My Name Is Earl crossed off
Row as NBC cancels sitcom
Channel 4’s imported sitcom My Name Is Earl has been cancelled after four years, prompting a bitter exchange between its makers and network bosses.Announcing the decision not to renew the sitcom, NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman said it was ‘an aging franchise, without a single fan letter, with no passion’.
Creator Greg Garcia – who said he was only told of the decision 30 minutes before it was released to the media – hit back with a barbed comment aimed at struggling NBC, currently the weakest performing of all four major networks.
‘It’s hard to be too upset about being thrown off the Titanic,’ he told the Los Angeles Times.\r\n
Meanwhile, Ethan Suplee, who plays Randy in the series, confirmed the news to fans via Twitter and complained about NBC’s handling on the matter.
He wrote: ‘Just got the call that My Name Is Earl has been cancelled. They sure did take their time with that decision.’
The makers of My Name Is Earl are said to be in talks with rival networks Fox and ABC about the possibility of picking up a fifth series.
Garcia said: ‘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.’
Published: 20 May 2009
