes through a hole in the wall without having the smallest interaction with Earl.
48	* TheWoobie: Most of the characters at various points (Joy when she loses her dream of fame, Randy when Earl tells him he doesn't stand a chance with Catalina, Earl and his dad when they go on a crying jag over their adulterous wives, and so on), but most often? Joy's kids.

Context YMMV / MyNameIsEarl