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My Name is Earl and Raising Hope

Started by dead-ced-dead, April 13, 2021, 12:43:11 PM

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BritishHobo

I always wish they'd gotten to do their ending, but at the same time the completionist in me winces every time I read it at the idea of him not finishing the list.

I've begun my rewatch proper thanks to this thread. Will do Earl and then Hope I think. The first episode of Earl is really lovely. I do love that they're unafraid to present it that Earl would have that homophobic reaction. It's nice and nuanced. It's a small town, and that's who he is. I like that he doesn't wake up a good, flawless person after his accident; he has to unlearn these things as he goes. The apologetic, self-conscious voiceover is a lovely touch, his shame at reacting so poorly. And admitting that it was probably unnecessary to run away.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: JamesTC on April 15, 2021, 07:57:40 PM
This is what Greg Garcia planned for the last episode before they got cancelled:
Not sure about him tearing up his unfinished list but the rest of it is a rather sweet ending.

That's just darling. I think this is an ability Garcia has, of making shows about characters who would usually be kicked down against and find real warmth and humanity. Raising Hope is similar in that the characters really do help each other out and care for each other. Garcia has a real "the human race is A-ok" vibe to him, it seems.

idunnosomename

I also loved the first series of My Name Is Earl, genuinely warm and subtly quirky for an American sitcom, don't remember a prison arc so clearly never got that far, if C4 even showed it all?

timebug

Yes Ch4 did show the complete set of shows; but it moved them about a lot,and some were at stupid times,so if you did not record it, you missed it! I was pretty pissed off with that, so when I found the complete set on DVD (remember those?) I grabbed them and watched them all in the correct sequence! A nice gentle series that slumped and then (almost) recovered itself.

Timothy

Does Disney Plus UK have all Raising Hope seasons? Here in Holland we only have season one so far.

H-O-W-L

Quote from: timebug on April 16, 2021, 09:03:36 AM
Yes Ch4 did show the complete set of shows; but it moved them about a lot,and some were at stupid times,so if you did not record it, you missed it! I was pretty pissed off with that, so when I found the complete set on DVD (remember those?) I grabbed them and watched them all in the correct sequence! A nice gentle series that slumped and then (almost) recovered itself.

I used to watch E4's endless loops of Scrubs and Earl in the 2010-2013 era and it fucked me right off that they would spontaneously re-start Earl mid-syndication in order to bring it up to time with newly-bought episodes.

JamesTC

Rewatched most of the first season of Earl while playing some games over the last couple of days. Some great guest stars dotted throughout. Jon Favreau long before he saved Star Wars. Missi Pyle as the mother of a very young Chloë Grace Moretz in one of her first acting roles.

Quote from: Timothy on April 18, 2021, 12:05:41 PM
Does Disney Plus UK have all Raising Hope seasons? Here in Holland we only have season one so far.

All four are on the UK Disney+.


H-O-W-L

Quote from: JamesTC on April 18, 2021, 02:28:54 PMJon Favreau long before he saved Star Wars.

HAT = FUCKED. I've watched that episode a fuckload and never clicked that it was Favreau. Fucking hell.

BritishHobo

Yeah, the guest stars are great, some very impressive ones.

I'm nearly through with season one, and the big aspect of the show I forgot to mention is obviously the ongoing talk about karma. I've never been a particularly spiritual person, but I'd forgotten how satisfying it does feel watching this show, where the concept of karma, as an active force out there in the universe, seems in some part accepted as true by the writing. There's a direct action-consequence to things in the show - like Earl's foreign-language students rocking up to save him, or karma using his fist to punch Jon Favreau, and thus ruin his life. And in the other direction as well, episodes like the one where Earl falls in love with the teacher, and his avoidance of a list item results in repeated accidents and harm coming to him. I think I just find it quite comforting the idea at the end of every episode, that there is this grand force ensuring

Because it's in my mind, I've spotted one dicey chick-with-a-dick gag so far (although it being an innapropriate joke made by pre-list Earl, which he is making up for, means it's up-in-the-air), but also a fair few prison rape jokes, which are making me dread getting to the prison arc a little bit. On the other hand, I'm finding the treatment of the characters' prejudices to be quite sweet and uplifting. There's a quaintness to sense of humour (pre-internet-culture-war stuff) that makes the ignorance of the protagonists something authentic, rather than nasty. They're people trying their best in a world they don't totally understand; they're not angry about political correctness, they're well-meaning, they just don't always get it right. I'm thinking of Earl apologising after Ralph calls someone 'Tonto', and Earl apologetically explains that 'he doesn't realise you're supposed to say Native American'. Or, similarly, Earl explaining that he's never encountered a "homosexual-American" before. None of it feels like it's laughing at political correctness or progressive politics in the way other shows do; it feels like affectionately representing the clumsy attempts of a nice guy to be more understanding. I hope later seasons do bear this out.

