My Name Is Earl

– 30 Rock really seems to have gone all the way over to making Liz the crazy person and Jack the straight man. Earlier this season I felt like they were alternating, but now I feel like Jack is the most “normal” member of the group, reacting to Liz’s insanity (“Why don’t I have any other friends?”). Last night all three stories revolved in some way around Liz being insane, screwing up, embarrassing herself, or being unable to distinguish between life and the movies. She has become the early Michael Scott, even as Michael Scott himself has become more sympathetic.

Deadline Hollywood Daily mentioned recently that Fox may pick up My Name Is Earl for a fifth season if NBC drops it. The show’s decline in creativity and popularity has been so huge that even NBC may not want it around, but more importantly, it’s not owned by NBC; it’s owned by Fox, and if it gets enough episodes for syndication, that won’t help NBC at all. It makes more sense for NBC to keep 30 Rock on the air despite low ratings; not only is it a better show, but its long run will benefit the company more than a long run for Earl.

I know I’ve talked before about how shows promise to “get back to their roots” and how this doesn’t really work most of the time. But I had to come back to the issue after reading that My Name is Earl promises to “get back to the list” (that is, to the original formula of having most episodes revolve around an item from Earl’s list) after the disaster of last season’s prison, coma and marriage storylines.