She had a recurring role as Joy Turner's (who made many jokes about Matlin's deafness at her expense) public defender in My Name Is Earl and played the mother of one of the victims in an episode of CSI: NY. That same year, Matlin was cast in season 4 of The L Word as Jodi Lerner, a lesbian sculptor. She appeared in season 4 (2007), season 5 (2008), and season 6 (2009) as the girlfriend of one of the show's protagonists, Bette Porter, played by Jennifer Beals.[citation needed]