#12 Karma; the new moral code

My Name is Earl revamps the traditional sitcom by altering the overall structure proposed by traditional sitcoms. In My Name is Earl, Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) is a trouble making law breaker that after being hit by a car realizes karma is the reason for his misfortunes. To make up for all the bad Earl has done in his life, he makes a long list of the bad things and goes down the list one by one, fixing the mistakes he made in the past. For instance, in "Quit Smoking" (Sept. 27,2005) in the past Earl robbed a store with one of his friend's shirts on, however that friend was accused of the robbery and sent to jail. To make amends with his friend, Earl realizes that all his friends wants is the time he spent in jail back. So, Earl helps his friend's mother quit smoking so that his friend can have more years with his mother, considering if she had continued smoking she would pass away earlier. This defies the conventional sitcom in that it approaches the "moral of the story" aspect in a different way as opposed to shows such as Friends, or Everybody Loves Raymond. My Name is Earl sets a great example for moral integrity. It's basically saying that even though you may do some wrong in your life, there's always a possibility of making things right again. Other conventional sitcoms lack this more positive outlook such as the revolutionary My Name is Earl.