Drift Reality

As an ardent fan of HBO television programming for the past several years, I was initially reticent to check out a new program on Showtime starring David Duchovny, who hadn’t done anything in the public domain to speak of in the past several years. Even worse, it was set in Los Angeles, which was starting to get a little boring to me after years of watching different perspectives on LA in Entourage and Curb your Enthusiasm.

Owing to the inelasticy of time I simply wasn’t that interested in adding anything new to my schedule.

Still, it was recommended to me by someone whose sensibility I trust and I decided to give it a shot. Several weeks later, I am absolutely hooked to what I think is the best new show on television (I’m using television to refer collectively to cable and television programming).

Duchovny doing his impression of a puffer fish

Because I bitch and moan so frequently in my writing and create lists of why things suck, I decided it would be nice to switch things up a bit and jot down the top five reasons why I think Californication is the best show on television currently:

1. The Writing is first rate. The show is written by a relatively veteran team of Tom Kapinos, Gina Fattore and Eric Weinberg who have all worked on television projects like Dawson’s Creek (Kapinos and Fattore) and Gilmore Girls (Fattore) that have managed to create a sense of depth in their storylines and characters. Considering the show is about a struggling writer living in Los Angeles, attempting to maintain some degree of artistic credibility while dealing with the fact that he has sold out it is likely that the writing team has some fodder to work with.
2. Perspective on LA - Unlike Entourage, which paints LA in a fairly positive light - as a light-hearted playground for the rich and beautiful, Californication (which is also from the perspective of an East coast transplant) explores the superficiality and grim cynicism of a city and people that have come to fully embrace the commodification of arts and entertainment. You almost get the feeling that the writers, as well as Duchovny (who like Hank Moody is from New York City), are using the show to vent their frustrations with a city that has brought them wealth and fame for their trade, while simultaneously confining them into corporate frameworks.
3. Duchovny / Hank Moody - Although I think Duchovny is probably a bit egomaniacal and doesn’t seem to have any discernible range of character, there is something incredibly charismatic about his portrayal of Hank Moody. Duchovny finds a way to make you like and actually root for a self-destructive, self-absorbed, alcoholic philanderer. Even when he is snorting lines of cocaine off a hooker’s back, there is something oddly amusing about him and of course it has a lot to do with Duchovny. On a related note, the beaten-up outdated Porsche that Moody drives is a stroke of genius.  It is just such a perfect metaphor for Moody’s character.
4. Editing - I don’t think the editing is really ground-breaking, but it is consistently solid. It doesn’t strive to accomplish more than what is possible within the constraints of the production. In the show’s culmination, when Natascha McElhone’s character reads the letter from Moody’s Father that he never opened, while the grainy 8MM footage runs on screen, I thought to myself, a little cliché but still fits the creative framework of the show and is actually pretty touching.  I think a lot of the show is like this actually not really ground-breaking but tremendously solid and the net effect is pretty impressive.
5. Timing - From a competitive standpoint, Californication couldn’t have been better timed. Entourage’s lackluster season 4 just ended a few weeks ago, Curb your Enthusiasm is on the decline, and there is no discernible competition (no offense to people who like the show Tell Me You Love Me, but I get my daily fill of hearing about problematic relationships every time I talk to a friend on the phone and guess what? It isn’t that fun or entertaining).

To be fair, the show does seem to have some narrative constraints that may limit its shelf life to two or three seasons (before it starts smelling stale): There is probably an excessive focus on Duchovny’s perspective and the one really compelling storyline is Duchovny’s relationship with McElhone’s character. Although I wouldn’t put it past the writers to figure out a way to creatively expand the narrative structure.

Ultimately, I think Californication is as good as it gets right now.

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