Californication
(Season 1, 2007)
Showtime did a helluva job on this show. It's raunchy, titillating, and
fairly twisted, but also intelligent, funny, realistic, and occasionally heartfelt. Duchovny was a perfect casting choice to play the amoral, burnt-out writer who
isn't quite as depraved and world-weary as he would like to imagine. The
casting of Madeline Zima as his underage, lover/step-daughter was a stroke of
sheer genius, because Zima possessed the perfect combination of adult and
child, with the looks and talent to play the perfect little scheming Lolita.
Rachel Miner was also consistently entertaining, edgy and sexy as the
fetishist secretary who turns out to be quite an opportunist.
The writers will have a hard time doing a second season because season one
seems like a completely self-contained story line, like a long film, with all
the major loose ends tied up in the final episode. If the creative team wants
to keep the show going, it will have to be with completely new conflicts and
storylines.
Season 1 is now available on DVD. The film clips from the first two episodes
(which have a ton of nudity) are found in yesterday's update. I got through four more today,
with a disappointing lack of nudity.
Episode 3: The Whore of Babylon
Episode 4: fear and Loathing at the Fundraiser
Episodes 5 and 6: no nudity.
In my next few columns I will continue the first season until all the
nudity has been exhausted.
