I was feeling quite trepidatious heading into tonight's back-to-back episodes of My Name is Earl. The episode in which Camden County's first Cops was on ranks among my top Earl episodes of all time. I was really worried heading into tonight that the nice folks over at the show could be going to the well one too many times.

I was so wrong to be worried. As it turns out, it is never a bad idea to show the depravity that is Camden County. This is especially true if said depravity has Tim Stack drunkenly singing songs from Oklahoma at Catalina's strip club. If you add Catalina dancing at the strip club while holding a baby in a BabyBjorn within the first ten minutes, it's the start of a pretty good double episode. Catalina never even left the strip club tonight, which many people think, in and of itself, makes for a good episode. In order to get her into the show, the cops just kept heading back there to "fix" whatever her problem was. My favorite of these was her argument with the heftier stripper about the status of their joint client.

But, to go backwards for a moment, the show started off really well tonight. As soon as the Cops episode began, and the first officer arrived at the fair, one had the sense it was going to be a good night. Everything at the fair was so wrong it was right, particularly the toilet paper with Osama bin Laden on it. Pitching the Osama toilet paper as a way of giving bin Laden a little of your morning "shock and awe" almost makes me want to put people's faces on toilet paper so that I can deliver "shock and awe" to my enemies list on a daily basis.

I think that one of the reasons the concept of the Cops episode works so well is that the overarching plot can be exceedingly loose and it does not matter. Instead of coming up with a tight plot, the key is for the writers to come up with a bunch of funny illegal and semi-illegal things that the police can go after Joy, Earl, and Randy for. And that, they did, in abundance.

Quite honestly, even the loose outline of a plot that the show laid out, the 4th of July fair being the site of a suspected terrorist attack, worked well. Despite all the tomfoolery that happened on Earl tonight, the show actually put out a message loud and clear. It stated, in case you missed it, that we as a nation went way overboard after 9/11. We were terrified and angry, and didn't quite think at the time about what we were doing. We were scared of our own shadows, and allowed things to happen that ought not have (please note the waterboarding kit that the cops were setting up to interrogate suspects).

Clearly, It wasn't all wine and roses, nor were all the jokes. Sometimes it was beer with kool-aid and quite possibly some spit added in for flavor. For instance, I liked the idea of Kenny and the ride-along that he won. It started out funny enough, with Kenny's parents taking a picture and saying it would go where the prom photo for him would have been. However, virtually every time he was on screen the same joke was made about Kenny being gay and not out of the closet. At some point the joke had to be allowed to die in silence, instead it died a loud, oft-repeated death. There had to be more that Kenny could have added tonight instead of just the one joke.

As far as complaints go, that was my big one, and there were some great moments in the episode too. I particularly liked the thermal view on the stolen camera that showed Randy, Earl, and Darnell getting "hot" around their genitals with the thought of Joy. Yes, it was a cheap joke, but it worked. I think that seeing how Darnell and Joy kept getting away with their affair right behind Earl's back (or in front of his face) is one of the best things that the flashback episodes.

Enough of that, I'm sure you all have your own favorite moments and quotes, but here are a couple of mine:

• Joy, with the weed whacker going after Earl - "You've got to do something, like provide for me. I am the queen, you are the worker bee, your job is to feed me, do me, and die."
• The always-funny Billy Gardell as Officer Hoyne tonight had a bunch of great lines, but I'm only going to choose one. I'm going with Hoyne coming out of the hardware store with two paint chips - "I read the manual on how to profile possible terrorists, but it was really confusing, so I got this at the hardware store. I'm questioning anyone that falls between Swiss Almond and Coconut Husk." He holds up the cards to a passerby "Nah, he's alright… Stay out of the sun fella, you're on the bubble."

My other favorite moment was when, right after you finished commenting on this recap you went and checked out The TV and Film Guy's Reviews, that was truly awesome.

Comments

Not bad, but COPS episodes always remind me of Reno 911!, and as much as I like My Name Is Earl, Reno just does it better. But the thermal camera jokes were great.

