White Lie Christmas (6 Dec. 2005)

Joy convinces Earl to pretend that they're still married while her parents visit for Christmas. But Earl discovers that Joy's mom is hiding an even bigger lie.

Director:

Marc Buckland

Writers:

Gregory Thomas Garcia (creator), Timothy Stack

Stars:

Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Jason Lee	...	Earl Hickey
Ethan Suplee	...	Randy Hickey
Jaime Pressly	...	Joy Turner
Nadine Velazquez	...	Catalina
Eddie Steeples	...	Darnell Turner
Blake Clark	...	Buzz Darville
Harland Williams	...	Radio Contest Announcer
Brett Butler	...	Connie Darville
Trey Carlisle	...	Earl Jr.
Louis T. Moyle	...	Dodge
Gil Christner	...	Contestant #1
Charles Noland	...	Guy
Saginaw Grant	...	Dakota
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dee Shaw	...	Mrs. Turner

Storyline

Earl, Randy and Catalina enter a contest to win a brand new car. Earl ruined several Christmases for Joy and now he wants to make up for them all at once by giving her this car. Earl is out of the contest very quickly but Randy and Catalina can still win. While Randy and Cataline are doing their best to win the car, Earl goes to Joy to ask her what color the new bikes he'll get her two kids should be (he once ruined their brand new Christmas bikes the evening before Christmas). Unbeknown to Earl, Joy's parents are over for a Christmas visit and, even more unbeknown to Earl, Joy never told them she and Earl have divorced and that she's now married to a black guy. She therefore pretends Earl is still her husband and, because he doesn't want to ruin yet another Christmas for Joy, Earl plays along. It turns out Joy isn't the only one who keeps a secret: Her mother has one as well and Earl finds out about it.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas | turtle

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 December 2005 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Amigos de Garcia Productions

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Earl completes the following item on his list in this episode: - #74: "Always ruined Joy's Christmas".

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Goofs

When Catalina wins the car in the radio station contest, the DJ says she has to fill out paperwork first and asks for her social security number. When she runs away because she has no SSN, the DJ hands the car keys to Randy and walks away. It's not explained why Catalina has to fill out paperwork yet Randy doesn't.

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Quotes

Joy: [Darnell enters the room] Oh, my God, it's a negro, we're being robbed.

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Connections

References E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

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Soundtracks

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"
Performed by Burl Ives

User Reviews

A Christmas full of secrets

Now we meet Joy's parents and just for this Christmas everything is going to be like in the old days.

The objective of Earl in this episode is to finally give Joy and kids a good Christmas but is going to be really difficult since everybody has secrets to hide from the rest of the family and Earl, suddenly, is the one who knows all of those secrets and he just can't say the truth if he want to complete his objective.

Is just funny to see that Earl has everything planned for a really special Christmas with Joy and kids but everything is going wrong and with many difficulties since he is eliminated in the first minute of a contest to win Joy's present, a Dodge Neon to, after Randy won the car, when his ex-mother-in-law lose the car in a beat. But the message enters here when Joy has a really great Christmas thanks to the happiness of her kids, forgetting just for a moment all the problems.

This is a great episode with many hilarious situations like the flashbacks of the previous Christmas, the fake racism of Joy's father, the story of Earl in the Iraq war and the way Randy and Catalina are competing for the car so definitely works perfect for a Christmas special.