Estrada or Nada

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Earl and Randy have the best day of their life (that's right: life; you can't really pluralize it, since they're attached at the hip) when they discover a new reality show, Estrada or Nada. When they find out the show's holding auditions in Camden, Randy tries to discover in which talent he can out-Estrada Erik Estrada; and Earl realizes he can cross Joy off his list for the time he kept her from getting on Fear Factor. She no longer cares about being famous, but Earl forces the issue and eventually she realizes she still does want her childhood dreams. So, she tries out (but only by taking Randy's place in line, even though he'd honed his seriously awesome opera skills).

At the audition, Joy's crab walk song and dance number doesn't impress Dunkleman (poor man's Seacrest; although... Seacrest is probably the poor man's Seacrest, isn't he?), so she starts to beat him up. This is when Darnell steps in to stop her. Problem is, this puts his name, face, and address (Joy's a sharer when she fights) on national TV, blowing his Witness Protection cover. He, Joy and the kids must move right away before someone comes to kill Darnell. He tries to get Joy to pack to leave, but only the essentials, including clothes and his lemon square recipe. She won't pack, because she won't be controlled by the government, and thing we know, the screen's black and Earl and Randy wake up in Joy and Darnell's trailer alone, with syringes stuck in their necks. And that's it, folks. To be continued week.

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Darnell's asleep on the couch in their extremely messy house when Joy comes in and yells about the mess. He figures he must have dozed off watching C-Span and missed the Senate's vote on born subsidies, which will make him the laughingstock of the Crab Shack. Uh, yeah, because the clientele is so smart there. Joy wonders where the mess came from, then she picks up a laundry basket and finds a kid. They determine whose kid it is by realizing the child is deaf. Joy's mad that Darnell fell asleep with the front door open again, which always leads to the neighbors using him as an unknowing babysitter (the best kind). She goes to check the house for more, and Darnell signs to the kid. Unfortunately, he can't remember the sign language for "cheese crunchies."

In their hotel room, Randy's flipping past all the boring things on TV until he lands on what he declares loudly as CHiPs. Earl flushes and rushes out of the bathroom buttoning up his pants, saying, "Please be the one with the robot. Please be the one with the robot. Please be the one with the robot." That's some pretty obscure CHiPs trivia. Good work, show! Earl tells Randy this isn't CHiPs after all, but he doesn't know what it is. Lucky for them (and us), the announcer on their TV explains: It's a new game show where contestants challenge Erik Estrada "to any competition imaginable: hot dog eating, dancing, sewing, violining, geography. To find out if they are ..." The TV crowd says, "Estrada or Nada." Randy says this just became the best day in his life, and Earl agrees this is the golden age of television. On the screen, Estrada goes on that people can challenge him to anything: sushi making, mathematics, lumberjacking. We get scenes of Estrada doing all of these. Our judges are a Hollywood stuntman, a former Olympian, and a Morning Zoo DJ. And Brian Dunkleman ("one and done co-host" of American Idol) is host. Estrada tells us auditions will be held all over America, as Estradaornada.com flashes on the screen (and it works! Of course.) Announcer guy says there will be auditions in Camden Thursday, right past the "Museum of Welding." That must be a tourist hot spot.

Provenance
Original URL
http://www.brilliantbutcancelled.com:80/show/my-name-is-earl/darnell-outed/
Captured
2017-03-20
Page Type
recap (100%)
Wayback Machine
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