latimes.com:

>'My Name Is Earl' creator is OK with being 'thrown off the Titanic'
11:16 AM PT, May 19 2009

"My Name Is Earl" creator Greg Garcia is a writer because he has a way with words.

Asked for his take on NBC's unceremonious cancellation of his single-camera comedy today, Garcia didn't miss a beat: "It’s hard to be too upset about being thrown off the Titanic."

In case the reference isn't obvious, NBC is in fourth place among networks, after a lackluster season in which it launched seven new shows and five of them failed and the other two have not broken out.

Garcia found out NBC no longer wanted his series during a phone call with Jeff Ingold, executive vice president of comedy programming -- just 30 minutes before NBC released its schedule to the media.

"They woke me up at 7:30 to let me know," Garcia said. "I e-mailed Jeff Zucker (president and chief executive of NBC Universal) on Sunday, and I never got a response. But this is show business. The writing was on the wall. When you go to bed the night before the schedule is out, and no one has spoken to you, you know what’s happening. You get somewhat frustrated with how it’s being handled, but that’s the business we work in. I’ve never fooled myself that it’s a fair or friendly business."

Garcia then had to call his cast and crew. Ethan Suplee instantly took to Twitter to complain about how NBC handled the matter.

"Just got the call that My Name Is Earl has been canceled. They sure did take their time with that decision or rather informing us of it," he wrote.

But star Jason Lee told Garcia that he would love to continue doing the show -- for another network. Garcia said that he and 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the show, will try to sell the show to Fox or ABC. Both of those networks have expressed interest in it in the past.

"There’s a lot of reasons the show would work well on another network, and I think we’d do very well with some promotion," Garcia said. "We certainly feel like we have more stories to tell. That’s why we left the show on season 4 on a cliffhanger. And I know we’ve got at least another season in us and a lot of great ideas. So if another network wants to put us on, fantastic. Nothing that would make me happier."

During a conference call with reporters today, Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, said the network opted to cancel "Earl" and "Medium" because neither the fans nor the advertisers had waged a campaign to save them the way viewers and the Subway restaurant chain did for "Chuck."

"If that’s how they’re running their network, good luck to them," Garcia said." I don’t believe that for one second, but if that’s true, if that’s how they’re deciding what shows to pick up, wow."

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Let's listen

One of the consistently best shows on tv.
Why you gonna cancel a show with a following for a new show that no one is checking for?


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

Those 10 pm dramas gotta go somewhere.

leave it to the big networks to screw it up.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

I mean, NBC never really jumped on the reality bandwagon as hard as Fox did (largely because they own Bravo, so they already have an outlet for those shows), but other than that, his instincts on what to promote have been pretty poor.

I mean, better than FOX, CBS, and ABC. But better than 3 other networks doing substandard work doesn't make it good.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

DAMN!!!

That is the only reason I watch NBC on Thursdays. They should have let the Office go, that shit stopped being funny two seasons ago. He's right NBC is getting down right shitty, I only have the Law and Order and Dateline shows to keep me turning in.

I went to their website, that Parks and Recreation is awful, but they kept that!!!


Shit happens

I'm not gonna front like I love the show, but I liked it more often than not, and it was a good fit for the thursday block.


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Yeah Earl has gone downhill over the years, but NBC doesn't have any better options. What are they going to do, run an hour block of Kath & Kim and Parks in Recreation? Yeah I won't tune into NBC on thursday nights until 9PM now. Good call NBC!

>I'm not gonna front like I love the show, but I liked it more
>often than not, and it was a good fit for the thursday block.
>

exactly. When it first aired, I used to go out of my way to watch it. But it got silly. Still though, it was a pretty funny show.


I'm gonna miss Catalina.

Just like what happened with Scrubs.

Medium also got dumped and is rumored to be picked up by CBS.

>Medium also got dumped and is rumored to be picked up by CBS.

ratings for the sitcoms you think would be the most popular (i.e., nbc thursday night like 30 rock, the office) are shit compared to the kind of numbers reality shows like american idol, survivor, dwts, etc. produce. other sopa opear-ish shows get better numbers also like greys anatomy and desperate housewives.

http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/menuitem.43afce2fac27e890311ba0a347a062a0/?show=%2FFilters%2FPublic%2Ftop_tv_ratings%2Fbroadcast_tv&selOneIndex=0&vgnextoid=9e4df9669fa14010VgnVCM100000880a260aRCRD

this is specifically true of the network serial. since the scripts are continuous, people like to watch several episodes in a series. therefore, most viewers would prefer to watch these shows online, where networks post "catch up series". unfortunately for the networks, they make lower rates on online ads than TV.

people say they have to "trade analog dollars for digital pennies" (i to this day have no idea why you would get a lower CPM rate for an online ad than a network ad, where you can highly target the consumer).

sports also get monster numbers, but nbc doesn't have nba, nfl, ncaa, or nascar (i think those are the four biggest sports ratings grabbers).

this is again compounded by the rise of cable ratings, which have been eating into network market shares for the past 10 years.

piracy doesn't help either.

tivo (or the prevalence of DVR) further reduces the value of their ads, cuz people skip them.

all these problems are generally greatest in the ever important 18-35 year old demographic.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/03/24/nbc-averages-fewer-than-6-million-viewers-and-crashes-in-the-demos/15057

basically, the networks aren't doing great (and im not going to delve into GE's 10Ks right about now, but I've worked at Disney, and it doesn't take a lot of time to realize that ESPN is that company, far greater in profit than the film studios, parks, Disney Interactive, CPG, and ABC, shit I think ESPN might be more profitable than all those put together.

