My Name Is Earl

Creator Greg Garcia talks about his inspiration for the show.

How did you come up with the idea?
I just kind of came up with it this one week. I was on vacation, walking around and I thought of it. It wasn't like I'd been living my life thinking. I guess, I always believed in karma.

And I do believe that if you do good things, good things happen to you. So I guess a lot of my own philosophy went into it. But I don't think that's specific to me (laughs). People believe that in some form or another. It's a hard question to answer because I don't really know how I came up with it. I have this weird way of coming up with stories and jokes or whatever. I just kind of clear my mind and wait for something to pop in. As soon as it stops doing that, I'll be in trouble!

What were your expectations when you first wrote it?
I had a strange road with it. I pitched it to the Fox Network and they turned it down. They didn't think it was going to be a series. So then I just got angry and I wrote it. I woke up every morning before I went to my other job, which was working on another show. I just wrote it in two weeks and I gave them the script and they loved it. Well, the people that I pitched it to loved it, but their bosses didn't want to do it, so it was just dead. It just sat there for two years. I had almost given up on it. And then NBC said they wanted to do it. At that point I was just so happy that somebody was actually going to make it. Then when I watched this amazing cast come together and this director do what he was doing... When we were shooting on set, I was like, "I think this is going to do really well!" When I saw that first cut, I was excited. The numbers were great as soon as we started. But I always think that they should be better. I want American Idol numbers!

How did you develop the show, once you came up with the initial premise?
I knew the first act of the pilot, which was pretty much the set up of the whole series – up to the point where he finds his lottery ticket again and has made the list and everything. That's pretty much what I pitched to the network. I didn't know what the first story was going to be – going to the gay bar and all that stuff. But I knew that premise. I don't know where it came from!

How has the show evolved?
In the First Season, the concept was so new and fresh to us, that every episode was about crossing something off the list. But after the first season we thought, "OK, let's go into these people's lives more. Let's see where we want each character to start and end." So there's a lot of stuff going on from week to week. You're going to want to watch every episode, because if you don’t you're going miss something."

Does the cast bring something extra to these characters?
Oh yeah, definitely. As soon as you start doing a show, it starts to take on a life of its own. As soon as these people start saying the words, you go, "OK, well that wasn't what I expected and it's much better than what I expected." You realise what strengths the actors have and you start to write towards those. So, yeah. Each person in the cast has made the character their own and done a great job of it, I think.

What did Jason Lee bring to the show?
Mostly it's what he brings to the show, overall, just as a person. We shoot, 12, 13, 14 hours a day. I've worked on sets where you shoot for a half hour and you want to shoot yourself in the head because the actor is being a pain in the ass. Jason is the kind of guy where you've been there for 12 or 13 hours and he's still dancing and goofing around and making people laugh and just creating this light atmosphere. When the show is called 'My Name is Earl', "Earl" is going to set the tone for that set. I would say, even more than what he brings to the character, what he brings to the show is just this great attitude. And the character. I mean, I never pictured the character making certain facial expressions. That little eyebrow that goes up. That charm that he has. That twinkle in his eye has really made Earl a real, real, likeable guy...

And you've starred as well?
Yeah, I've been in two episodes; I was in the pilot. I was the gay guy at the end, dancing with Randy in the gay bar. Did you see the episode with Roseanne in the second season? There's a scene where two brothers tell each other that they love each other right before they die in a bad war movie. That's myself and the director, Marc Buckland. Look, it's OK if you don't recognise me. My parents watched it and they had no idea it was me. That's how good an actor I am!