TV Shows Like My Name Is Earl
If you like My Name Is Earl, here are 8 similar TV shows — each with its current AI renewal verdict, so you can see which are still going and which have been cancelled.
NBC · Comedy · My Name Is Earl is cancelled
My Name Is Earl works because it takes a genuinely dumb premise, a lottery-winning petty criminal making a list of every bad thing he's ever done and trying to fix it, and runs it with surprising warmth. Earl is not a sympathetic character on paper. He's lazy, selfish, and has spent most of his life causing low-grade havoc in a small Southern town. But the show earns its laughs by never punching down at its characters. The white-trash milieu is the setting, not the joke. The people in Earl's orbit, his brother Randy, his ex-wife Joy, and the motel crew, feel like real misfits instead of punchlines.
The best shows like My Name Is Earl
1. How I Met Your Mother
Like Earl, How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom with a running throughline that keeps individual episodes from feeling disposable. The show is built on flashback framing and a group of friends who genuinely care about each other despite constant poor decisions, which hits a lot of the same notes as Earl's ensemble. If you liked watching a flawed person slowly work toward something better, Ted Mosby's long, winding road has real appeal.
Stream on Hulu, YouTube TV, USA Network
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2. Will & Grace
Will & Grace is sharper and more urban than Earl, but the core of it is the same: two people who make each other better, surrounded by friends who are funnier when they're together than apart. The banter is quick and the characters have real history, which gives the comedy weight beyond the individual joke. Fans of Earl who enjoyed the relationships more than the redneck gags will feel at home here.
Stream on Hulu
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3. One Day at a Time
One Day at a Time is a family sitcom about people navigating everyday chaos without much of a safety net, which puts it in the same emotional register as Earl even if the setting is very different. The show treats its characters with genuine affection and not as objects of mockery, and that warmth is exactly what Earl fans tend to miss when they move on. It's modest in scope but consistent in heart.
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4. Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out
Wild 'N Out is a completely different kind of comedy show, a fast-moving improv competition with no narrative thread, but it shares Earl's commitment to keeping things loose and funny without getting mean-spirited. If what you really loved about Earl was the broad, energetic comedy and didn't need the redemption arc to go with it, this delivers laughs in a different format. Just don't go in expecting character development or a story to follow.
Stream on Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Paramount+ Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel
Likely Renewed72%
5. Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is one of the clearest ancestors of the kind of comedy Earl was doing, centered on a cranky, scheming man and the people around him who keep getting dragged into his nonsense. The junkyard setting gives it the same working-class texture that made Earl feel grounded, and the central relationship between father and son has real affection underneath all the bickering. If you haven't seen it, it holds up.
Stream on Peacock Premium, Philo, YouTube TV, Peacock Premium Plus
Ended0%
More on shows like My Name Is Earl
Fans of the show tend to respond to that mix of big-hearted comedy and a loose ongoing structure. Earl has a goal, a literal list, and every episode ticks something off, which gives the show a rhythm that's more satisfying than a pure status-quo sitcom. Viewers who loved it usually want something that's funny without being mean, has characters with actual relationships that develop over time, and keeps a sense of optimism running underneath the chaos. They're not necessarily looking for another show about karma, but they want one where the people on screen feel like they like each other.
The recommendations here cover a range. How I Met Your Mother and Will & Grace are both ensemble sitcoms built on friendship and messy personal growth. HIMYM has that same episodic-yet-serialized quality Earl fans respond to, while Will & Grace trades rural oddity for urban wit. One Day at a Time is a quieter, family-focused comedy about people trying their best under real pressure. Sanford and Son is a classic that shares Earl's love of lovable, scheming characters who never quite get it together but keep trying. Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out is the clear outlier here, a sketch-and-improv competition show rather than a narrative sitcom, and while it shares the broad comedy energy, Earl fans looking for character development and story arcs will find it a different experience.
None of these shows are Earl exactly, which is fine. Earl's specific combination of redemption-arc plotting and swampy Americana is its own thing. But each of these shows has at least one thread connecting back to what made Earl worth watching, and for most fans, that's enough to start.
More shows like My Name Is Earl
Frequently asked
- What is the most popular show like My Name Is Earl?
- How I Met Your Mother is the most popular show similar to My Name Is Earl in the IsItRenewed catalogue.
- Are shows like My Name Is Earl still on the air?
- Of the 8 shows similar to My Name Is Earl listed here, 0 currently carry a renewed verdict — the rest are cancelled, ended, or awaiting a decision.
- How does IsItRenewed pick shows like My Name Is Earl?
- The recommendations come from TMDB's similar-titles data, and each is shown with its current AI renewal verdict so you know which are still going.