My Name Is Earl on NBC

Twentieth Century Fox, the producers of My Name Is Earl, want to make it clear that the sitcom is officially dead, despite reports of talks with TBS earlier this week.

So they issued the following very specifically worded statement: "Greg Garcia's brilliant My Name is Earl kept America laughing for the past four seasons and certainly deserved to continue for many more. While we had hoped to find a way to produce additional episodes for TBS, in the final analysis we simply could not make the economics work without seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series. As none of us, Greg included, want the show to go out on anything but a high note, we regret that we must put to rest any speculation that Earl will continue. We are grateful to everyone at TBS for their enthusiasm for the series and wish to offer our heartfelt thanks to the cast and crew of My Name is Earl for their incredible work."

'Nuff said. Post you condolences below.

Call it karma: My Name Is Earl may be reincarnated on cable.

Following NBC's unceremonious dumping of Earl this spring, the show's creators are in talks with TBS, TVGuide.com has confirmed. The cable network and Earl producer 20th Century Fox are in "preliminary conversations" about creating 13 new episodes of the sitcom together, a TBS spokesperson said.

It's unclear when these new episodes might air. Moving a show from network to basic cable would surely require budget cuts, and while the cast is still "on hold" with Fox TV, they would still have to renegotiate lower salaries. So don't cross this off Earl's to-do list just yet.

The good news? In a separate deal, TBS will start running repeats of Earl in the fall.

That means that recent flourishes of good news for Chuck and Friday Night Lights have been tempered by news likely to disappoint the shows' fans.

How so? Though Chuck was picked up for a third season, the action-comedy's fervent fans will have to wait until midseason (after the Winter Olympics, specifically) to get their fix. NBC boss Ben Silverman said in a Tuesday conference call, however, that Chuck's cast will not be whittled down.

And while NBC recently trumpeted news of Friday Night Lights' two-season renewal, Coach Taylor won't call another play until ... read more 144 Comments

Thursday's ratings rundown:

8 pm/ET
Survivor topped the hour with an audience of 12 million total viewers, on par with last week. Bones' surreal season-ender scored 8.7 mil, up a tick. Ugly Betty dropped 9 percent to claim third with 6.83 mil.

While NBC's Earl (4.8 mil) wrapped up its season with a 370K gain, Parks & Recreation (4.25 mil) concluded its freshman run with another (8 percent) drop. Smallville saw 3.16 mil (down 180 thou) pull up a chair for the [cough] "epic" clash.

9 pm
Grey's Anatomy's two-hour, two-jaw-dropper season finale drew 16.35 million viewers — marking the serial's largest audience since the Sept. 25 opener and a week-to-week gain of a mil. CSI's finale followed with 14.42 mil.

Trailing the Hell's Kitchen closer (7.4 mil), NBC's The Office welcomed 6.72 mil to the company picnic (down 13 percent), while 30 Rock (5.66 mil) dropped 8 percent.

Supernatural's Dean and Sam had 2.9 mil (up 100K) at their side as they braved an apocalyptic finale

10 pm
Placing second behind Grey's, CSI: NY's wacky little Thursday season-ender copped 12.84 mil, up 600 thou from its Wednesday outing. Facing outrageously stiff competition, NBC's Southland plummeted 29 percent, to 4.64 mil.

Crave scoop on your favorite TV shows? E-mail senior editors Matt, Mickey and Tim at mega_scoop@tvguide.com. Also, follow TV Guide on Twitter. read more 20 Comments