TVSquad

When I posted the question about why the word "Amish" was bleeped from last night's My Name Is Earl, series creator Greg Garcia responded in the comments that the bleeping was his choice. After we got that comment here at TV Squad HQ (think of it as the old Letterman home office... its location changes at our whim), I called Greg's office to see if I could get more details. Here is his response:

Joel Keller: So, you were the one who decided to bleep out the word "Amish" from last night's episode?

Greg Garcia: Yeah. I mean it was pointed out to me, but not like in a... we shot that so long ago, um... It was pointed out to me; somebody was watching whatever finalization they do at NBC, and they were like, "Hey, do you remember that this (line) was the Amish thing?" And I was like, "Yeah, ooh... I don't want to start the episode out like that." I mean, it wasn't like we were making fun of the Amish.

(UPDATE: Series creator Greg Garcia responded in the comments to this post that he was the one that decided to insert the bleep. After he left the comment, I called up his office and talked to him about his decision. That conversation is here.)

As Mike S. pointed out in his review of My Name is Earl, a TV Squadder pointed out to him that the word "Amish" was bleeped out of the show right at the beginning of the episode. That TV Squadder would be me. I noticed that right at the beginning of the episode, as Earl and Randy are helping Catalina wax a hirstute neighbor, Earl's voiceover says something like this: "You know how the <silence> go around the village and raise money to build a barn? That's what we did to get Wilma to wax her moustache."

Of course, you know that weirdly silent moment was a word that was bleeped in post-production. And, given the fact that the Amish community is still reeling from the school shooting that occurred earlier this week, and that the community does exactly what Earl described, chances are pretty good that NBC bleeped the word "Amish" from the show at the last minute, in deference to the school shooting in Lancaster County, PA earlier this week.

(S02E03) Who would have thought that we would have gotten a lesson in acceptance and tolerance of others from, of all people, Earl Hickey?

After watching the classic movie "Freaks" this past weekend, I had wondered if we'd see anything in the mass media that depicted people who were considered "freaks" anymore without encountering a great deal of controversy. Leave it to My Name Is Earl to bring it forward, but doing it in such a way that it warms your heart in the end.

(S01E14) I can honestly say I had never, ever seen this episode of The X-Files. I'm not sure why I passed it over or missed it over the years, but it was new to me. And I totally loved it! Oh, and Nic Lea, who plays villain Alex Krycek in subsequent seasons, makes an appearance in this episode as 'Michael', a near-victim of the Monster of the Week.

The opening scene of Gender Bender made me wonder what time of year this episode aired. It opens with sex, after all. But, alas, it was not created for ratings as it originally aired on January 21, 1994.