Guest Author - Amy Ralston Young

The strike ended weeks ago, but many of us are still awaiting the return of our favorite shows. CBS was the first to strike, returning with new episodes of sitcoms two weeks ago. I greatly appreciate the return of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Two and a Half Men,” but I still need more ( and I am not talking about “The Big Bang Theory” which I’m pretty sure no one actually watches).

So each day I check my local listings hoping to see “New” beside my show’s title, but I am met with disappointment – until today. NBC is bringing back its Thursday night comedy lineup starting with “My Name is Earl.” The other shows will follow suit next week, April 10.

Since it has been a while, here is a little recap of the season.

Earl is finally released from prison, but decides that karma isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. He decides to forget all about his quest and, in turn, reverts back to his old ways. He ends up with a job he hates, and living in the motel laundry room.

Over the course of things, Earl runs in to Ralph and learns that he has been pretending be another man in his post-pokey days. He lives with the man’s wife and drives his car. All he has to do is wear Stan’s clothes and the wife believes he is Stan.

Finally fed up with his less-than-stellar life, Earl steals Stan’s clothes while Ralph is in the shower and takes over “Stan’s” life. On Christmas day, everyone shows up at Doris and “Stan’s” house for an intervention. Ralph steals the clothes back and Earl storms out in disgust.

Once outside, Earl feels that karma is chasing him. It turns out to just be a cheeseburger wrapper, but in the commotion of it all Earl is hit by a car. Before he passes out, he manages to see the face of the person who hit him – it’s Billie (Alyssa Milano), the girl he has a crush on. Billie jumps out to check on the injured Earl and is struck by a car too. The last episode ended with Billie and Earl lying unconscious in the road, next to one another.

Tonight we return to new episodes – 9 are left – and we go into the mind of Earl as he remains unconscious. The hour-long episode promises not to disappoint with a few surprise cameos.

Watch it: NBC 8 p.m. EST
Stars: Jason Lee, Jaime Pressly, Ethan Suplee, Eddie Steeples, Nadine Velazquez