Californication

I rewatched Californication, a few years ago, in that most destructive way possible, a binge-watch. Of course, a binge sort of fits well with a show that is full of alcoholic benders, of drug addiction, sex addiction, and every kind of lasciviousness and ribaldry. I'll say one thing for the binge. Set against the other show I binged then, espionage drama The Americans, Californication came on like a great sunrise, in total contrast to the former's dourness. Californication is soaked in the Californian sun, it is replete with gorgeous people, beautiful homes, sports cars, fashionable restaurants and bars, and that most life affirming of sinful acts, sexual intercourse. It is (was) a tonic after all those 1980s Washington shenanigans.

Leaving the much vaunted The Americans to one side, what about this one on its own terms? The first season is the strongest, with the richest story scenario. No surprise, really. In Season Two matters are undone in order to create complications for our entertainment. It is contrived and very vulgar. The third season improves, the show settling into being a bawdy and riotous sex comedy. The hero, Hank Moody, sees his - what is the expression? - chickens come home to roost in Season Four. Just as with Season One, which is a stand alone season, Season Four also has a conclusive end, and one could drop the show at the end. Yet, there were three more seasons still to come.

I'd say it's worth seeing the lot, despite the weaknesses of Seasons 5-6, and the increasingly coarse language in Season Seven. The main reason is the screenwriting, which despite the story weaknesses, remains remarkably witty, right through until the satisfying final episode. Californication, for all its explicitness, is delightfully playful, from beginning to end. It is FUN, and fun in movies and TV shows is becoming more and more important to me as the second quarter of the new century continues to strike me as sulky, po-faced, faux-didactic and pseudo-serious. That tiresome obsession with sending messages of commitment, social, political, environmental - of lecturing the audience, boring us to tears. Californication has no desire to do anything other than entertain, and thank heavens for that.

David Duchovny will probably be best remembered, in the long term, for The X Files. Ok, but his character here, Hank Moody, the almost washed-up New York novelist adrift on a river of p***y in Los Angeles, shows him at his most charismatically confident. The show also has that rarest of things, a precocious teenage daughter character who is not a pain in everyone's backside, but rather someone empathetic and relatably human. There is also the comic pleasure of watching Hank's agent, Charlie Runckle (Evan handler) weeping at least once every season. Trust me, he's a hoot.

This show is almost a cousin to Charlie Sheen's sitcom, Two and a Half Men. It will also satisfy anyone who thinks Tarantino's rude wit dried up after Pulp Fiction. Like early QT it also has a banging soundtrack, classic rock through to contemporary noise bands, but its signature song is Rocket Man. Don't misunderstand Mr Hank Moody, he's not the man they think at all (oh no, no, no). He's a chivalrous soak, a knight without his lady, a hero who disdains the court. A rebel knight, a rogue hero, but a hero all the same. Come and say hello.

From its controversial opening scene to its excellent finale, the first episode of "Californication" sets the tone for the series. Stylishly directed by the always-reliable Stephen Hopkins, the pilot is thoroughly entertaining adult comedy. Watching the first episode reminded me a little of a modern Blake Edwards' production.

The cast are excellent, especially David Duchovny as the seedy Hank Moody, a man whose mid-life crisis is on display for all to see, from his Porsche to his constant bed-hopping.

The script is sharp and the whole show exudes quality.

Recommended.

I can't remember when I laughed so steadily from start to finish of a new show. Family Guy? Perhaps. In Californication Showtime has one of its strongest hits . . . ever. The writing is bitingly crisp, intelligent and fresh. Duchovny's delivery has the timing of a master comic actor and his portrayal of Hank is winning. As with the very best of comedies, beneath the bubbly surface of Californication is a show that in a single episode reveals richly drawn characters of depth and purpose. Hank's lecherousness, womanizing, wry wit and in-your-face bluntness succeed only partially in covering up a complex (or perhaps merely complicated?) man who appears to be facing all of his mid life crisis's at once. Every note in this comic symphony was perfectly struck and I look forward to getting to know Hank - and the rest of his gang - better as the weeks go by. Bravo Showtime!

I just watched the pilot on-demand and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed by this show. David Duchovny was a pure gem to watch as the sardonic and hapless writer in the surreal realm of Southern California. The dialogue is top-notch, the plot is thick and juicy. Hank is a deep, 3-dimensional character that we seldom see on television. Though he is definitely damaged, there is something in his tribulations that audiences can relate to. His difficulty in writing is a situation I have felt many times when I sit down at the keyboard. Similarly, I empathize with his relationship problems. The problems he faces are problems that real people face brought to life in a very funny, unique way.

With this show, Weeds, The L Word and Dexter, Showtime is becoming the new HBO. That being said I really hope this show keeps the spark that made the pilot so good for the full run of the series.

After a series "The X Files" David Duchovny had planned to withdraw from the television, and I thought that I would in any future role still see him as Fox Mulder. I was wrong. With the role of Hank Moody, he immediately wiped all memory of Mulder.

Hank Moody is a writer in blockade, who lives of old fame and money earned from the movie based on his bestseller, while driving his Porsche from pub to party, from alcohol to drugs, from making love with a prostitute to wild sex with every woman willing to spread her legs, persistently and hopelessly trying to escape from depression and suffering for the family he destroyed. Explicit scenes of bohemian "sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll" life, immersed in impossible situations full of shame-transfers, genius replicas, inexhaustible (mostly black) humor, which vulgarly and brutally hold you on the edge between embarrassment and dying from laughter, are shifting to deeply emotional scenes of his desperate attempts to reconcile with his ex-wife and raise his teenage daughter.

Although the fantastic script and Duchovny's perfect performance are what rises this show to the top of the best series I've ever watched, we must not forget the excellent casting of supporting characters, whose diversity complements this crazy story and makes it an unforgettable experience. Particularly distinguished among them is Evan Handler, as Hank's best friend, whose performance stands side by side with Duchovny's.

I could say that it's genre is a drama-comedy, but for me, this series is falling into a special category of "complete awesomeness". There are very few series I followed from start to finish, but this one I saw several times in its entirety and each time I was impressed as the first time. I have no complaints, except that it did not last forever. One of the strongest tens I ever gave.

10/10