10 Weirdest High Concepts On Television

10. My Name Is Earl

The pitch: A loveable lowlife believes that karma is really to blame for his spot in life, and decides to make a list of all his misdeeds, making up for each and every one to balance the scales. There aren't many sitcoms that successfully pull off high concept TV. Sitcoms are usually just a bunch of stuff that happens to generic happy families and tend to contain random plot-lines and interchangeable characters. That has changed a little over the years, but really, high concept sitcoms are few and far between. An exception is My Name Is Earl. It stands out for a few reasons. One, its pitch is pretty simple - but the appeal was lost on a number of television networks, who all passed on the project. FOX passed on the pitch. NBC initially passed as well, though a chance in management in the mid-2000s meant that open minds at the network were willing to consider fresh ideas. And so My Name Is Earl got a pilot order - contingent on a big name singing up for the show. After a bit of back and forth creator Greg Garcia landed Jason Lee (you know him from most of the early Kevin Smith movies), and the pilot was filmed. Even that took several test screenings for NBC to be convinced. However, Earl started off strong, and ran for four seasons. It was a cult hit. More of a throwback in tone to Married with Children or Titus (it was closer to the trailer park than the upscale apartments of the Friends cast), its high concept premise was unique, weird, and had the what if hook: what if a lowlife, petty criminal decided that karma was the real reason behind all his bad luck - and came up with a list of all his misdeeds, then attempted to atone for each and every one of them? It's a weird concept - but it worked. However, by the fourth season the show's ratings in the competitive Thursday night at 8PM EST slot had declined, and it was cancelled before Earl could finish his list.