Jason Lee Shouldn't Be on Television Jason Lee Shouldn't Be on Television

Why Are They Famous?
Jason Lee Shouldn't Be on Television
By Trevor Thompson
Sep 21, 2005

Last night at about 9 p.m., I cracked open a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, poured it into a frosty beer mug, and settled into my couch to watch the premiere of My Name is Earl, the new sitcom starring Jason Lee. My choice of beverage was intentional: I wanted to get in the mindset to watch this show about a white-trash petty thief who, after an epiphany inspired by watching the Carson Daly show, decides to right all the wrongs he's committed in the world. I'm a big fan of Jason Lee and I wanted to be a big fan of his show as well. My expectations were high because all the reviews I'd read were glowing. "Earl's a Pearl," said one review. Another, entitled "Earl improves the world — and NBC's lineup," reported the show tested better among focus groups than any other NBC pilot in the past 15 years, including Friends.

Frankly, I find that hard to imagine. The premise was sort of cute and all the characters were clearly having a good time playing small-town losers, but I was tempted to give up halfway through the show. It saddened me to see Jason Lee in this role, not so much for the role itself (he's at his best when he's playing a slouchy, disheveled character with questionable personal hygiene habits), but for the fact he sank low enough to star in this show in the first place. I never like to see movie stars turn to television. No matter how good the show is, the move from the silver screen to the small screen always reeks of failure to me. Usually it's the other way around: Soap opera and sitcom stars struggle desperately to break into the movies. They usually fail miserably, but their very failure serves to prove my point: At the end of the day, movies are the place to be.

So why did Jason Lee choose to regress? Has his film career flamed out? I thought he was doing just fine. True, his movies have rarely been blockbusters, but he's been steadily working since he started his career with Mallrats in 1995. His résumé is long and occasionally impressive, with standouts like Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, The Incredibles, Enemy of the State, Dogma, and Chasing Amy. For the most part, he's been relegated to strictly supporting roles — his few attempts as a leading man were complete flops. But like a few other great supporting actors such as Jeremy Piven and Vince Vaughn, he's a scene-stealer.

Jason Lee plays one character really well: the loveable loser with a heart of gold. It's a character he created in Kevin Smith's Mallrats and reconfigured for Chasing Amy. It's the character he's resurrected for My Name is Earl. Part of the reason this character is so successful is because it seems natural. He was a professional skateboarder for 13 years, and it's easy to spot that history in his loose-limbed, devil-may-care body language. It's not hard to picture him with a bunch of his buddies in a basement, passing a bong around while playing video games or watching skateboard videos. He comes across as a good guy, kind of a dick maybe, but the kind of person you'd like to have as your friend . . . which would explain why he's been "the buddy" in so many of his movies.

If the story of how he made it to Hollywood ever became a movie, Lee would be the perfect choice to play the lead. It begins in Huntington Beach, California, when he decides he loves skateboarding so much he's going to turn professional. He's attracted to the lifestyle, the traveling, the events, and the people. He starts his own skateboard company with a friend, called Stereo Skateboards. He shoots a skateboard video or two. When he's 21, he moves to L.A. in a loft space with a couple of guys from a band and another skateboarder who is a part-time actor. The skateboarder/actor introduces him to an agent, Gay Ribisi, mother of Giovanni and Marissa Ribisi. Lee dates Marissa for a few years and Marissa's mother submits Lee to auditions for commercials or sitcoms every once in awhile, just for "shits and giggles." Lee is terrible and doesn't have a clue what he's doing. His acting career is not looking promising. His biggest roles to date are of him skateboarding, first in a Sonic Youth video and then in a British Petroleum commercial shot in Malaysia.

Lee dumps Marissa and starts dating a new girl, but Marissa's mother still thinks Lee is the greatest (because he's just so cute and loveable) and continues submitting him for roles. Suddenly, he finds himself auditioning for the lead role in a movie called Mallrats. He screws up the audition, fumbles his lines. No surprise. He's a skateboarder, not an actor, right? But Kevin Smith likes this angle and has him read for the buddy sidekick, Brodie Bruce. He's perfect. All he has to do is crack fart jokes and act like a loser who plays video games instead of looking for a job. Years on the skateboarding tour have perfectly groomed Lee for this role.

Thus, a star is born. A career is started. Kevin Smith coddles him for a few more movies and then Lee is off and running in Hollywood. Before he knows it, he's working with Cameron Crowe, Kate Hudson, Tom Cruise, and Will Smith. Rumor has it he's up for the title role in Kevin Smith's upcoming movie, Fletch Won, a prequel to the Chevy Chase masterpiece. There is no doubt he would be perfect.

And then for some reason he chooses to headline this dinky little television comedy. Why? Now, I'm no expert on the way Hollywood works. Maybe starring in a television series is a great way to advance a movie career. I don't know. What I do know is I don't see Rob Lowe or James Spader in any new movies. Will I see Jason Lee?

Maybe I'm not giving the show enough credit. After all, the critics are raving about it and the focus groups like it — who am I to stand against a focus group? (Focus groups, by the way, are bogus. One time I was paid $50 to sit in a room with five other people and taste-test a new Pepsi product. It looked like toilet bowl cleaner and tasted like crap. It also turned our mouths blue. Everybody in the room voted it sucked. Two weeks later it was on store shelves.)

Anyway, next week I'll give it another try, but this time I'll try harder — for Jason's sake, if for nothing else. I'll wear a John Deere hat and a flannel shirt. And I won't use a frosty beer mug for my Pabst — I'll drink it straight from the can.