But, something else has really been the reason for this absence. I’ve been going through a new-found American TV show called Californication and have become thoroughly addicted. For those of you who are not familiar with this show, it’s about a famous author (Hank Moody), his ex-love (Karen) and their daughter (Becca) – but it’s not your average family comedy-drama. There’s gratuitous drink, drugs and women. It’s rare that I find anything on television these days that instantly grabs me, shakes me and doesn’t put me down, but this was a definite exception. Every character makes you feel something towards them – compassion, distrust, lust, hate and love (cliché, I know) and for that reason, you can’t just stop at one episode.
It also seems to bring something else out in me that I can’t quite put my finger on. Hank is by no means the most admirable of TV characters. More often than not his heart is in the right place, but his head is carelessly removed from the situations he finds himself in. He is however a hell of an icon, and I’m sure most guys would agree. He drinks himself under the table, drives a Porsche, can get almost any woman, and still maintains some degree of functionality through it all. It got me back into reading fiction as well. Something which I have recklessly abandoned for long periods at university – using the excuse of having to read ‘academic’ stuff instead – which I know is bullshit, as even then I hardly read anything. I spend much more time in front of this here screen, melting away into a stupor that will one day inevitably end in me having to get glasses.
Aside from all this, its just purely excellent script writing. It’s often profound in the way it shapes the relationships between the on-screen characters and the viewers, which is something I don’t think any TV show, let alone an American one, has been able to do since the end of Friends. As you can tell I can’t praise this show enough. It’s got balls – something we don’t tend to witness on screen these days for whatever reason. If you haven’t checked this fine TV series out yet – do it. I don’t really need to say much more.
