Californication - Season One

Since the early 90s Showtime has been making their own syndicated series to mix in with all of the movies they show. Many of their original series’ were low budget and artsy, not anything that would draw high ratings away from network programming. One of these series was the long running Red Shoe Diaries. Red Shoe Diaries was like a woman’s romance novel come to film, including the risqué soft core romance scenes. The host and presenter of the show was played by David Duchovny, a young man of sorrow who read letters of romance sent to him.

David Duchovny, the year after the first season of Red Shoe Diaries aired, starred in the hit FOX TV mystery/drama The X-Files. The X-Files poked fun of his Showtime series with his character, Fox Mulder, often seen in his living room with the sound of porn in the background. In the late nineties David slowly moved to the silver screen with Playing God and Evolution.

In the last few years Showtime has been producing more and more well scripted series with a seemingly network TV budget. One of these break-out shows is Californication, which has brought David Duchovny full circle back to Showtime and in the lead role as Hank Moody.

Hank Moody is a novelist whose life has gone by the way of the gutter since moving to LA, the worst of which is writers block. His girlfriend of many years Karen, (Natascha McElhone_, left him to live with her new fiancée Bill Cross, Damian Young, taking their 12 year old daughter with her. Drama and hilarity unfolds in this well directed and acted first season as Hank friends and Ex-girlfriend try to help him find himself and get his life back together.

Hank lives his life of self-loathing by screwing any willing woman and drinking at all hours of the day. One such woman he picks up from a bookstore later turns out to be Bill’s 16-year old daughter, Mia. Mia, played by the 21 year old Madeline Zima, dangles the threat of statutory rape over Hank to allow her to steal his unpublished older work for her writing class and to help bail her out of the bad situations she always puts herself in.

None of the characters in Californication are villainized or idolized; they all tend to be every day successful people in Hollywood. Each has their own share of problems that unfold and evolve throughout the season. Becca Moody, Hank and Karen’s daughter, has her boy problems. Mia tries to find ways to get the attention she desires. Karen struggles with her longing for a stable relationship with Bill, while fighting off her un-lost love for Hank. And Charlie Runkle, Hanks agent, struggling to stay faithful to his wife despite his lustful urges for his secretary. I came to like each character for their own quirks; except Mia, despite her gorgeous looks (Remember people she was 21 at the time of filming not 16 or she would not have been nude). Oh did I not mention that there are a lot of nude women? Well there are!

Definitely go out there and rent the DVDs (or buy them for your collection), sit down with your significant other and enjoy. I can’t wait till season two is available this August on disc (Unfortunately I don’t get Showtime); I am ready to peak once again into the window of Californication and see where the next chapter of Hank’s life will take him.