AC | Nov 1, 2007 10:49:20 PM | #

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I have to say I was worried that they wouldn't be able to keep the show at the same level for a 1 hour episode especially when this was the 2nd time for a Cops ep. I'm glad for the most part. It wasn't on par with the first Cops ep, but like Josh I thought that was one of the best eps in the show's 2+ year history.

There were some inconsistencies in the storylines though - Josh pointed one out with the Kenny storyline. He clearly was more comfortable with being gay in 2002 than he was in 2005 when Earl helped him embrace his sexuality.

Also I'm pretty sure that the strip club client wouldn't have been in Camden County in 2002 when he was just begand to take ESL classes in 2005/6 (whenever the ep where Earl taught English took place in year 1).

One of my favourite lines of the show (and the season so far) was when Earl and Joy's Sikh neighbour talking about why would he be a peerer when he "can see her elbow's anytime he wanted"

Rishi | Nov 1, 2007 11:07:55 PM | #

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Anytime 9/11 can be used as a punchline, ya just plain got good television. I don't know about the rest of you, but I almost wet myself watching those people jump from those buildings from my view here in NY. I mean that was hysterical. Was there a funnier way to kill 3000 people? I got to go... Its hard to type when I'm laughing so hard.

Anthony | Nov 2, 2007 8:05:04 AM | #

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Perhaps it goes without saying but the 2 cops played Jimmy and Bille on the sitcom, "Yes Dear" which was also created by then creators of Earl.

sac | Nov 2, 2007 8:23:39 AM | #

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Worst Earl episode ever (and there have been a few stinkers).

Are we sure the writers strike hasn't been on for awhile now? Because it seemed like a bunch of 12 year olds wrote that piece of crap.

It was painful to watch. Almost made Scrubs look good by comparison.

Ouch.

Zombo | Nov 2, 2007 10:05:41 AM | #

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I agree w/ zombo. that was the worst episode ever. i do like scrubs though. also, are we ready to make fun of september 11?

ben | Nov 2, 2007 10:40:35 AM | #

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I don't think the episode was making fun of 9/11. I think the episode was an examination of our reactions to it, which is very different.

Josh Lasser | Nov 2, 2007 11:13:38 AM | #

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Yes I get that. Not even Hollywood is stupid enough to poke fun at the 9/11 attacks. Is it necessary to mock people's reaction to the horror of that day, though? Why alienate half the country that believes that we're doing what we have to do to avoid another 9/11? The whole issue is sooooo polarizing, why would you want to alienate half your potential audience by even bringing it up? We look to sit-coms to make us laugh and forget about the world's events, if even for a half hour. I love "My Name Is Earl" but I found this episode to be offensive. George Bush supporters are not totally extinct and conservatives watch TV too. Lets not write episodes based on polls. Lets leave the polls to the politicians.

ben | Nov 2, 2007 11:38:07 AM | #

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Some of the greatest comedies ever (film, television, stage) have been politically based.

But, the show wasn't making fun of politics as much as it was making fun of our reactions as a nation, and the vast majority of our country (without regard to political affiliation) reacted the same way.

Josh Lasser | Nov 2, 2007 11:45:58 AM | #

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I think it's safe to say that anyone who was "offended" by this week's Earl are probably in that sad subset of folks who still think Saddam was behind 9/11. The rest of us now know how badly we were manipulated by that tragic event into supporting and causing even more tragic events. More innocent people die in Iraq every month than were killed here on 9/11, in a country which not only has a fraction of our population but which had nothing to do with the small band of fanatics (who all hailed from our "friends" in the region) who attacked us. Unfortunately, this fact can't be repeated enough because there's still a group of folks who just refuse to think.

This episode of Earl was simply poking fun at the irrational hysteria that gripped the country at that time. A collective fear that was stoked and used to advantage by some very clueless guys holding the reigns of power. If you understand the irony, you found the episode and all its sight gags hilarious. If not, well.....

righteousdude | Nov 4, 2007 7:36:02 AM | #

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Thank you, righteousdude. I think you got it exactly correct, and saved me a lot of time composing my comments.

George | Nov 5, 2007 11:15:20 AM | #

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