'My Name Is Earl' Is Back on Mission

If you've had your television on NBC even a little bit in the past couple of weeks, you've probably heard about a certain Earl Hickey "going back to the list."

Which is to say, after Earl's (Jason Lee) time in prison and in a coma, along with some adventures on the dark side last season, both he and My Name Is Earl, which begins its fourth season on NBC Thursday, are going back to what made the show a charmingly loopy success in the first place.

"We always knew we were going to send [Earl] to jail, and we didn't know how long we would keep him in jail," series creator Greg Garcia says. "But then we kind of broke stories and we kind of figured out a bunch of them to do, so we kept him in there for a little while. And then we were going to get him out of jail and involved in a relationship."

Garcia adds that he and his fellow writers also knew how that relationship -- with Alyssa Milano's Billie -- would play out, but last year's writers strike threw a wrench into those plans. Hence the coma, which Garcia says was a way to delay Earl-Billie story until the end of the season.

"But after we kind of had him in prison and a coma, and a relationship, we were just kind of thirsty to ... go back to the season one formula of, Let's  just concentrate on some list items and just get back to the basics of what we loved doing," he says. "And so far it's been fantastic."

The new season finds Earl tackling some of his more heinous bad deeds, starting by trying to make up for having stolen a Make-a-Wish child's pony 10 years ago. The kid has grown up to be Seth Green, and he convinces Earl to grant him a new wish: making a film.

"Seth was amazing. ... He's just one of those guys who's always on and impersonating people, and telling jokes, and being friendly with the crew and bringing a certain kind of energy to the set, which is amazing," Lee says. "And that was a really fun episode. Any time we get to sort of, you know, goof off and do something outside of the everyday sort of, you know -- well, I guess there's not really much of an everyday on Earl, is there?"

Green is among several guest stars the show has lined up for the fall, along with Jenna Elfman, John Amos and David Arquette. Beau Bridges and Nancy Lenehan also reprise their roles as Earl and Randy's (Ethan Suplee) parents in the second half of Thursday's premiere (though their involvement later in the season may be limited, as both have regular roles on new shows, Lenehan on CBS' Worst Week and Bridges on ABC's midseason comedy Single With Parents, which coincidentally stars Milano).

Probably not appearing on Earl this season: Alec Baldwin. The 30 Rock star had some less-than-kind words for his fellow NBC show in a recent New Yorker profile, and he and Garcia then traded barbs in the media. Lee, however, has a different take on the affair.

"What really happened was, I'm friends with Alec Baldwin. I told him to say that stuff unbeknownst to Greg so that Greg would retaliate, so we could get some press for the show," Lee deadpans.

Now that the incident has blown over, Garcia also seems open to the idea of welcoming Baldwin to Camden: "I mean, if we can get some press out of it, come on in," he says. "I mean, either him or Kim Basinger, one of the two we should have on the show soon."
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My Name Is Earl premieres at 8 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 25.

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