[The approach: Main character Earl matter-of-factly provides commentary and a little history on events in his life and his effort to reform.] We use (narration) as he's just telling us a story, ... He could be in a bar somewhere telling the story to somebody. We just happen to be seeing it. |
A lot of local bookers don't want to take the time to meet the bands face-to-face, but more or less I like to put a face to a name. |
He could be saying stuff that comes across really like a [jerk], ... But you see him and he smiles, and you like him. |
He would wait until the second half of the high school football game so he could go in for free. |
He's stolen countless amounts of change out of people's cars, so if he's at a toll booth, he'll pay for the people behind him. |
I still felt it was a series, so I woke up every morning at 4:30 before I went to my other job and I wrote. (Eventually) I kind of thought it was over. And then I had lunch with some people at NBC who complimented me on the script and I said, 'Well, let's do it' and to their credit they decided to do it. It was nice that it came back to life. |
I've always been a big fan of Jason's and you get a list (of potential leads) at the beginning of all this and next to Jason's name it said, 'Not interested in TV,' |
If you can walk away from a comedy thinking it was funny yet also feeling good about the people you watched and the journey they went on, then all the better. |
It should be quite a (messed)-up shoot. |
It's a fictional town. I named Camden County after my son. It could be an hour outside any city in the United States. I've read on chat rooms that I've been using some town names from western Maryland where I went to college. |
It's exciting that the network feels we're strong enough and the show is quality enough to be put in a slot that has housed a lot of great comedy. [But] as far as affecting our work, I wake up every morning and go to bed every night absolutely terrified that I won't do a good episode of TV, and I'm going to feel that way whether we're on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Sundays at 10 am. It doesn't matter. |
Knock on wood, we'll do enough episodes to get through that list. But the other thing that happens on our show is Earl adds things. Just because he's trying to be a better person doesn't make him perfect. |
Upscale audiences don't necessarily need to sit and watch themselves on TV, |
We take the perspective that the episode has already happened to him and he's sitting back reflecting on it, ... he understands the stuff he's done is wrong. |
We try not to have too much. I've looked at first drafts of scripts where there's too much, and then I've looked at first drafts of scripts where it's too little and it starts to not feel like our show. So there's definitely a balance you try to find. |