I'm not quite sure why, but Californication is a series I had never watched before I received a copy of the first season, sometime in early June. I've never been a big fan of the series' star David Duchovny, who has always struck me as a bit snide and egocentric and X-Files just never caught on with me. However, since so many people I know couldn't stop raving about the show, I decided I'd better take a look at it when it hit DVD.
I expected to hate Californication. Simply dismiss the whole thing as a piece of trash. Having watched countless hours of television I know that's never a good idea, but nonetheless, that was my mindset. After watching about ten minutes of the first episode, I realized I couldn't have been more wrong. Californication is definitely an adult drama with adult themes, but the series and its star are a revelation.
Duchovny stars as Hank Moody, an author trying to straighten out his personal and professional life. When he sold the film rights to his best-selling novel, God Hates Us All, the New York-based writer decided to move out to Los Angeles with his girlfriend Karen (Natasha McElhone) and their daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin). As Californication begins, Hank's book has been turned into a successful film called A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, starring Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Much to Moody's dismay, his story has been reborn as a romantic comedy, which goes against everything Hank claims to believe in. However, in typical Hank Moody fashion, our intrepid writer didn't refuse the spoils Hollywood had to offer: "As soon as I cashed that check, I wrapped my lips around the mighty erection that is the film industry and sucked hard, just like a good whore should." As I said before, Californication is strictly adult material; sex and nudity are central to the series' premise and four-letter words are spoken with virtually every breath.
Despite the success of A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Hank's life is in a serious tailspin. He has been fighting a serious case of writer's block for five years, and Karen had cheated on him and then left the relationship. She apparently got bored with their life together. "Imagine my disappointment when you turned out to be the biggest cliché of them all, sitting there Googling yourself," she says, acknowledging that sex was the only thing they did right together. "You're out there sticking your dick in anything that moves."
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