Talks to revive axed comedy fail

Talks to rescue My Name Is Earl have failed, meaning the show has officially come to an end.

America’s NBC network cancelled the comedy in May, but the TBS cable channel expressed an interest in reviving it after producers 20th Century Fox touted the show around rival broadcasters.

However, Variety now reports that the sides could not strike a deal to make the show on the tighter budgets cable TV demands. The Hollywood trade magazine estimates that producers would have had to slash costs by as much as $1millio a week.

‘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,’ the studio said.

And TBS issued a statement saying: ‘[We were] in the very early stages of discussions with Fox about My Name is Earl, and we are disappointed that we were not able to reach an agreement.”

The show – starring Jason Lee as a small-time crook who decides to mend his ways following a brush with death – began in 2006 and ran for four series.

Published: 12 Jun 2009