My Name Is Earl Girls", "The Mentalist", and "Heroes". Exterior shots of the Crab Shack and Club Chubby were also taken from locations in Van Nuys and North Hills. Houses and shops for the various characters come from locations in Van Nuys, Santa Clarita, Northridge, Moorpark, Los Angeles, and other Southern California cities. In the episode "Didn't Pay Taxes", Earl and Randy climb the landmark Artesia water tower, although they do not refer to it by name. Other episodes have listed states that were unlikely to have Camden County. In the episode "Our Other Cops is On", officer Stuart Daniels states that his surveillance
My Name Is Earl and the gang learn from DNA test results that Earl is actually Dodge's biological father. However, they also learn that Darnell is not Earl Jr.'s father, revealing Joy had another affair. Creator and head writer Greg Garcia wrote the pilot while working on another sitcom, "Yes, Dear". He initially pitched the series to Fox which passed on the series. He then approached NBC, which optioned the pilot on a cast-contingent basis, meaning they would order the pilot provided a suitable cast could be assembled. Jason Lee was approached for the lead role, but was uninterested in working in television and