Californication (TV series)

For other uses, see Californication.

Californication
File:Californication Title Ep2.jpg
Genre	Dramedy
Starring	David Duchovny Natascha McElhone Madeleine Martin Madeline Zima Evan Handler
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	David Duchovny Tom Kapinos Stephen Hopkins
Running time	Approximately 30 minutes
Original release
Network	Showtime
Release	August 13, 2007 – present

Californication is a Showtime 12-part series production created by Tom Kapinos and starring David Duchovny as Hank Moody, a troubled novelist whose move to Los Angeles and problems with his job complicate the relationships with his ex-girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) and daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin). Five in the UK, Network Ten in Australia, TV 2 in Denmark, TV3 in Ireland, TV3 (NZ) in New Zealand, TV 2 in Norway, TV4 in Sweden, HBO in Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary, Comedy Central in the Netherlands and Warner Channel in Brazil and Latin America all air the program in their respective countries. The pilot episode originally aired on Showtime on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 10:30 PM, on Five on Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 10 PM and there are catch up episodes on Five US on Mondays at 10 PM and Tuesdays at 11 PM. The first episode was released for instant viewing to Netflix subscribers on July 24, 2007. The show was renewed for a second season on September 7 2007. The season 1 finale, titled "The Last Waltz," originally aired on Showtime on October 29, 2007. Season 2 is to begin filming in April, 2008.

List of episodes

Main article: List of Californication episodes

Characters

• Hank Moody (David Duchovny)
• Karen van der Beek (Natascha McElhone) - Hank's ex-girlfriend
• Charlie Rumkle (Evan Handler) - Hank's agent
• Rebecca "Becca" Moody (Madeleine Martin) - Hank & Karen's 12 year old daughter
• Mia Lewis (Madeline Zima) - Bill's 16 year old daughter
• "Dani California" (Rachel Miner) - Charlie's secretary
• Marcy Rumkle (Pamela Adlon) - Charlie's wife
• Bill Lewis (Damian Young) - Karen's fiancé

Reaction

The critical reaction for Californication has been generally favorable, with a rating of 70 on Metacritic. However there has been a backlash from conservative groups who oppose the explicit nature of the program. Californication has been criticized by conservative columnist Andrew Bolt in the Australian newspaper the Herald Sun, specifically the first episode's opening dream scene in which a nun performs oral sex on Hank Moody. The Australian Christian Lobby’s managing director Jim Wallace also called for a boycott, not only of Network Ten, but all advertisers who advertise during the show, in response to a scene in which Hank and a woman (played by Paula Marshall) smoke marijuana, have sex and subsequently both vomit.

The show premiered on Thursday, November 8, 2007 in New Zealand amidst controversy due to issues raised by the conservative lobby group Family First, who objected to the content of the show. The group called for families to boycott any company advertising during the episode which it described as "a good old fashioned laugh out loud bum-fucking romp." Pressure from Family First against the first episode advertisers is attributed to the withdrawal of 75% of those advertisers during the week leading up to broadcast of the second episode on November 15.

On Monday, November 19, 2007 the Red Hot Chili Peppers filed court documents alleging that the show inappropriately capitalizes off the band's 1999 album and single of the same name. The lawsuit claims the term is "inherently distinctive, famous and ... is widely recognized" as being associated with the band.

On Thursday, December 13, 2007 the show and lead actor David Duchovny were nominated for Golden Globes. On January 13th, 2008, David Duchovny won the lead actor award, but the award for best TV series in this category went to Extras..

