Californication: Season 1 (2007)

Better than just Sex and the City from a male POV, Californication is funnier and glossier, and the voice-over blog conceit doesn't last long. I was first drawn to Californication because it stars Fox Mulder aka David Duchovny, and it's also produced by the US network Showtime, who made the US version of Queer as Folk and are a bit like HBO in that they put out quality productions that aren't afraid of offending. 

In one memorable Californication scene, Duchovny's Hank Moody and his agent Charlie Runkle (SATC's Evan Handler) are having a threesome with a naked lady. Hank has slept with her before but didn't call her back and can't remember why. He remembers just as Charlie brings her to orgasm, orally, and gets a face full of ejaculate... just as his wife walks in with Hank's ex! Absolutely disgusting, and absolutely hilarious! Although there are a few too many naked ladies and not enough naked men (Duchovny looks pretty hot for an older man though) I've really enjoyed this series. According to the creator in one of the bonus feature interviews, he called it 'Californication' in order to convey how Hank is sucked into the California spirit, rather than primarily for the 'fornication' aspect. 

Rather than just featuring a different shag for Hank each week there is an interesting ongoing plot involving Hank's desire for his ex Karen (Natascha McElhone) to get back with him. Hank has been, and often still is, a bit of a jerk, but he's a loveable one - it's a role that Duchovny plays very easily, he seems a lot more comfortable than playing it straight as Fox Mulder, although he did bring a lot of humour to that role. So Hank is still good friends with Karen, especially since they have a young teenage daughter (played by Madeline Martin), a precocious girl who often gets the best lines and a superb actress to deliver them. There's a complicating factor that Karen is engaged to someone else, and Hank inadvertently sleeps with the fiancee Bill's 16 year old daughter Mia (Madeline Zima), a manipulative bitch, to put in nicely. 

My favourite character, Marcy Runkle (Pamela Adlon) is Charlie's potty-mouthed wife, who pesters her husband for a threesome and then succeeds in ruining it by tearing his nipple off with a clamp by accident. OUCH! Hank calls her Smurfette, and she's just fabulous. She reminds me of Janeane Garofalo in her look and voice, I'm hoping she gets her name in the credits in future series. 

The drama of Hank's writers' block and his ongoing love and devotion for his ex, combined with the hilarious sexual shenanigans make for a fun series. It doesn't feel like it's breaking the mould (I've seen too much HBO and Showtime for that I guess!) but it is a worthwhile watch. I look forward to seeing more soon.