TV Jots

Former NBC Sitcom Out of Good Karma

Ever since NBC announced last month — at the very last minute possible — that it wasn’t going to renew the sitcom My Name Is Earl for another season, fans and the show’s production studio, Twentieth Century Fox TV, had hoped another network would step in to rescue the comedy. Well, on June 11, those hopes evaporated because My Name Is Earl reached the end of the line and became officially over after four seasons.

According to Variety and other entertainment news outlets, My Name Is Earl’s last potential savior, Turner-owned basic-cable network TBS, has passed this week on the chance to continue airing fresh episodes of the comedy, just like Fox and ABC before it. The reason is reportedly because the two sides, TBS and Twentieth Century, couldn’t reach a financial agreement that would avoid significant cuts from the sitcom’s cast, production budget, and writing staff.

If there’s any good news in all of this — and I’m sure no news is consolation to the show’s team right now — it’s that enough episodes of My Name Is Earl were produced to continue airing in syndication for some time to come — 96, to be exact, just four short of the hallmark 100. TBS is the place to catch those syndicated episodes as of last year.