History YMMV / MyNameIsEarl

* SeasonalRot: Season 3 is usually regarded as the worst with Earl and Randy in the first half and the second was Randy working in the list while Earl was in a coma. Though season 4 went back to formula.

* 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.

** Creator/ChloëGraceMoretz as Candy, the knife throwing child Earl helps in the episode "Broke Joy's Fancy Figurine"

** 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.

* 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 ornery enough to run the family business.]]

** Billie trying to undo all of 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.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/ShaileneWoodley appeared as the young Gwen Waters in the episode "BB".

** 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 of the way up until he was finally dropped in Season 4.

* 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]].

** Joy's toe infection. Also some of Earl Jr's and Dodge's games around the trailer.

** 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.
** 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.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The pilot episode glossed over the circumstances of Joy's infidelity with Darnell and Earl's reaction to seeing "his" child turn out black, which mostly played it for laughs. "Look What's Coming Out Of Joy" showed that Joy did regret cheating on him and genuinely hoped the baby was Earl's, Darnell wasn't entirely an absent father and still sought to be in his kid's life secretly, and Earl was devastated when he finally realized the truth and would have left Joy if his father didn't encourage him to stay just for the kid's sake.
** Season 4 appears to be this for the many who disliked Season 3. [[TheScrappy Ralph]] [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome never appears again]], the episode quality has increased and focuses on the list again, Randy is de-flanderized into "simple, but not retarded" and the events of the previous season are almost never mentioned.

* DorkAge: 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.
* FanonDiscontinuity: For the above stated reasons, many fans like to avoid or disregard season 3.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Natalie from "Faked My Own Death".

** Whem 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]].

** The fight between Randy and Wally in "Bullies" is very obviously done with stunt doubles. There are even a few instances of the doubles' faces being shown on full display and they don't even have a passing resemblance to the actors they are doubling for.

** Randy freaking out over being perceived as a racist during Liberty's wrestling match can be this if the viewer first saw Creator/EthanSuplee playing a neo-Nazi skinhead in ''Film/AmericanHistoryX.''

* GeniusBonus: "Pigfoot"--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.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: If you like classic rock, you'll like this show. [[AwesomeMusic/MyNameIsEarl See the sub-page]].

** Randy freaking out over being perceived as a racist during Liberty's wrestling match can be this if the viewer first saw Ethan Suplee playing a neo-Nazi skinhead in ''Film/AmericanHistoryX.''

* Whem 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]].

** 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]].

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop:
** According to "O Karma, Where Art Thou?" - {{Forgiveness}} can just make you a ButtMonkey and your enemy a KarmaHoudini, and {{Revenge}} is sometimes justified.
** The best way to deal with juvenile delinquents is to scare them straight by accidentally blowing their car up.