Karma is a funny thing...

So says the tagline of one of my favourite TV shows, My Name is Earl. I seemed to miss this show when it first appeared on Channel 4 in the UK, or rather I kind of ignored it. I heard it was funny, but I never got round to watching it. Anyway, I recently bought the boxed DVD set of season 1. The show is fantastic. Not only is it really funny, but it makes an important point about how your actions can have big consequences. I want to talk more about this idea in later posts, but for now let me just urge you to watch the show.



The show is about Earl (you guessed that much) and his belief that the reason bad stuff happens to him is that he has done bad things in his life. He's stolen and lied and generally just messed around. Even when good things happen to him (like winning $100,000 on a scratchcard), this is immediately followed by something bad happening (getting knocked down by a car!). He figures it's all to do with Karma... what goes around, comes around. And so he makes a list of all the bads things he's done in his life and sets about putting things right.

It's brilliantly written, acted, and produced. And it makes you think... maybe there is something to this thing called Karma.