Ever since his skateboarding Mallrats days I’ve had a huge mancrush on Jason Lee. He’s got that charismatic ne’er-do-well attitude that makes me us somewhat geeky guys want to hang out, chase girls, drink beers, play Tecmo Bowl and talk comics.

Well, now his chance at mainstream stardom is here – My Name is Earl – a fairly well-reviewed NBC sitcom. Watched the pilot – got some concerns. It does the whole “one-camera, no laugh track thing” that Arrested Development nails. It also borrows other AD tricks such as the flashback and inappropriate humor, but in both cases it feels a bit too familiar and tries a bit too hard. Earl’s grade is somewhere around a B and I don’t think it’ll catch on with mainstream America.

Update: I think Earl has gotten better over the last few weeks – shown more heart, less random attempts at humor.

Update: Earl is now consistently funny and with AD going off the air, the smartest raunch on TV