Pilot (My Name Is Earl)

"Pilot"
My Name Is Earl episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Directed by	Marc Buckland
Written by	Greg Garcia
Production code	001
Original air date	September 20, 2005

"Pilot" is the pilot and the first episode of the first season of the American sitcom My Name Is Earl. The episode was written by series creator Greg Garcia and directed by Marc Buckland. "Pilot" originally aired in the United States on NBC on September 20, 2005.

Plot

Earl Hickey, a thief, narrates the last few years of his life, explaining that he married a six-month pregnant woman named Joy while drunk in 1999. Earl and his brother Randy moved in with Joy to a trailer park. Earl and Joy had their own child, Earl junior, in 2001, but he was a black boy, implying that Joy cheated on Earl with African-American Darnell "Crab-man" Turner.

In 2005, Earl wins $100,000 in the lottery, but is immediately hit by a car and watches the ticket blow away. While he recovers in the hospital, Joy divorces him, and Earl is introduced to karma while watching talk-show host Carson Daly; do bad things and bad things happen, do good things and good things happen. This makes sense to Earl, so he decides to try to make up for all the bad things he has done and makes a written list of 259 items.

After leaving the hospital, Earl and Randy move into a motel where they meet a pretty Mexican maid, Catalina. When Earl picks up trash to atone for item #136, "I've been a litterbug", he finds his lost lottery ticket. He decides that karma works, and as such resolves to continue making up for items on the list, beginning with #64: "Picked on Kenny James".

Earl, Randy and Catalina find Kenny's parents' house, and Earl sends Randy to find out from them where Kenny lives. Randy poses as former class president looking for Kenny, but offends the Jameses who call the police. Regardless, Randy makes his escape with the address. Earl spies on Kenny to figure out how best to help him. Kenny's life is good, but he has nobody to share it with, so Earl decides to hire a prostitute, Patty, to have sex with him. When Kenny refuses free sex, Earl talks to Kenny in person, not understanding why he turned down sex. However, Randy finds homosexual pornography in Kenny's nightstand. He and Earl, never having met a homosexual person, flee the house in fear.

Although he tries to ignore Kenny, calling the list item "special circumstances", Earl is shortly thereafter attacked by Joy and realises: there are no special circumstances. He returns to Kenny's house and asks why Kenny doesn't have a man. Kenny answers that nobody knows he is gay, and he is afraid to go to a gay bar. Earl agrees to come with him, to give him needed support and cross Kenny off his list. They go with Randy to a gay bar, where Kenny builds up the confidence to talk to a man. He thanks Earl and says he can cross him off his list.

Production

Awards

Marc Buckland won an Emmy for directing "Pilot".^[1] Greg Garcia also won an Emmy in the writing category.^[2]

Continuity

"Pilot" introduced the premise and main characters of the series. Also, both Kenny and Patty the Daytime Hooker became recurring characters in the series, Kenny re-appearing as early as the third episode. A season 4 episode, "Earl and Joy's Anniversary" would reveal that Kenny and Patty previously participated in a foursome,^[3] making their interactions in this episode negative continuity.

Deleted scene

A deleted scene from this episode was included on the season 1 DVD. As Kenny and Earl are about to enter the gay bar, a group of college students drive up to them. In response to one shouting "fags" out the window, Earl walks up to the college student, pulls him out of the car, punches him in the face, and tells him to learn about tolerance. Kenny stops Earl, who asks for the student's name to put on his list, explaining that he must make up for his mistake.

References

↑ "WINNERS OF THE 2006 PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS ANNOUNCED". Retrieved 2007-08-07.
↑ Goodman, Tim (August 28, 2006). "So the best didn't win Emmys — hey, it could have been worse". San Francisco Gate Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-11-26.
↑ "Earl and Joy's Anniversary", My Name is Earl (2008)

External links

"Pilot" at the Internet Movie Database
"Pilot" at TV.com

My Name Is Earl

General	Characters Greg Garcia

Episodes	Seasons (1 2 3 4) Pilot

Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series

1971–1989	John Rich for "All in the Family" (1971) Gene Reynolds for "Pilot" (MASH) (1972) Gene Reynolds for "Deal Me Out" (1973) Hy Averback for "Alcoholics Unanimous" (1974) Hy Averback for "Bombed" (1975) Alan Alda for "Dear Sigmund" (1976) Paul Bogart for "Edith's 50th Birthday" (1977) Paul Bogart for "California, Here We Are" (1978) Paul Bogart for "Too Good Edith" (1979) Noam Pitlik for "Fog" (1980) Alan Alda for "The Life You Save" (1981) Alan Alda for "Where There's a Will, There's a War" (1982) James Burrows for "Showdown: Part II" (1983) Jay Sandrich for "Pilot" (The Cosby Show) (1984) Jay Sandrich for "Pilot" (The Golden Girls) (1985) Terry Hughes for "Isn't It Romantic?" (1986) Will Mackenzie for "'A,' My Name is Alex" (1987) Steve Miner for "Pilot" (The Wonder Years*) (1988) Barnet Kellman for "Brown Like Me" (1989)

