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Californication: Or, Mulder Does the Wild Thing (a lot)

Started by tomwatson · 11 months ago

Sometimes I think that the problem with TV shows and books and movies is that writers write them. The very fact that a writer is doing the writing casts a heavy pall of dubiety upon the enterprise from the get-go.
Ladies and gentlemen, presented for your consideration: Californication, pr ... Continue reading »

15 comments

  • Chuck Tryon

    1 year ago

    Californication was supposed to be funny?
    reply
  • Lance Mannion

    1 year ago

    their twelve-year-old daughter (who looks disturbingly like a miniature 19-year-old art student)

    Yes! Exactly! It's very disturbing.

    And you're dead on about the waste of McElhone, who, by the way, was also good in Laurel Canyon.
    reply
  • Beth

    1 year ago

    I'm one of those chicks who live for and love David Duchovny, and I was considering adding Showtime to my lineup so I could watch (and start on "Weeds"). Now, I'm not quite sure.
    reply
  • Evan

    1 year ago

    Charles Bukowski was ugly as sin and still got laid at will. A guy that looks like David Duchovny and acts like Bukowski would get laid as much as this character does. So I have to totally disagree with your critique. Maybe it was just the preview that you watched, but this show was filled with non-stop zingers. And who couldn't laugh at the irony of him banging the 16 year old daughter of his ex's new boyfriend? This show is a flat out winner.
    reply
  • Kathleen Maher

    1 year ago

    Short, dumpy, and bald? And that's just the women writers?

    Oh Dan, were thinking of me? I'm on your mind even when you're watching David Duchovny aspire to Jack Klugman heights, a show that doesn't suck?

    Don't tell Manny: he doesn't like it when I resort to artifice. But just to put the clamoring masses off, I sometimes wear very impressive stillettoes, corsetry, and, well, I might need to beg and borrow for it, but someone I know must own a wig.

    Aside from that, though: Did you say, dubiety?
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    1 year ago

    Just reeled back from a mini-vacation, and now I feel more tired than I did when I left.

    Hey, Beth, I feel you. To be honest I would watch this show again, but then again I watch "Becker" and "Still Standing" re-runs. Maybe Showtime has some sort of cheap try-out deal? Or you could always just think about something else for a year and then check out the show when it comes out on DVD.

    Evan, as a staunch Bukowski fan I have to say you've nailed me dead to rights. But then, speaking of Bukowski, I watched this show after a brutal shift at my job and after drinking some several alcoholic beverages, drinking a couple more bevs while watching it, and then wrote the first draft of my review while drinking several more drinks. I then passed out and got up and went to my job again. Then had several more drinks, and, while drinking a couple more, "polished" my review, all of this in an attempt to get the review in on time for the première day. So no wonder my review makes no sense.

    Kathleen, when I mentioned short bald and dumpy female writers I meant to add "present company excepted".

    Did I really use the word "dubiety"? And even worse, I used the word "sucks" and I promised Blue Girl that the next article I wrote wouldn't have that unpleasant word in it. I forgot. I suck.
    reply
  • Kathleen Maher

    1 year ago

    When I saw how casually you got flung dubiety, working so well for you, I couldn't help wondering, Dan, what's happened to my favorite mainstay: dubiosity? Has it lost cache? I think dubiety and dubiosity are synonyms, but I'd need to look it up to be sure.
    Maybe I've just been listening to too much Amy Winehouse (up for a little "suckery" anyone?)
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    1 year ago

    Dubiosity -- now there is one cool word, Kathleen, and one which I intend to use at the first opportunity, even if I have to create the opportunity.
    reply
  • Mario

    1 year ago

    Whats unrealistic about Duchvony's character getting laid is that all the women are turbo hottie nymphos who basically just lay in his room with their legs spread. Bukowski may have gotten laid alot but they were probably nerdy/ugly writing groupies who spread butter more than anything else.
    reply
  • SHANAZA

    1 year ago

    i love the show californication and you all should to.
    its funny, hank is hot and the cruelty in it is awsome!!!
    reply
  • Kyle

    10 months ago

    First of all people need to understand that this show is BRILLIANT, and 10x times more so in the age of reality television. So what, the guy gets laid a lot, it television. In real life you take any guy as good looking as Duchovny, give them some social skills and intelligence, and have them swim in money, and lets not forget the porsche, and trust me the guy will get laid. At the same time the script revolves around sex when you consider the 16 year old, the director's wife, the red hed, and of course his wife. The show is filled with quick wit and one-liners that will give anyone with half an IQ a cramp from laughing so hard. People just love to be the ones that hate and write shitty reviews about well-written shows and movies, but these are the same people who go home flick on the television and watch The Amazing Race. Shows like Dexter and Californication are gems of television and deserve all the spotlight that comes there way.
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    10 months ago

    Hey, Kyle, I haven't seen a single episode since the premiere. I'll have to check out the first season on DVD and see if I agree with you. By the way, I'm totally with you about reality shows. Just can't watch 'em. But now I've discovered Hulu and its dozens of old Alfred Hitchcock shows: bliss.
    reply
  • joe

    6 months ago

    Dan Leo. You are a terrible critic. It's people like you who ruin my internet experience. Doing research on Bukowski and I come across your site.
    "Evan, as a staunch Bukowski fan"
    Doubt it
    "I watched this show after a brutal shift at my job and after drinking some several alcoholic beverages (two appletinis with slices of orange), drinking a couple more bevs (this time a cosmo) while watching it, and then wrote the first draft of my review while drinking several more drinks (aka my boyfriends protein shake)."

    "Then had several more drinks (shot a jaegger with a diet coke chaser), and, while drinking a couple more (a half a can of coors), "

    Get your shit together.
    reply
  • Dan Leo

    6 months ago

    Hey, Joe, if I can ruin just one poor joe's internet experience, I consider my work well done.

    "and writing
    laughs
    at itself"

    -- Bukowski
    reply
  • Smith

    6 months ago

    Hey all! Californication is a great show! To bad the second season is already gone, i guess we will have to wait for the third one. What sites do you have about californication. I visit californication
     especialy because is has all the songs from evry episode. Take care!
    reply
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