Well, it’s finally happened. I kinda knew it would. Channel 4 have managed to spoil My Name Is Earl for me. Thing is… I still love the show. You see, due to Channel 4′s seemingly endless tinkering and moving of the show, from one time-slot to the next, I’ve now lost the will to keep up.

As the current crop of Earl’s seem to run into each other, more like a sitcom as opposed to the previous self-contained shows, I now can’t be bothered tuning in, even though I know it’ll make me laugh… a rare commodity in TVland. It seems that Channel 4 don’t want people to like the show. Instead of asking myself how much I like the show, I’m now faced with the labourious task of wondering what day it’ll show up on. Or what time. Or whether it’ll be shown at all. When it is regular, it’s on at a daft time when I find myself more inclined to be arsey, rather than ready for some chortlin’.

So now, I’ve begun to question why a broadcaster would want to piss about with one of its best shows. I’ve got a feeling that, instead of embracing something that’ll get bums on seats, they cut their collective noses in favour of peddling ‘home-grown’ stuff. That stuff? Star Stories. The Kevin Bishop Show. Tonightly. IT Crowd. All nowhere near as good as My Name Is Earl.

However, this theory has holes in it. Channel 4 still like decent comedy. I mean, Peep Show. So are Channel 4 trying to keep it English? I can understand the thinking behind it… but not at the expense of laughs and a bit of heart. When I think of My Name Is Earl, I think of multi-layered, thoughtful, soulful show that has the ability to work your brain a little… before falling over a hat-stand or doing a fart joke. When I think of The Kevin Bishop Show, I think of a programme that isn’t funny and can’t do impressions. Pretty bad seeing as that’s the whole point of the show.

I think what we can gather here is that it’s a complete mystery why My Name Is Earl is shunted around the listings. Whatever the reason is, all I know is that I’ve stopped watching… and through no fault of the show. I just feel defeated by the whole thing… and that’s a real shame.