BritishHobo

One thing I have noticed that I've been wondering about - are the Disney Plus versions missing certain songs due to royalties? There are no absences I've personally noticed, but there have been multiple points where a bit of wordless soundtrack is playing, but the subtitles are displaying lyrics, sometimes recognisably from a different song. It made me think they (whether Disney, or some previous rights-holder) have replaced certain songs due to royalties, but haven't replaced the subtitle tracks which included lyrics to the replaced songs.

H-O-W-L

I may be wrong but the prison arc seemed to lack many prison rape jokes. I guarantee there was at least one or two but not countless ones. Mostly I remember a running gag of
Spoiler alert
Randy becoming a guard to see Earl
[close]
and repeatedly having him stripsearched.

BritishHobo

#41
That's good to know, cheers. I always remember the most disappointing thing about it being season 2 ending with the tease that Giovanni Ribsi would be back as a regular character in season 3, as Earl's bunkmate - only for him to then fuck off again, for whatever reason.

I'd misremembered it being Ralph in the Y2K episode, when of course it's Donnie. I get it mixed up with Pop's Hotdog Cart. I like the episodes that explore them as a little crime gang.

Cuellar


JamesTC


H-O-W-L

Quote from: BritishHobo on April 18, 2021, 07:22:37 PM
I'd misremembered it being Ralph in the Y2K episode, when of course it's Donnie. I get it mixed up with Pop's Hotdog Cart. I like the episodes that explore them as a little crime gang.

I think the best part is that Donnie and Ralph both sort of fill the same role but they also both feel distinctly unique either way. Both of them are the crazy wildcard muscle but, much like a real friend circle, they swap in and out of that role as they realistically would have IRL.

dead-ced-dead

It occured to me that My Name is Earl and King of the Hill are sort of natural counterparts. Both gentle, sweet shows about the types of characters who are usually kicked down and mocked.

JamesTC

That has just made me think how much I'd love King of the Hill to end up on Disney+. I've only seen the first few seasons so would love to watch through the whole thing from the start.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: JamesTC on April 19, 2021, 08:48:17 PM
That has just made me think how much I'd love King of the Hill to end up on Disney+. I've only seen the first few seasons so would love to watch through the whole thing from the start.

Seasons 3-5 are the peak years. It never had a real jumping the shark moment from what I can recall, but as any show that lasts for that long does, it does start awkwardly in season one and the last few seasons flag somewhat.

BritishHobo

Great comparison. Both shows affectionate and empathetic with no judgment towards the characters for being the way life shaped them. It's rare I think to get an approach like that. In other shows the environment the characters are in would be shown to be a shitty one from which they want to escape, their aspirations always being thwarted by the people around them. With Earl and Hank Hill there's no question of that - they love where they're from, and the people around them. There's no 'making the best of a bad lot' because there's no looking down on their life or their world. They're happy where they are, and the only conflict is their attempts to be better people for their friends and family.

I'm up to the penultimate episode of season 1, and while it's very simple, the following courtroom exchange really made me laugh:

QuoteProsecutor: Your Honor, the defendant solicited sex from a uniformed officer in the middle of the day.
Patty: That's a lie!
Prosecutor: Show the tape.
[patrol car dash cam begins to play]
Patty: [on the dash cam] Hey, I know you're a uniformed officer and it's the middle of the day, but would you like to have sex with me for money?

JamesTC

Earl: You stole a truck?
Joy: Because they wouldn't give me my money back! It was a crime of principal like when Rosa Parks stole that bus.

The Lurker

Great show MNIE. Still pissed off it didn't get a proper ending. A sitcom where every character is likeable - despite their flaws. Season three was around the time of the writers' strike, wasn't it? In terms of storyline, it was alright but little karma-based stories. It is, by far, the weakest of the four series but still more than watchable.

Raising Hope was decent enough too. Not huge on laughs but a very wholesome show with a great cast. That said, I don't think I would've really enjoyed it where I not a fan of MNIE due to the Earl Easter eggs that feature throughout. It went downhill after Greg Garcia left but at least it had a good (and proper) ending unlike Earl.