peep the link from 2 weeks ago:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2009/05/disney-earnings-fall.html

soon, the presence of more "daily candy" kind of shows will grow. people prefer them cuz they are an independent hour of entertainment (i know this doesn't really apply to some of the reality shows like survivor or the soaps like desperate housewives, but it does for the comedy, sports, and csi type of shows). leno getting 10pm-11pm is evidence of this. nbc are thinking of adding a nightly weekend update show, to combat the daily show/colbert report, based on the success of their own thursday night SNL political thing during the election.

you can bet your ass there will be more and more reality shows coming out. i think they're bringing back who wants to be a $1M? with regis philbin, based on the renewed interest generated by slumdog.

it sucks they have to do this, but these kinds of shows are what people are watching. they make 30 rock and the office, those are progressive, weird, creative, artistic comedies (imho). and people don't fucking watch. and they spend crazy money marketing it.

i know fox bungled the marketing for arrested development, but how the fuck did people not watch that shit? that was so funny, and i always thought it to be somewhat seinfeld-esque, the most popular show of the 90s.

it fucking sucks that nbc and the networks can't succeed with this kind of programming, and i know my argument is crazy one sided, but in the end, i'm pretty happy with the state of recentish TV quality.

The Wire
30 Rock
Arrested Development
The Office
Planet Earth
Mad Men
Scrubs
LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON featuring the roots!
conan on the tonight show.
battlestar galactica
curb your enthusiasm
weeds
lonely island videos on SNL
a bunch of other shows...

i mean, i don't think we're in any sort of golden age necessarily, but come on? when has it been better than this? i was never a big fan of earl, but i like jason lee enough to know it had to be at least pretty good. it sucks it got canceled, but considering the way things are going with TV, im just glad to have the shit we got.

whew, that was a long rant. feel free to argue any/all of it.

"The Office" is paying its own rent with all the Emmy love, and "L&O" has fan loyalty, but yeah. NBC sucks.


They dump "Scrubs" and "Journeyman" and in return we get "Kath & Kim" and "Parks and Recreation".

I don't understand how she continues to get show after show.

Well not 'fan' really, but I liked it well enough.

I can't lie and stay I still watched Earl. I loved the first two seasons, but eventually, just didn't have the time (or DVR space) to keep watching it. But were ratings really bad enough compared to the other dreck on NBC to cancel it?

I'm still shocked that we get two more years of Friday Night Lights. Other than The Office and 30 Rock, it's the only show on NBC I watch. And the Leno 10 pm hour had me worried that FNL would be axed since I know it's a ratings loser.

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I believe that NBC and DirectTV have a 50/50 deal on Friday Night Lights where DirectTV is covering 50% of the costs of the show.

Since NBC doesn't have to pay for the show itself it is willing to keep it on the air.

who had no idea the show was on. funny thing about NBC is that they got pretty good shows, the just don't promote them well.




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I stopped watching this show so long ago I don't actually care much about the news of its departure, it had some good moments early but as long as The Office/30Rock are still on Thursday that'll be two NBC shows I watch, along with fast-forwarding through most of Fallon's show for Legendary purposes.

But the sour grapes shit he's kicking here is just bullshit.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i6c932f87e11ed33a6cdf3d245202c0be

"My Name Is Earl" might live on.

TBS is in preliminary talks to order 13 new episodes of the single-camera comedy from 20th Century Fox TV, sources said.

The news comes a couple of weeks after NBC pulled the plug on the 4-year-old series starring Jason Lee in what became one of the highest-profile cancellations of the upfront season.

Ever since "Earl" was put on the bubble for renewal at NBC in the spring, rumors began circulating that the series, which has won five Emmys, might look for another home. Early speculation included 20th TV's sister network Fox, whose entertainment president Kevin Reilly launched "Earl" while at NBC, and ABC, which has been open to acquiring series that have aired on other networks.

"Earl" would make a good fit at TBS, which will run repeats of the offbeat comedy beginning in the fall as part of an off-network syndication deal with Twentieth TV inked in 2007.

Still, sources stressed that the conversations between 20th TV and TBS for new episodes are in the very early stages, and a deal is far from a lock as the sides have to figure out whether an expensive network single-camera series can be produced under a basic cable network's economic model.

Also, while still under a hold at 20th TV, "Earl's" cast has not been lined up for a lower-budget reincarnation.

A cable afterlife for canceled broadcast series often is considered, especially for shows with a devoted fan base, but the idea rarely pans out.

In 2005, Showtime flirted with the idea of picking up Fox's Emmy-winning single-camera comedy "Arrested Development" after it was canceled, but a deal couldn't be reached.

It is easier when the cable network is part of the corporate family.

In 2007, the NBC drama "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" moved to sister cable network USA, with the broadcast network getting a second window on the crime series. The show, which underwent budget trims, is produced by UMS, another NBC Universal entity.

It would also give some shine to other really good sitcoms that folks probably don't watch like "10 Items or Less" and "My Boys"

Even if it's not doing well by network tv standards, it would probably do better than TBS's current sitcoms.

is they have no shelf life. No DVD or syndication run. A show like the office must make up for lack of ratings in DVD sales and syndication fees.

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>is they have no shelf life. No DVD or syndication run.

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/06/my-name-is-earl-canceled.htm

This just in: 'My Name is Earl' will NOT live on

Jun 11, 2009, 03:13 PM | by Michael Ausiello

Categories: My Name is Earl, News

My-name-is-earl_l Talk about lousy karma.

Despite reports that TBS was on the verge of rescuing My Name is Earl from NBC's scrap heap, a spokesperson for Twentieth Century Fox Television confirms that the Emmy-winning comedy is officially dead.

In a statement, the studio rep said, "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."

It was a BAD show.