Supermassive Blackhole

The show Californication had problems from the start. One, it was about a writer (how original, deemed one perspective fan). Two, besides semi-clever quips mainly from David Duchovny (X-Files) the dialog -which the show clings to for dear life- is pretty bland. And finally, three: It's pretty clear that the direction of the show is unclear. As deadline approached the writers probably said "what the hell, we're good-looking, interesting, funny, and sexually in-demand, let's go to the screen!" As sincere as they may have been in this hypothetical situation, none of this is true. But! The show's most endearing quality is that it's taking shape. Our hero, Hank, is overcoming his severe writer's block and scribbling down something onto a blog, in between sexual encounters with gorgeous women which he picks up like rocks at a quarry. It's obnoxious. We get it. He's sexy, charming, smart, and everything else every guy would like to know he is.
Back to Californication's endearing quality. The show has a stellar but under-appreciated cast: Natasha McElhone and Evan Handler among others.
In the latest episode Hank (Duchovny) rants on Public Radio about the degradation of the English lexicon after his girlfriend says "LOL" in real life (IRL). He takes his disgust and blogs about it and then explains how he feels on the radio:
"Just the fact that people seem to be getting dumber and dumber, you know? I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned us into four-finger wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour access to kiddy porn. People don't write anymore. They blog. Instead of talking, they text. No punctuation, no grammar. You know, it just seems to me that it's just a bunch of stupid people tsudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people instead of using the King's English."
Oh but Hank, what are we both doing? "Hence my self-loathing," he says. Hank Moody has just spoken the rationale for this blog.
Anyway, there are also other pluses. Besides a decidedly dull plot -mediocre at best, there are plenty of pop references and chuckle-worthy moments. And the show's irreverence for the corruption of all literary works through film and the internet is admirable. At least Californication's heart is in the right place.