Who was she referring to?

her sister had apparently faked her death, but had not done a very good job of it, as they were both out there standing in front of the reporters, arguing and insulting each other. her sister did it to get sympathy from her fans who were dwindling in number and affection.

again, sorry, I missed most of the show!!

Must be "Hope and Faith." This is the web description of Friday's episode:

Season 2: Episode 2 - "Mall in the Family"
Air Date: 10/01/2004

After Charley kicks Faith out of the house, she moves into a bedroom display in the mall. But when she and Hope try to hide from the mall guards, the sisters are accidentally locked in an armoire scheduled for overseas delivery. Meanwhile, Hope and Sydney try to deal with a coming-of-age issue for Hayley - the purchase of her first bra.

Sounds like the faked death thing is just a tidbit from past misadventures Hope decided to avail herself of, not something that happened within the episode, since Faith's character used to be a soap opera star.

About the show:

"Hope & Faith" is a comedy about what happens when the fast lane collides with the carpool lane. It's about the moments that make you want to hug your sister … and the times you have to resist the urge to kill her.

Hope, a down-to-earth, happily married mom of three in Columbus, Ohio, had her tidy world up-ended by the arrival of her celebrity sister, Faith (Kelly Ripa). Faith was living the high life in Hollywood as a daytime soap opera star until her soap's character, Ashley Storm, was suddenly and unceremoniously killed off on "The Sacred and the Sinful" by her evil twin. After a year under her roof wreaking occasional havoc, Hope can attest that you can kill the diva off on the daytime drama, but you can't take the drama out of the diva.

Last season's cliffhanger ending left Faith missing -- lost in an undetermined third world country instead of an ashram in India where she was going to go "find herself." Assuming Faith finds her way back to Ohio, she'll have to make some changes, like accepting her soap career is seriously on hold, getting a real job, or series of jobs, and moving out of the family's house- -- well, at least out of her niece's bedroom. Hope and her husband, Charley (Ted McGinley), will find new parenting challenges as Faith tries to influence their three impressionable kids, especially their oldest teenaged daughter, Sydney, who starts to rebel against Hope's authority and gets her first serious boyfriend, a gorgeous "bad-boy" who makes Charley especially nervous.

"Hope & Faith," which in its premiere season was nominated for a People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy Series, stars Faith Ford as Hope, Kelly Ripa as Faith, Ted McGinley as Charley, Megan Fox as Sydney, Macey Cruthird as Hayley and Paulie Litt as Justin.

I've been seeing the billboards all over town for the show "My Name is Earl," with various misdeeds of his mentioned, for which he is now apologetic. One says "Faked his death to break up with a girlfriend." "Sorry about that!" he says. So this is the actual theme for the 10/11/05 episode, and we get not one, but TWO faked deaths:

"DEATH BECOMES HER - While atoning for stealing from a convenience store, Earl (Jason Lee) spots Natalie (guest star Beth Riesgraf), a very needy, clingy girl whom he broke up with by faking his own death. After getting some advice about women from Catalina (Nadine Velazquez), Earl decides that he and Randy (Ethan Suplee) must go tell Natalie the truth so he can cross her off his list. Luckily for him, the blow is softened by the presence of Natalie's new boyfriend Dirk (guest star Dax Shepard), who seems absolutely perfect for her. Just when Earl thinks he's free of her, Dirk takes a hint from him and fakes his death to break up with Natalie. Earl believes that he should tell Natalie about Dirk in order to be in the karmic clear, but Catalina convinces him that it's much better to keep this from her than to crush her spirit. So Earl decides to merely be nice to her, a seemingly harmless act that traps them back in a torturous relationship."

And, to help further connect this, the character of Earl is somewhat reminiscent of the one played by Nicolas Cage in "Raising Arizona," and the style of humor is also similar. And, we know our friend Nic was also a huge Elvis Presley fan (having once collected his daughter, as well), and was one of the top names mentioned to play Uncle Andy in his biofilm.

I haven't seen the show, but I've seen ads. I thought the Earl guy looks like Andy in his long-john wrestling days with a moustache added.

Hey! That guy could also play Nic Cage in a movie about Nic Cage!

Maybe someone should make a film about Jerry Lawler, and call it "Man on the Man on the Moon."

By the way, that "Earl" guy, Jason Lee, was also the voice of the bad superhero guy in "The Incredibles." Once you realize that, it's kinda funny when you hear his voice in this show.