My Name Is Earl Most people just...

My Name Is Earl
Most people just buy their mom a card and maybe some flowers, but it just figures that a pint-size Earl beat up a more prepared kid and steals a homemade coupon book. All these years later, Earl, who incidentally was originally supposed to be named Carl but became Earl due to a penmanship error, finally tries to make his mother breakfast in bed to cross No. 266 off the list. But as is often the case with this show, the main story line wasn't nearly as funny as the random side jokes or the subplot. Joy celebrating her week of freedom from her kids by getting falling-down drunk and inviting Randy to spend the night. Hysterical. She's too great and I loved her sexy pigtails. Timothy Olyphant's sleazy Billy character had shades of Matthew McConaughey's Dazed and Confused slacker. Billy's answer to his own question, "Do you know how many woman I've slept with?" in which he counted one woman twice because he had her with and without a back brace, coupled with his toe-sucking fetish, was perfectly icky. And Billy's brother should have listened to Randy when he sagely advised him to quit smoking. And I couldn't help but feel for sweet Randy, who naively misunderstood that Earl had killed their pet cat. "What kind of crackers did you run over? Saltines? I bet it made a crunchy sound." But the main plot line did lead to a reconciliation between Earl and his dad and also led to a surprising admission from Earl: "My life would have been a lot better if I had that Mustang. I wouldn't have lost my virginity on a public bus." And poor Randy's nodding agreement: "And I wouldn't have had to watch." Oh, no. I'm all for family togetherness, but that's a little too close.