References to popular culture

• Charlie's secretary (played by Rachel Miner) is given the nickname Dani California by Hank, which is a reference to a character appearing in several songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (who previously released an album and song entitled 'Californication'). In "Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" a reference to the song is made in Mia's narration: "It's the edge of the world and all of western civilization". There are actual entries for this character at SuicideGirls and MySpace.
• Hank refers to his puke as "precious bodily fluid" in Episode 2, quoting General Jack Ripper, a character in the film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
• In Episode 5, during the interview with Henry Rollins on Talkback Radio, Rollins mentions the names of Hank's previous novels: South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss and God Hates Us All. These are all names of Slayer albums.
• Hank finds Becca listening to Eagles of Death Metal and Death Cab for Cutie on her iPod.
• Becca mentions that she owns a Cradle of Filth t-shirt to Hank.
• In Episode 3 Hank steals a French Bulldog named Cat Stevens, calls the dog Yusuf Islam and gives it to his daughter Becca.
• In the pilot episode, when Hank is sleeping on the sofa and is wakened by his ex-girlfriend, part of a radio broadcast from one of the Fensler Films GI Joe Public Service Announcements is audible in the background.
• The show frequently references the work of musician Warren Zevon. When doing a crossword puzzle, Hank was stuck on a question for which the clue was "5 letter word for excitable boy"; the answer is Zevon. Excitable Boy is the name of one of Zevon's most popular albums. In the episode "Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder", Hank tells the surfer girl he meets at the store "Life'll kill ya," — the name of a Zevon song and album. In the same episode, Becca's band plays "Don't Let Us Get Sick" and later in the episode a cover of the song is played as well. And in "California Son", the episode opens with "Mohammed's Radio". In "The Devil's Threesome", Hank tells Charlie "Your shit's fucked up." Charlie answers rhetorically "My shit's fucked up?" The latter is the name of a Zevon song. In the episode "The Last Waltz", a cover of Zevon's song "Reconsider Me" by Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly can be heard.
• Karen says that she wanted to move to Seattle to stalk and marry Chris Cornell, of the hard rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave.
• The line used by Hank in "Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder", "I think ya jarred something loose there tiger" is a direct quote from the movie Kingpin.
• In episode 9, Charlie says that after his spin job, the public won't be able to tell whether Hank's next book is a piece of shit or "a heartbreaking work of staggering genius," which is the name of a Dave Eggers book. To this, Hank replies "There's a difference?"
• The title of episode 5, "If You See Her Say Hello" is also the title of a Bob Dylan's song, from the album "Blood on The Tracks".
• In episode 2 Hank starts his blog post with "Hank hates you all" a reference to his book God Hates Us All, which is also the title of a Slayer album.
• In episode 9, Karen tells Hank her favorite authors are Virginia Woolf, Martin Amis, and Charles Bukowski. Karen can later be seen reading Bukowski's book, Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, The Line, The Way: New Poems. Hank Moody, Duchovny's character, is based on Charles Bukowski's autobiographical alias Henry Chinaski. Henry "Hank" Chinaski is the subject of Bukowski's novels, from which the subject matter of the series is largely based upon.
• In episode 4, the scene where Dani crawls on the floor to Charlie with the letter is a direct reference to Secretary (film).
• Episode 4 is titled "Fear and Loathing at the Fundraiser," a reference to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
• In episode 10, Dani makes reference to the TV program "Slut Wars" being popular. This is a reference to the film The TV Set in which David Duchovny plays a writer of a TV pilot. In the film, the fictional network Duchovny is pitching his pilot to have just had a popular hit with the equally fictional "Slut Wars."
• In episode 7, Becca compares the result of Hank and Karen's relationship to the Robert Frost poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'. Hank later responds to Becca's comparison by telling her "Stay gold, Ponyboy", a line from the book and movie 'The Outsiders', a story in which Robert Frost's poem also plays a small part.
• "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (title of filming of Hank's book) is a song by Queen.
• In episode 11, Hank refers to Dani as Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, a reference to the cult Nazi exploitation movie.
• The title of the last episode of season 1, "The Last Waltz," is also the title of The Band's legendary farewell concert in 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The title was also used for a triple vinyl album soundtrack to the concert released in 1978. In addition, "The Last Waltz" was a 1967 hit song by Engelbert Humperdinck and is the title of a Viennese operetta that opened in 1920.
• In episode 8, Hank refers to the hooker as "a street-walking cheetah". It is a reference to The Stooges' song "Search and Destroy".
• In episode 8, when Hank introduces Amber to his father, he asks "What's the story, morning glory?". (What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the second album by the English rock band Oasis.

External links

• Official site
• Californication at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show