It was produced by Amigos de Garcia Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television, and starred Jason Lee as the title character, Earl Hickey, a small-time thief with a messed-up life.

Most episodes from the first season, then only a few from the rest, began with Earl presenting the premise of the series: You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks?

[1] Earl Hickey is a small-time thief, living in the fictional rural town of Camden, who loses his winning $100,000 lottery ticket after being hit by a car while he celebrates his good fortune.

Lying in a hospital bed, he learns about karma during an episode of the talk show Last Call with Carson Daly.

Joy marries Darnell Turner, a mutual friend who works at a local restaurant called the Crab Shack, and with whom she had been having an affair.

The second season has Earl continuing to work on his list, however, Joy gets in trouble when she steals a delivery truck and ends up kidnapping and assaulting the member of staff who was inside.

In the season finale, Earl sacrifices himself at Joy's trial by confessing to all of her crimes and is sentenced to two years in a state penitentiary.

He meets Frank, from whom he had rented the trailer in which Joy and her husband Darnell now live, while Randy gets a job as a prison guard to be closer to Earl.

[3] A major story arc during this season was that Darnell, who is actually a former assassin from a secret government agency, blows his witness protection cover.

Jason Lee was approached for the lead role, but was uninterested in working in television and passed on the series twice before finally agreeing to read the pilot script.

Though he liked the pilot, he was hesitant to commit to his first TV starring role until meeting with Garcia, after which he signed on to play Earl Hickey.

—Greg GarciaIn the episode "BB", Earl's driver's license address is at "Pimmit Hills Trailer Park, Space C-13, Camden County", but the state is not listed.

Creator Greg Garcia said that Camden County is loosely modeled on Pimmit Hills, Virginia, the neighborhood where he grew up.

[7] Houses and shops for the various characters come from locations in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita, Northridge, Moorpark, Los Angeles, and other Southern California cities.

[12][13][14] In the episode "Didn't Pay Taxes", Earl and Randy climb the landmark Artesia Water Tower, although they do not refer to it by name.

In the episode "Our Other Cops is On", officer Stuart Daniels states that his surveillance equipment was "supposed to go to Camden, New Jersey, but came here instead".

The flashback episodes "Inside Probe" describe Camden County as trying to stay independent during the American Civil War and forming its own country called Central, which lasted less than a day.

Garcia replied:[24] We never really got the chance to fully figure it out but the talk in the writers room was that Earl Jr.'s Dad was going to be someone famous.

With good karma and finally at peace with what he's accomplished.—Greg GarciaIn 2023, Ethan Suplee explained during an episode of the Slick & Thick podcast exactly what led to the show being cancelled:[25] We were a hit.

One reviewer speculated that Earl's forthrightness to having led a life of idiocy is what endears him to the viewer, and is what suggests there is a depth to his character beyond what is initially seen.

Other Emmy nominations include Beau Bridges and Giovanni Ribisi for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

20th Century Fox Television has cleared My Name Is Earl in nearly 50% of the U.S., said Bob Cook, the company's president and chief operating officer.

20th had sold the off-net sitcom to the Fox, Tribune, CBS, Hearst-Argyle, and Sinclair station groups for a fall 2009 debut.

[39] My Name Is Earl aired in off-network syndication and on TBS, Ion Television, and MyNetworkTV in the United States.