Today's homework, class, is to...

Today's homework, class, is to look up Kathryn Joosten's résumé on IMDb. You might already know that she just won an Emmy for her guest work as Mrs. McCluskey on Desperate Housewives, and that she was the president's secretary on The West Wing, but damn, this feisty lady gets a lot of work in every show on the tube, and a whole bunch of movies in between. Tonight she's Donnie's mom, the last-minute addition to Earl's list, and she wields a mean large-print Bible. If people keep getting added to that list at this rate, this show's going to have to last longer than Frasier for Earl to get any kind of good karma. That just means more wacky characters for us to enjoy, like crazy-eyed Donnie, who found Jesus while in the slammer for Earl's water-gun holdup of a doughnut shop. He's got a tattoo of Moses parting the Red Sea on his butt, but thankfully, when Earl asks him "What would Jesus do?", Donnie peeks under his shirt and talks to the Jesus crucified on his chest. The ELO soundtrack playing in a montage while Earl and Donnie's mom quit smoking was a special touch. Also, I'm wondering if rights to Betty Boop are easy to come by, 'cause she keeps showing up on all the TVs in this show. I just hope all the fancy guest stars don't relegate vengeful Joy and Crab Man Darnell to running sight gags. They crack me up and more than any of the other characters, they remind me of people I knew growing up in Central Florida but their act could age faster than a chain-smoking Bible thumper whose bumper sticker reads "Jesus is my airbag."