I should be used to this by now. High-quality television shows being canceled at their height. Ethan Suplee who plays Randy on "My Name is Earl" , confirmed the cancellation of the show via his @ethansuplee twitter account.
The show entered prime time with a bang in 2006, winning a few awards and praises, yet ratings dwindled after that. The show will not be returning for the 2009-2010 NBC Thursday line-up. Between "Arrested Development", "Pushing Daisies", and I'm sure with "Better Off Ted" to follow, "My Name is Earl" will enter the same fate of cancellation at near heights.
Think this one hits hard since Earl never completed his entire list. Earl's list of nearly 300 of bad things he's ever done may never be complete. While Earl's idea of Karma is rather twisted compared to the original Eastern ideals, his theory is noble.
Hickey Karma
"Do good things, and good things will happen to you."
I call it Hickey Karma. While it may bring back visions of middle and high school, I do believe that Hickey Karma is the 21st century approach to early Eastern philosophies. Much like Madonna bringing Kabbalah into mainstream American attention, I do believe that Earl J. Hickey has given America a new approach to how to live.
Earl believes that his recent misfortunes and his loss of a $100,000 scratch-off-lottery ticket were the result of years of being juvenile, criminal, and just a bad person. After being run over by a car (later found to also be his fault by coincidence) Earl hears Carson Daly's version of Karma and chooses to changes his lifestyle. Much like the step 8 in the Twelve-Step Program, Earl chooses to make a list of people he has harmed and to make his wrongs right the best he can.
Essentially, Earl is asking for forgiveness by correcting his actions. His list starts out just over 200 or so, yet balloons to nearly 300 during his quest (Earl's List.
Only 4 Away
"My Name Is Earl" was only 4 episodes away from reaching 100 episodes one of the most sought after achievements for a show. From what I've gathered, Earl has been shopped around to other networks, yet nothing has surfaced that could retain the "integrity" of the show. Which I'm glad, since "Scrubs" switch to ABC is atrocious, especially since J.D. is no longer the main character, or a character at all.