1990–2009	James Burrows for "Woody Interruptus" (1990) Peter Bonerz for "Uh Oh: Part II" (1991) Tom Cherones for "The Contest" (1992) James Burrows for "The Good Son" (1993) David Lee for "The Matchmaker" (1994) Gordon Hunt for "The Alan Brady Show" (1995) Andy Ackerman for "The Rye" (1996) Andy Ackerman for "The Betrayal" (1997) Thomas Schlamme for "Pilot" (Sports Night) (1998) Thomas Schlamme for "Small Town" (1999) James Burrows for "Lows in the Mid-Eighties" (2000) Todd Holland for "Bowling" (2001) Bryan Gordon for "Special Section" (2002) Tim Van Patten for "Boy Interrupted" (2003) Tim Van Patten for "An American Girl in Paris: Part Deux" (2004) Marc Buckland for "Pilot" (My Name Is Earl) (2005) Richard Shepard for "Pilot" (Ugly Betty) (2006) Barry Sonnenfeld for "Pie-lette" (2007) Paul Feig for "Dinner Party" (2008) Jason Winer for "Pilot" (Modern Family) (2009)

2010–2029	Michael Spiller for "Halloween" (2010) Robert B. Weide for "Palestinian Chicken" (2011) Lena Dunham for "Pilot" (Girls) (2012) Beth McCarthy-Miller for "Hogcock!" / "Last Lunch" (2013) Jill Soloway for "Best New Girl" (2014) Chris Addison for "Election Night" (2015)

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

Peter Tewksbury (1959)
Ralph Levy / Bud Yorkin (1960)
Sheldon Leonard (1961)
Nat Hiken (1962)
John Rich (1963)
Jerry Paris (1964)
William Asher (1966)
James Frawley for "Royal Flush" (1967)
Bruce Bilson for "Maxwell Smart, Private Eye" (1968)
Greg Garrison for "October 17, 1968" (1969)
Dwight Hemion for "The Sound of Burt Bacharach" (1970)
Jay Sandrich for "Toulouse-Lautrec is One of My Favorite Artists" (1971)
John Rich for "Sammy's Visit" (1972)
Jay Sandrich for "It's Whether You Win or Lose" (1973)
Jackie Cooper for "Carry on, Hawkeye" (1974)
Gene Reynolds for "O.R." (1975)
Gene Reynolds for "Welcome to Korea" (1976)
Alan Alda for "Dear Sigmund" (1977)
Paul Bogart for "Edith's 50th Birthday" (1978)
Noam Pitlik for "The Harris Incident" (1979)
James Burrows for "Louie and the Nice Girl" (1980)
James Burrows for "Elaine's Strange Triangle" (1981)
Alan Rafkin for "Barbara's Crisis" (1982)
James Burrows for "Showdown", Part 2 (1983)
Bill Persky for "A Very Loud Family" (1984)
Jay Sandrich for "The Younger Woman" (1985)
Jay Sandrich for "Denise's Friend" (1986)
Terry Hughes for "Isn't it Romantic" (1987)
Gregory Hoblit for "Pilot" (1988)
Peter Baldwin for "Our Miss White" (1989)
Michael Dinner for "Good-bye" (1990)
James Burrows for "Woody Interruptus" (1991)
Barnet Kellman for "Birth 101" (1992)
Betty Thomas for "For Peter's Sake" (1993)
James Burrows for "The Good Son" (1994)
David Lee for "The Matchmaker" (1995)
Michael Lembeck for "The One After the Superbowl" (1996)
David Lee for "To Kill a Talking Bird" (1997)
Todd Holland for "Flip" (1998)
Thomas Schlamme for "Pilot" (Sports Night) (1999)
Todd Holland for "Pilot" (Malcolm in the Middle) (2000)
Todd Holland for "Bowling" (2001)
Michael Patrick King for "The Real Me" (2002)
Robert B. Weide for "Krazee-Eyez Killa" (2003)
Anthony and Joe Russo for "Pilot" (Arrested Development) (2004)
Charles McDougall for "Pilot" (Desperate Housewives) (2005)
Marc Buckland for "Pilot" (My Name Is Earl) (2006)
Richard Shepard for "Pilot" (Ugly Betty) (2007)
Barry Sonnenfeld for "Pie-lette" (2008)
Jeffrey Blitz for "Stress Relief" (2009)
Ryan Murphy for "Pilot" (Glee) (2010)
Michael Spiller for "Halloween" (2011)
Steven Levitan for "Baby on Board" (2012)
Gail Mancuso for "Arrested" (2013)
Gail Mancuso for "Las Vegas" (2014)
Jill Soloway for "Best New Girl" (2015)
Jill Soloway for "Man on the Land" (2016)

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (2000–2009)

Linwood Boomer for "Pilot" (Malcolm in the Middle) (2000) Alex Reid for "Bowling" (2001) Larry Wilmore for "Pilot" (The Bernie Mac Show) (2002) Tucker Cawley for "Baggage" (2003) Mitchell Hurwitz for "Pilot" (Arrested Development) (2004) Mitchell Hurwitz & Jim Vallely for "Righteous Brothers" (2005) Greg Garcia for "Pilot" (My Name Is Earl) (2006) Greg Daniels for "Gay Witch Hunt" (2007) Tina Fey for "Cooter" (2008) Matt Hubbard for "Reunion" (2009)

Complete list (1955–1959) (1960–1969) (1970–1979) (1980–1989) (1990–1999) (2000–2009) (2010–present)

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