TBS and 20th Century Fox Television talk ‘Earl’

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

So, remember a few weeks ago when we reported that TBS might be an ideal place for ‘My Name Is Earl’ to land after being dumped by NBC?

Well, there has been some chatter between Turner and 20th Century Fox Television about picking up the show. It is all very preliminary, but Turner Entertainment topper Steve Koonin had told us back in New York during upfronts that he’d like to have the show on TBS.

The odds are long of a deal getting done, and price is probably the biggest issue. The stars may not want to take big pay cuts for moving from broadcast to cable. While TBS could certainly afford the show, cable networks don’t generally spend the same dollars as broadcast does on their shows, although they certainly do a good job attracting top talent. TNT already has Holly Hunter and Kyra Sedgwick headlining two of its top dramas, while Ray Romano and Andre Braugher are working on a somewhat dark comedy for TBS.

TBS has carried reruns of ‘My Name Is Earl,’ and adding original episodes of the show would boost the new comedies it has in development. If this deal comes off, we want a finder’s fee.

-- Joe Flint

Photo credit: My Name Is Earl / Michael Yarish, NBC